Linux

Dell's plans for LTS upgrade and how to keep legal codecs

beanhopper — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 13:14:20 GMT

Hi,

I replaced the Dell mini 10v 8.04 with 9.04 unr and promptly lost the media codecs supplied by dell. Couldn't work out how to upgrade from within ubuntu as it seemed that Dell had limited the update functions in 8.04. Also coudn't work out how to transfer the codecs separately. So wiped 8.10 with a new 9.04 unr from a memory stick. More recently I've installed 9.10 and lost wireless function as well, but supposedly gained home drive and swap encryption. So the machine is safer but not very useful as a netbook! What I'm wondering is this:

Suppose I work out how to convert the useless reinstall CD supplied by Dell (the mini has no CD drive) into an iso to load onto a memory stick using ubuntu startup disk creator, I might be able to reinstall the original 8.04lts complete with legal codecs. Anyone know how to generate an iso image from the cd? I've read about DD but not sure if that will really do the trick.

Then suppose that Dell provide an upgrade path, from within 8.04 to skip directly to the next lts: 10.04 when it comes out. That way I might end up with a secure home drive on the netbook and still keep the legal codecs. Though probably the internal upgrade won't allow the introduction of drive encryption.

Does anyone know what Dells plans are for Ubuntu upgrades, and how users can keep the legal codecs throughout OS changes? Or does the Dell license somehow cover you to use unlicensed codecs on the machine?

Thanks

Reinstall of Ubuntu Crashed Mini 9 - Unable to Boot From Anything

tjfear — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 07:26:17 GMT

I just got a Dell Inspiron Mini 9. I bought it from someone else and wanted to erase the SSD and start fresh (4GB SSD with Ubuntu, 512MB RAM).

I put in the restore DVD (Ubuntu 8.04+ LTS DVD, on a Buffalo Slim DVD-RW External) and followed the on-screen instructions. Everything was fine until I came to the "Copying system ROOT to harddrive disk" portion. I let it sit for a long time and it never passed this screen. I powered down and tried again - no luck. The next time I tried, the system went straight to the "Select a System Test" screen. I ran both the Memory and System tests and no problems were found. I am now unable to boot from the harddrive (obviously, because nothing is there) and from the CD/DVD selection in the boot options. Anything I do or select, the Mini starts up to the "Select a Test" screen.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I just got this thing the other day, stinks that I can't play with it now. Thanks again.

Mircosoft Works 9.0

Connie Sue — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 19:42:27 GMT

I have mircosoft works 9 on my computer. The system keeps asking me to regrister, I went to get my disk and it is not in my box.

I only can sign on 10 more times then it want let me get in.

I need the number off the disk to do this. Check order and you can see that I order mircosoft from Dell when purchased my computer.

Thanks.

Connie Sue

factory reset

nlg622 — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 06:29:00 GMT

Want to do a factory restore/reset on dell desktop. I've tried the restart then when www.dell.com is at top of screen pushing down on cntrl f11 at same time. I've tried this many many times and just goes to restart. Any suggestions? Reason I want to do this is do too it won't connect to internet and keeps popping up stating that needs antispyware installed so I went and bought AVG antiviris and antispyware. It removed a trojan but stil can't update program do to can't connect online. Appreciate anyones help. Thank you and have a great holiday.

Need Modem Drivers for Ubuntu 9.04 -Conexant D850 56K V.9X PCI DF Modem ULD]

Frank Cox — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 05:00:30 GMT

Hi everyone:

I was told Dell did write some drivers for Ubuntu and this is one of 3 dell machines I have that need one. Does anyone here know how to find out if they do?

TIA

Which version of Unbutu to install?

ingramje30 — Mon, 21 May 2007 23:46:27 GMT

Hello,

I've got an XPS 410 with a 2.13 Ghz Core Duo 2 CPU and 1.5Gig MB of RAM and was wondering which version of Ubuntu should I download. Is there any advantage to installing the 64-Bit version? Is there a disadvantage to installing it? Which one would run faster? Also, I'd be installing in through VMware and I'm running the 32bit version of Vista Home. Is there a conflict with the 64bit version of Ubuntu?

