Dell sucks... :mad:

[Nik]

Seeing as how virtually all of my college homework is done via the internet, I decided to pull the trigger on a Dell laptop.

I got an Inspiron notebook with 2MB 1.60GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, 256 MB Ati Radeon video card, and an 80 GB hard drive, and a Creative SB Live! soundcard. I spent the first few days cleaning up all the shit Dell installs on your computer. I couldn't format because apparently Dell don't include a boot CD with their laptops anymore

And now the notebook is pissing me off I called customer service last weekend and didn't really get anything figured out because the Indian dude I talked to forwarded me back to the main menu, and I wasted like an hour for nothing...

I'm gonna try talking to customer support again, but since they suck big-time, maybe you guys can help me figure out some of the issues I have with the laptop.

1. I bought my laptop with an 80 GB SATA Hard drive, which is currently split in 2--drive C and back-up drive D. When I add the total capacity of drives C and D together, that adds to a total of 68 GB total space, which is over 10 GB less than what I paid for What the hell? I would imagine the operating system and things would take up some room, but 10 GB??? I have Windows XP installed on my old computer, and there it doesn't take up nearly as much room Anyone know what's wrong?

2. The ....ing computer stutters like crazy when I play DVDs, CDs, and even MIDIs!!!! What the hell? The specs on my laptop beat out all the computers I've ever used, and yet my shitty computer from 1996 doesn't have a problem playing MIDIs. Anyone know why?

3. Line-in for recording--the soundcard does have a line-in, but when I look on the side, there's only a microphone input and a headphone output. Is the line-in jack concealed inside the laptop? How can I direct record with this thing?

All in all, I'm really disappointed--I dumped a sizeable amount of cash on all these specs, and the things I paid for are not working. Any ideas on how I can resolve these issues?

Thanks!

[D-EJ915]

Well formatted capacity is always smaller than listed, but manufacturers list using 1000 and windows uses 1024 soo...

But if you're hating the drive issue if you don't have anything on it download gparted. Pop that cd in and restart your computer it'll auto-boot to it (if it doesn't you have to enter bios, hit F2 or delete as your computer first boots. Then once it's loaded up it asks you some screen resolution crap, that doesn't matter.

Basically you can use that to delete the 2nd paritition (D:\) and resize the main partition (C:\) to encompass the whole thing...or you should be able to do that, lol. I haven't tried it with gparted yet but it's pretty much the partitioning god.

[The Dark Wolf]

Man, Nik, I wish I could help more. I've seen a few computers with ZERO line-ins. Just mic and headphone out. How ....ing stupid?

As for the sound/media files problem, perhaps it's a driver issue? Or maybe some settings aren't right. Stutters as in the the sound stutters? Or the video, or both?

[Nik]

Originally Posted by D-EJ915

Well formatted capacity is always smaller than listed, but manufacturers list using 1000 and windows uses 1024 soo...

But if you're hating the drive issue if you don't have anything on it download gparted. Pop that cd in and restart your computer it'll auto-boot to it (if it doesn't you have to enter bios, hit F2 or delete as your computer first boots. Then once it's loaded up it asks you some screen resolution crap, that doesn't matter.

Basically you can use that to delete the 2nd paritition (D:\) and resize the main partition (C:\) to encompass the whole thing...or you should be able to do that, lol. I haven't tried it with gparted yet but it's pretty much the partitioning god.

EDIT: TDW -- video and sound. I mainly use it for sound, though--MIDIs stutter like crazy and it's driving me up the wall. And I'm pretty sure my sound-card has a line-in option. Even the drivers and programs that came with it have a 'record through line-in' option, and it's a really high-quality sound card. I think my laptop's casing just doesn't have an outlet for it. Can I use the mic input as a line-in somehow? It's essentially the same input...

And no boot CD came with my laptop. All I got is this piece of paper:

[Samer]

Originally Posted by Nik

1. I bought my laptop with an 80 GB SATA Hard drive, which is currently split in 2--drive C and back-up drive D. When I add the total capacity of drives C and D together, that adds to a total of 68 GB total space, which is over 10 GB less than what I paid for What the hell? I would imagine the operating system and things would take up some room, but 10 GB??? I have Windows XP installed on my old computer, and there it doesn't take up nearly as much room Anyone know what's wrong?

2. The ....ing computer stutters like crazy when I play DVDs, CDs, and even MIDIs!!!! What the hell? The specs on my laptop beat out all the computers I've ever used, and yet my shitty computer from 1996 doesn't have a problem playing MIDIs. Anyone know why?