Thanks,

Jeff

Only 20 more days until Open Source Linux Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Alpha 1!

kevpan815 — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 03:59:15 GMT

Go 2 http://cdimage.ubuntu.com on December 10th, 2009, in order 2 download Open Source Linux Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Alpha 1. New Alpha And Beta Tester's are always welcomed in the Ubuntu Forums on Ubuntu.com.

ActiveSync on a Windows 7 machine?

maleone — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 23:14:45 GMT

I have an older Dell Axim X5 PDA, and I've been able to use it with my Windows XP machine for a long time. I'm building a new Windows 7 computer, and the Microsoft site says that ActiveSync won't work. What synch software is the best choice to replace it, or should I try to 'force' the new computer to recognize and use Active Sync?

'Base System Device' driver

yuveesp — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:08:31 GMT

Hello,

I recently installed Windows 7 on my studio 1435. All the drivers were installed correctly but the 'Base System Device' driver couldn't be installed. I tried the 'Search Automatically for the updated driver software' option but no driver could be found. where can I find the 'Base System Device' driver?

Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) 2 Duo CPU

OS: 64 bit

Ubuntu 9.10 Dell factory Recovery ISO link

RobinBredin — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 16:25:23 GMT

Hi, What it is, i have gone and lost the link for the Ubuntu 9.10 Dell Factory Recovery ISO link. I know it's 1.3GB in size, but I cant find it.

Need dial up modem for Ubuntu 7.04

chast — Thu, 24 May 2007 05:48:39 GMT

I just installed Ubuntu 7.04 on my 5150 Inspiron and so for it working fine. A great dual boot setup.

It has a full version of openoffice.org 2.2, which I was already using on windows XP, so this is proving a very pleasant experience. My only problem is the Conexant modem is not compatible with linux. I tried the only hsf linux driver available, even though my modem numbers were not an exact match, and it did not work.

Any one know of a good retail PC card modem that will work with Ubuntu 7.04 linux? I don't have a serial port on this 5150, so the only other possibility is a usb modem.

5150 Inspiron (with the center clips cut off back panel "C" to prevent MB dammage) :)
Windows XP Pro and Ubuntu 7,04
Original Phoenix Bios 0

725 printer driver? (Ubuntu)

IAmNoodle — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 14:24:42 GMT

Hi. I'm trying to get a 725 printer installed on my Ubuntu Linux system, but there doesn't seem to be a driver for it. Obviously I don't want (nor afford) to buy a new printer. What can I do? (bear in mind I'm not that experienced, so I'll be grateful if you could talk me through a solution)

Cheers for any help

DELL MINI UBUNTU

rcbarrett88 — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 19:08:41 GMT

I HAVE JUST TAKEN DELIVERY OF A DELL MINI WITH UBUNTU 8.04 THE UPDATE MANAGER TELLS ME THERE ARE UPDATES TO INSTALL

AFTER DOWNLOADING UPDATES IT TRIES TO INSTALL THEM BUT FAILS DUE TO ERRORS, ITS THE SAME TRYING TO INSTALL ANY SOFTWARE IT DOWN LOADS BUT CANNOT INSTALL DUE TO ERRORS

DOES ANYBODY KNOW WHAT THE PROBLEM MIGHT BE

REGARDS

How to restore proprietary sound card drivers after Ubuntu upgrade

rabroersma — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 04:57:55 GMT

I see that I am not the only person facing this issue:

http://en.community.dell.com/forums/p/19241984/19370296.aspx#19370296

I have exactly the same scenario as the person that posted this link. The only difference with me is that I postponed my Ubuntu upgrade to 8.04 until the time where the version I was running was clearly no longer supported.

I'm not a Linux kernel expert, I just an ordinary laptop user, so I'd rather not spend countless hours tweaking my system in hopes that I might get lucky with a non-standard configuration.

I hope I don't sound too negative, I'm become a little frustrated.

Isn't there a way to get the proprietary drivers that DELL bundled with its Ubuntu laptops? Has Dell produced any non-vanilla Ubuntu upgrade CDs?

Dell_X02 and upgrades

bobcollard — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 02:24:57 GMT

I bought a Dell Inspiron 1545 about six months ago and the first thing I did was trash Microsoft Vista and install Ubuntu.. At that time I think Dell offered Linux in version 8.10 while Ubuntu was up to 9.04. I've kept abreast of Ubuntu and Kubuntu and their problems with WIFI until I finally had to give up or find something better. On a forum in Ubuntu for Dell I found a reference for version 9.04 with a Dell recovery disk. I followed my nose and found the 9.10 version before they pulled it and downloaded it. I'm in love with this version. You should make it available to all your computer owners. I have upgraded it with Kubuntu Desktop and KDE 4.3.3 and it is spinning a cube on my desktop.

Installing Red Hat Linux hung up

phoenixdragon — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 10:13:30 GMT

I have a Dell Inspiron 1520 and when I tried to install Linux it hung up with the message:

ide0 at 0x1f0-0x1f7,0x3f6 on irq14

Any one can offer a solution to this problem to enable to carry on Linux installation?

Thanks.

Options for virtualization with Linux and Windows?

jmeyers777 — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:59:12 GMT

Hello!

I'm looking into ordering a new desktop system, and want to wind up with a virtualized setup with Linux (flexible on distro) plus Windows (7 or XP) installed. What are the options for getting up and running? What are the preinstalled options from Dell? For example, can I order a system with ESXi installed and Windows 7 as the host OS? Ubuntu as host OS?

What if I'm feeling lazy and just wanted Dell to ship a system preinstalled with the whole setup?

Thanks!

DELL DIMENSION E310

jamminsnickers — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:34:15 GMT

put a new hard drive in and i cant get toontown. Everything else works like club penguin and other kids games. Does anyone have solution, do i have to buy one? This dad getting hounded by 9 year old. HELP

Upgrade Ubuntu from 8.04 to 9.04

micromanjc — Sat, 09 May 2009 15:29:09 GMT

How can I upgrade Ubuntu 8.04 on my Mini 9 to 9.04 without lossing file, programs and setups. Update manager does not acknowledge 8.10 or 9.04 as up grade options.

How do I remove a watermark

ahaun — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 18:15:25 GMT

The usual ways don't work???

Upgrade from dell 9.04 to 9.10

Tank0025 — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:12:55 GMT

after upgrading to dell ubuntu 9.04 iso I attempted via update manager to upgrade to 9.10, was asked during upgrade if i wanted to keep dell image being new to ubuntu didn't no what to says so pressed continue and received various error messages after install, is thier anything I should be doing to just get clean upgrade to 9.10

xps M1730 mic not present - SOLVED

mnatiello — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 16:01:45 GMT

I'm running ALSA, latest version on SUSE 11.1 on an xps M1730. I cannot find the mic controls on any mixer.

Neither the internal mic, nor the external. Consequently I cannot record, not use Skype, etc. Audio output works fine.

Following a troubleshooting suggestion I added the model=dell-3stack to the options on

/etc/modprobe.d/sound with no result.

Any suggestions? Yours,

MNATIELLO

NOTE: 2009-nov-10: Using model=dell-bios solves the issue.

Dell Integrated WebCam Drivers for Vostro 1320?

shriniketsarkar — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 05:31:38 GMT

Hi guys,

I am running ubuntu 9.04 on my vostro 1320 and it runs superb. All i want now is drivers for the webcam as i need to use it now.

Is there a way to get the webcam up and running in ubuntu on vostro 1320 .

Does the DELL Ubuntu team have support for this webcam ?

Regards,

Shriniket Sarkar

Ubuntu 9.10 recovery media

witeshark17 — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 21:42:29 GMT

After upgrading my Dell Inspiron from Ubuntu 9.04 (Dell pre-installed) to 9.10, I am prevented from making a recovery DVD by a message about freedesktop.org and ".service files"

WUBI Ununtu 9.10 and monitor error

eyore15 — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:18:25 GMT

I've been running WUBI Ubuntu successfully on a GX270 with an E176PC LCD monitor. After completing the most recent upgrade to 9.10, I have developed a problem with monitor resolution. Prior to the upgrade, the monitor resolution was 1024 X768. Now the best resolution available is 800X600. Is there anyway to restore resolution to its pre-9.10 options?

tnx

mcm

R710 with OpenSuSE 11.1 64bit hangs itself

jwillemsen — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 09:45:23 GMT

When installing OpenSuSE 11.1 64bit on a brand new R710 we see that the network drivers hang the system after hours of operation. The switch is not usable anymore and the system doesn't respond anymore. Unplugging all network cables brings the system back in a normal state, plugging them in works but after some hours the network goes wild again. When installing 32bit on the system it runs fine. Anyone an idea? We installed the latest drivers from the Dell website. The compile fine, no errors. Also kernel logs don't show any error.