3. Line-in for recording--the soundcard does have a line-in, but when I look on the side, there's only a microphone input and a headphone output. Is the line-in jack concealed inside the laptop? How can I direct record with this thing?

All in all, I'm really disappointed--I dumped a sizeable amount of cash on all these specs, and the things I paid for are not working. Any ideas on how I can resolve these issues?

Thanks!

1) The OS is not what takes up 10 gigs and leaves you with 68 gigs, the reason why the drives are split is because one of the drives is a recovery partition (your restore disks) and usualy you can reformat by push F10 or F12 when the PC boots up.

Also most of the time you can make a copy of the restore disks, there is usualy a recovery disk wizard some were.

But the reason you only get 68 gigs has somthing to do with the way the hard drive is formated and the way windows reads it, i forgot the exact reason, but it had somthing to do with the math that the hard drive company uses being diffrent from what the OS uses.

2)As far as the laptop going slow during audio files, check your windows task manager, is your performance is at %100 during a task then things will lag.

3) The line in should be the micophone jack

Go into MSConfig and disable everything you dont need (you should only need your anti virus and anti spyware running on pc start up)

then put all the windows visual settings down to the lowest (best performace)

and change your paging files size to 2x the amount of ram you have, so if you have one gig, you should be at 2500 for both the initial and the max.

To get into this right click my computer, then go to properties

next go to advanced, everything is there.

[The Dark Wolf]

I'll have to think about this one, Nik. It still seems driver related, something in the sound drivers, perhaps. Sephiroth or Ken Burtch seem to know a bit about this sorta thing. Perhaps drop them a PM? They might have some ideas, maybe some configuration settings that need changed.

No way a brand new computer should do this, however. Does the place you bought it from have customer service?

As for what Samer said about the line in being the mic in - could be. But I've encountered plenty of computers where the mic in was just that. If you plugged a line in, it was a harsh, mono line in signal. Not a true line in at all, unfortunately.

[Nik]

Originally Posted by The Dark Wolf

I'll have to think about this one, Nik. It still seems driver related, something in the sound drivers, perhaps. Sephiroth or Ken Burtch seem to know a bit about this sorta thing. Perhaps drop them a PM? They might have some ideas, maybe some configuration settings that need changed.

No way a brand new computer should do this, however. Does the place you bought it from have customer service?

As for what Samer said about the line in being the mic in - could be. But I've encountered plenty of computers where the mic in was just that. If you plugged a line in, it was a quiet, mono line in signal. Not a true line in at all, unfortunately.

Yeah, I called customer service and talked to some dude from India, and after 60 minutes of waiting I just hung up. I'm very disappointed with Dell. Maybe I'll PM Sephrioth or Ken later.

Samer - I have already done most of those things (page file, removing stuff from my tray, etc.). And I'm running XP without all the fancy visual crap, and it still has this issue.

I'll try doing line-in recording through the mic input later and see if that works.

Thanks for your help guys, I really appreciate it!

[Metal Ken]

One thing you gotta take into account, it doesnt deduct the OS from the total capacity, it comes up as used space. the reason why it only shows up as you having about 70 gigs is cause thats how it is. all hard drives end up showing up a bit less than what they actually are, as stated above.

2- get the newest drivers for all your stuff, that same thing has happened to me before and updating your drivers is the solution (update your video & sound drivers, and update your codecs)

[Samer]

BTW you do not want to delet your recovery partition, that for the most part is your restore disk.

[Nik]

OK, I have a new issue:

when I plugged into the line-in, everything worked fine. The computer asked me if I would be recording through line-in or microphone, and I selected microphone.

However, no sound comes through my computer's speakers when I play my guitar; on my old computer, as soon as I plugged into the line-in of the computer, sound came from the speakers.

I tried recording on the computer. No sound comes through the speakers when I record. When I play back the recording, however, I hear it. Does anyone know what to do?

I've been in the 'Volume Control Panel' and there isn't anything muted there, for some reason no sound comes at all

[METAL_ZONE]

Originally Posted by Nik

2. The ....ing computer stutters like crazy when I play DVDs, CDs, and even MIDIs!!!! What the hell? The specs on my laptop beat out all the computers I've ever used, and yet my shitty computer from 1996 doesn't have a problem playing MIDIs. Anyone know why?

That happenes on my dell desktop if I keep it on for more than 2 or 3 days. and when i check the task manager, its not even close to running at 100%

[Samer]

Originally Posted by METAL_ZONE

That happenes on my dell desktop if I keep it on for more than 2 or 3 days. and when i check the task manager, its not even close to running at 100%

I think this happens because your RAM gets filled up by temp info, every time you rebot your PC the dumps everything in the RAM.