Linux and Dell all-in-one printers

Darrell Lawrence — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 09:21:19 GMT

First, I want to say thank you to Dell for offering PCs with Ubuntu preloaded. I have a Dell Dimension XPS M1530 laptop on order with Ubuntu 8.04 preloaded, which should be delivered about September 11. I already use Ubuntu 8.04 on my current, 6yr old Compaq laptop as my sole operating system, so Linux and Ubuntu are not new to me. The new laptop should be a powerhouse, and I can hardly wait to get my hands on it.

At the same time I ordered a Dell V305w all-in-one printer. The printer already arrived, so I set it up with my current laptop. Try as I may, I could not find a way to get the V305w to work with Ubuntu, so I had to request a return for the printer, and then by a HP F4280 all-in-one, which I know will easily run under Linux.

The V305w was certainly a very nice printer. I had added bluetooth support to it, and very much regret that I had to return it. Since all-in-one printers are becoming quite popular, and Dell is selling PCs with Linux preloaded, I hope that Dell will consider developing Linux drivers for their all-in-ones.

Darrell

Message Edited by Darrell Lawrence on 09-03-2008 11:35 PM

Conexant Modem Driver for Karmic

habib_seif — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 10:31:17 GMT

Hello dear friends,

Dell Supported modem driver doesn't work on Ubuntu Karmic. After installing the driver, the computer complains about hsfconfig command. More detailed info can be found here:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1308328&highlight=conexant

Any suggestion?

Cheers,

Habib

Will PC Restore remove Ubuntu installation?

trb456 — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 22:42:33 GMT

I have a Dell Studio XPS with Vista Ultimate. I installed Ubuntu 9.04 with no issues. I now want to completely remove Ubuntu. I only used the laptop to experiment with Linux, so a complete restore to factory condition would be fine with me. The question is whether the Dell PC Restore function completely restores the hard drive to original factory condition. This is a technical question: I need to know if PC Restore both fixes the Master Boot Record back to the original state (thus removing GRUB), and then reformats the hard drive to eliminate all the Linux partitions and restores the original full sized Vista partition. The online Dell instructions seem to indicate yes, but I'd really appreciate hearing from someone who knows this for a fact. What I fear is doing a PC Restore that leaves all the Linux stuff intact, thus really messing up the laptop. Thanks for any help--trb456

dkms kernel upgrade installed-weak

sjelle — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 13:57:26 GMT

We have a Dell R710 originally installed with RHEL 5.3 Kernel 2.6.18-128.el5. We have an MD3000 attached and have installed the DKMS Dell drivers for mptlinux, linuxrdac.

We then upgraded the kernel to 2.6.18-128.4.1. Initially we could not talk to the MD3000 at all. We re-installed the drivers Dell drivers. Everything is working, but “dkms status|grep -i weak” shows that drivers dkms kernel module drivers are installed-weak.

- Is this an issue?
- How to we correct this?
- It has been suggested that we use grub to boot back to the prior kernel and issue “dkms match –k 2.6.18-128.4.1.el5 –templatekernel 2.6.18-128.el5”. Is this a good idea?
- What is the proper procedure we should do for the next kernel update (when we are using dkms)?

Thanks
sjelle

[root@xxxx dkms]# dkms status|grep -i weak
linuxrdac, 09.03.0C06.0030, 2.6.18-128.el5, x86_64: installed-weak from 2.6.18-128.4.1.el5
mptlinux, 4.00.38.02, 2.6.18-128.4.1.el5, x86_64: installed-weak from 2.6.18-128.el5
sg, 3.5.34dell, 2.6.18-128.4.1.el5, x86_64: installed-weak from 2.6.18-128.el5
ioatdma, 3.59, 2.6.18-128.4.1.el5, x86_64: installed-weak from 2.6.18-128.el5
netxtreme2, 4.8.21, 2.6.18-128.4.1.el5, x86_64: installed-weak from 2.6.18-128.el5
e1000e, 0.5.11.2, 2.6.18-128.4.1.el5, x86_64: installed-weak from 2.6.18-128.el5
bnx2i, 1.6.2, 2.6.18-128.4.1.el5, x86_64: installed-weak from 2.6.18-128.el5
ixgbe, 1.3.56.11, 2.6.18-128.4.1.el5, x86_64: installed-weak from 2.6.18-128.el5
igb, 1.3.8.6, 2.6.18-128.4.1.el5, x86_64: installed-weak from 2.6.18-128.el5

Compatibility of Vostro 1320 and Ubuntu

wfitzgerald — Mon, 11 May 2009 14:26:15 GMT

Has anyone had any experience with installing Ubuntu on a Vostro 1320?

I plan on purchasing one and would like to know in advance if there are known issues?

My guess is that Ubuntu shall work seamlessly with this model.

Link below to Irish Spec of the Vostro

http://ireland.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/laptop-vostro-1320?c=ie&l=en&s=bsd&cs=iebsdt1

PS: I have Ubuntu 8.04 running seamlessly on a Latitude D510 and Ubuntu 9.04 on a Inspiron 6400

regards,

Will.

Failure to copy hard drive using disk imaging utility

Supernevis — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 03:16:39 GMT

My PC is Dimension E310; I run Windows XP.

I recently installed Paragon Drive Copy 9.0 Personal, a disk imaging utility.

I have attempted to copy my hard drive to an external hard drive using this utility but have received the following message:

"This disk cannot be copied. Depending on your system configuration and hardware, some disks can be

unavailable for the program "( meaning Paragon Drive Copy )

Does this mean that Dell has ensured that my hard drive cannot be copied by any disk imaging utility or is

there something I can do to correct the situation?

Thanks

linux on 537s

jimmygoogle — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 00:42:40 GMT

I bought an Inspiron 537s with the hopes I could wipe out windows and install centos (its not going to be used a desktop). It boots fine from my dvd and it tries to start the install but then the blue install screen is just all garbled and it hangs. I also tried tried 'linux noprobe' and the screen doesnt garble but the install hangs when it asks me to pick a language. Anyone have any experience with this or have an ideas I can try?

Latitude On + MS Remote Desktop

Mamanze — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 20:21:44 GMT

Any info on if it is possible to use RDP from Latitude On?

enable 3-D acceleration

anonimous — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:45:14 GMT

I've installed Ubuntu 9.04 with Gnome on the Desktop DELL Optiplex GX270 (NOT Tower) with the graphic card Intel(R) 82865G.

Video Drivers were installed automatically, but the 3-D acceleration doesn't work.
Howto enable 3-D acceleration for this graphic card?

Dell Precision NUMA support

joekrahn — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 19:50:50 GMT

I found a solution for getting NUMA to work on Dell Precision, and perhaps other Dell hardware. I have some Dell Precision systems, and could not get NUMA support working in Linux. I found that the kernel option acpi=rsdt fixes the NUMA problem. By default, Linux uses the XSDT table, which is a replacement for RSDT. Either the XSDT table has an error, or Linux is parsing it incorrectly. Fortunately, the RSDT table seems to work.

BIOS updates for Linux users

ToeBee — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 22:41:00 GMT

I recently got an optiplex 760 at work and installed Ubuntu on it. I initially ran into what turned out to be a BIOS bug. The details of the bug can be seen here: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/348694 The short of it is that when C-States control is enabled in the BIOS and you are using a tickless kernel (as recent Ubuntu liveCDs do) the CPU goes to sleep and doesn't wake up unless there is a hardware interrupt (such as pushing the power button). This leads to an essentially unbootable system without some tweaking which results in reduced power saving capabilities.

I found a way around it (setting the nohz=off kernel param) however I would prefer to update the BIOS to version A03. The problem is that the A03 version is only available as a windows .exe update. I tried using Dell's biosdisk to create an image but the update is 2.4MB and the FreeDOS image that biosdisk uses to generate the bootable image is only 1.5MB in size so it doesn't work.