[Metal Ken]

Originally Posted by Nik

I tried recording on the computer. No sound comes through the speakers when I record. When I play back the recording, however, I hear it. Does anyone know what to do?

I've been in the 'Volume Control Panel' and there isn't anything muted there, for some reason no sound comes at all

http://www.asio4all.com/

You might need a ASIO driver for your soundcard. Install that and then try it. That solved that problem when i had it.

[Nik]

Originally Posted by Metal Ken

http://www.asio4all.com/

You might need a ASIO driver for your soundcard. Install that and then try it. That solved that problem when i had it.

Thanks man, I really appreciate it

I'll have to get it tomorrow cause my laptop isn't hooked up to internet at home.

[Metal Ken]

Yeah, i actually had that same probelm with my old desktop and my laptop, and i was trying to record with adobe audition.. i could record stuff and play stuff back but i couldnt hear what i was playing while i was doing it.

[Nik]

BTW, does splitting up the hard-disk cause loss of space? If I recombined drives C and D into one, would that help?

What about multiple user profiles? Does that take away RAM or space on the hard-disk? Would eliminating multiple profiles help?

[Samer]

you cant combine both hard drives because they are partitions, if you delet the partition then you lose your recovery files.

Dont play around with that because if you lose it then you have to pay for recovery disks, extra user accounts make it harder to keep your PC clean. You should have no more than 2.

[Nik]

AAAAAGH!!!

I just installed the ASIO drivers, still no sound coming through the speakers when I plug in through the line-in.

One thing I noticed is that my old computer, which works when I do this, has a "line-in" volume bar in the "playback volume menu" whereas my new computer doesn't, and I think this may have something to do with it.

Any suggestions? I'm getting pretty desparate...

[Samer]

i would make sure than under your volume control you dont have anything as disabled, and then go throught the options one more time.

Also some times on laptops there is a little dial next to the inputs and output jacks, make sure thats turnd on,

other wise go to device manager and make sure all the drivers are there.

[Metal Ken]

Originally Posted by Nik

AAAAAGH!!!

I just installed the ASIO drivers, still no sound coming through the speakers when I plug in through the line-in.

One thing I noticed is that my old computer, which works when I do this, has a "line-in" volume bar in the "playback volume menu" whereas my new computer doesn't, and I think this may have something to do with it.

Any suggestions? I'm getting pretty desparate...

Under volume control, theres an options thing, in that, go to properties, and check recording, hit okay and see if anything is turned down or muted.. im kinda running out of ideas too lol
You might have multiple sound drivers and may have to select between them.

[Metal Ken]

Originally Posted by Nik

BTW, does splitting up the hard-disk cause loss of space? If I recombined drives C and D into one, would that help?

Nothing significant, its just how the computer looks at it. Chances are if you're missing 10 gigs, there IS a recovery partition, but IMO, you dont need it if you have an install disc... but dont go deletin' shit if you arent sure what it does, either.

[Nik]

Originally Posted by Metal Ken

Under volume control, theres an options thing, in that, go to properties, and check recording, hit okay and see if anything is turned down or muted.. im kinda running out of ideas too lol
You might have multiple sound drivers and may have to select between them.

I already checked that; my bassist had a problem like that.

Nope, and I don't have trouble recording, either; when I hit record on Audacity, I don't hear myself playing, but when I play it back, I can hear the recording.

I already ran out of ideas

[Metal Ken]

have you configured anything inside the ASIO4All drivers?

[Nik]

Not really; I browsed through them and didn't see a whole lot of things I could change, and I don't think any of them could really help. It automatically found my soundcard/soundcard drivers, but it's still not working.

I don't get it--when you plug in through the line-in, it should automatically play in real-time through the speakers... I'm gonna call Dell tech support tomorrow and give them shit about all these issue.

Is there something in the Asio driver configuration I could've missed?

[Vegetta]

Originally Posted by Metal Ken

Nothing significant, its just how the computer looks at it. Chances are if you're missing 10 gigs, there IS a recovery partition, but IMO, you dont need it if you have an install disc... but dont go deletin' shit if you arent sure what it does, either.

All dells have a restore partition and system testing tools

I forget which function key brings it up during the boot

Basically it will revert your computer to the exact settings/installed software as when it was shipped)

You MAY have a bad soundcard (MY dell had a bad dvd drive and a bad stick of memory....)

I had better luck just emailing tech support than calling - they sent someone to my house to fix my computer...

The dell forums are actually pretty decent - people there are very knowlegable and helpful. I'd try there and see what kind of suggestions you'll get