Next I found this wiki page and tried to use libsmbios, only to find that Dell has yet to post the A03 .hdr BIOS update at the referenced site (http://linux.dell.com/repo/firmware/bios-hdrs/). The A02 update (which this unit shipped with) as well as earlier ones are available so it looks like Dell does intend to support this model but maybe they just haven't gotten around to posting the new one yet. The system ID for this model is 0x027F

I guess I'm kind of hoping someone from Dell sees this and is able to get the A03 update posted in .hdr format. Failing that, are there any other options to update the BIOS without installing windows? It might be possible to either expand the FreeDOS image or get a bigger one to use with biosdisk. I will have to look at that some more tomorrow.

Toby

Dell Mini 10 with Ubuntu 8.04 OS freezes

sorgemcon — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 16:51:46 GMT

Hi, I'm hoping someone here can help me. I've just spent two and a half hours waiting on hold for Dell's Ubuntu support team before giving up and trying to get some help here.

My 9 year old daughter bought a Dell Mini 10 once she had saved up enough birthday money in June 2009. It came with Ubuntu 8.04 OS pre-installed. I should have made sure that she had Windows as the OS but she wanted to order herself. My mistake.

The problem is that this laptop has NEVER worked. First the sound did not work - I contacted Dell who told me that it needed an external disk drive (can't remember what their justification was now) so I duly purchased one. Since then the laptop keeps freezing - I actually don't know if the sound is fixed as the keyboard freezes after about 1 minute of use. Ctrl-Alt-Del doesn't even work.

I want to return the laptop and either get a refund or get Ubuntu removed and Windows installed. My daughter has never been able to use this.

I'm really at my wits end because Dell Customer Support have been so unhelpful. They kept transferring me to the Ubuntu call queue. I really believe that this number cannot be manned - it is just not answered.

Any advice appreciated.

Inspiron 1525: Vista, Ubuntu, dual-boot?

lko — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 01:25:05 GMT

I have an Inspiron 1525 with Vista Home Premium as installed at the factory. What I'd like to do is dual boot the laptop with Ubuntu. I've done this before with other machines, and normally you'd just install Ubuntu and it nicely handles the dual-booting. But, evidently there's a wrinkle with the 1525: the Media Direct button. Googling indicates that it's very hard to dual-boot a 1525 without Media Direct, or pressing the Media Direct button, messing up the system. Since I have the factory recovery disks, I am willing to completely reformat the drive, which currenltly has the recovery partition, the Dell Utility partition, the Vista partition, and the Media Direct partition.

Has anyone come up with a safe way to dual-boot Vista and Ubuntu, where pressing the Media Direct button while suspended or powered off won't trash the system? Ideally I'd like to leave the recovery partition and Dell Utility partition intact, remove the Media Direct partition, shrink the Vista partition in half and install Ubuntu in the released space.

how 2 connect internet on ubuntu

manojmalik100 — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 12:28:53 GMT

i got a ubuntu 9.04 cd from ubuntu. i run it on my 1525.it runs ok but no sound ,video. it asks for plugin from net, but i not able 2 make my broadband dialup as easy in windows. it ask ip add. proxy setting etc.n i dont how 2 configure them

pls help me b'cas ubuntu is my dream

lost "administrator user account"

chicdol — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 15:21:03 GMT

hi ......while setting up parental control .................
by mistake, i made both user accounts to "standard user account", so that blocked me to change or control the computer.
it doesn't even allow me add another account to make "administrator user account", since i don't have administrator user account. it keep asking me for the administrator's password with a box that i can't even type...
in this case, do i have to reinstall the system or is there any better, faster, simple, easily way?
thank you for your prompt respond.....

Lost installtion disk

zivperry — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 07:28:08 GMT

Hi all,

I have Dell mini 12 with ubuntu (8.04). I need to reinstall the operation system, but i can't found the installation CD I've got with the mini-laptop.
Any idea where I can download it again...? (I search all the support sections in Dell site and found nothing...)

Thanks in advanced,

Any way to update the BIOS for Mini 9 running Ubuntu?

ismism — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 17:02:10 GMT

The only file(s) that appear to be available for updating the BIOS on the Inspiron Mini 9 is for Windoze. Is there any way to update the BIOS for an Ubuntu system?

E: dpkg was interrupted, you must manually run 'dpkg --configure -a' to correct the problem.

prukop — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 19:11:18 GMT

It also said E:_cache->open()failed.please report

I received my new Inspiron 910 with Ubuntu just a couple of days ago and ran Update Manager last night. It showed 344 updates, which have apparently used up all my memory now before it could complete. I'm new to Ubuntu and Dell, but fairly fluent with Windows so the number of updates did not surprise me. Eventually the system locked up and I had to restart. I now get the following error message. I am also unable to connect to my network, which was not a problem before.

E: dpkg was interrupted, you must manually run 'dpkg --configure -a' to correct the problem. E:_cache->open()failed.please report

I found this error in a post from 2007 with a solution to enter the command

sudo dpkg --configure -a

but am unable to figure out how to GET to the command line. Help!

Inspiron 1520 - Fan is erratic, not cooling properly

bendavis78 — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 04:10:01 GMT

I have Ubuntu Jaunty installed on the 1520 (not officially supported, I know, but I wanted to see if I could still get some tips), I've installed the i8k utilities (e.g., i8fan). Sometimes my laptop seems to get really hot. When I run i8kfan by typing "i8kfan 2 2" to turn the fan up all the way, it seems to only stay on for a second or two. So I tried running the i8kmon daemon, and it seems like it is fighing with the bios over the speed at which to keep the fan, so the fan speed goes up and down over and over again every couple of seconds.

Has anyone else experienced this? Is there a solution?

Official Dell Mini Ubuntu upgrade to 9.04?

archiesteel — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 20:01:01 GMT

Hi everyone!

I recently purchased a Dell Mini 10v (love it!) which came pre-installed with Dell's optimized version of Ubuntu 8.04 LTS.

Since then, Dell has announced its netbooks would soon ship with Ubuntu 9.04. My question is: will there be a way for people who bought their Minis with 8.04 to upgrade to the new "official" Dell version of 9.04? What will the upgrade method be?

Finally, how can we be notified of when this upgrade will be possible (if at all)?

If anybody knows the answers to these questions, it would be highly appreciated!

Live Linux Chat - Now Open

DELL-JohnH — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 18:01:15 GMT

Hi, it's John Hull, manager of the Linux Engineering team at Dell here in Austin. Among other things, my team is responsible for delivering Ubuntu 7.04 on our consumer systems. I'm here and ready to start answering some questions.

Inspiron 1545 fan

zanfr — Mon, 11 May 2009 11:44:41 GMT

Hi,

I have just received my new 1545 and installed Intrepid on it (not insterested in vista at all) and to my surprise i noticed the fan stays completely off until the temperature reaches around 65C and then stops when it drops to around 55C (i think). I dont know if this is normal; but it worries me quite a bit that the temperature always goes up and down because of the bursts of the fan (as opposed to a constant low level spin of the fan).

I tried i8k; the fan speeds are displayed... but adjusting fan speeds fail no matter what...

at this point i have a few options:

- ask some Dell engineer if such fan behaviour and system temperature is normal and trust him/her

- wait for some hypothetical BIOS update to allow fan control (either thru i8k or BIOS settings)

- wait for some hypothetical patch to i8k

- pray the laptop doesnt burn itself to death due to a sily BIOS/i8k problem

- send back the unit as faulty

- buy a laptop cooler (urgh... especially on a new machine)

any ideas ?

Audio over HDMI (DisplayPort) on E6500

Se7enLC — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 20:46:15 GMT

Digital audio output over HDMI (via DP to HDMI converter) works fine out of the box in Vista on my Latitude E6500. Does not work at all in linux (only the single analog headphone output is listed as available outputs). I've tried a number of things, including different kernel versions, different alsa versions, different nVidia driver versions (I have the nvidia model of this laptop) and manually selecting model options for the alsa driver. Using the display over the DisplayPort works perfectly fine. Anybody have any suggestions or know if it's being worked on?

Please don't reply just to say "works in windows" (i know), "never tried it but it should work fine" (not helpful), "what is a DisplayPort?" (def not helpful), or "HDMI doesn't do audio" (not true).

Boot

CHET WINTERS — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 01:32:26 GMT

I get logo and then blinking cursor. Using the F12 - does not always work. It takes many, many attempts, but it finanally connected. What is the problem and how can I correct?