DELL XPS PP28L problems - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: simon christo
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 03, 2019, 09:29:19 am
content: Hi there.I have a DELL XPS PP28L laptop and it has it's fair share of problems to say the least.It used to work fine,until the battery went flat.Now it sometimes boots up the DELL screen and then goes on to load Ubuntu,and sometimes it doesn't even load up the DELL title screen.Even if it does a succesfull boot up themouse pointer most of the time locks up and can't be moved with the internal mouse pointer.AddmittantlyUbuntu always came up saying there is a problem, but now it's so bad that I can't even use the mouse!Before the mouse locks up, videos of MP4 about 10 minutes long, used to only play for around2 minutes and then freeze and making all sorts of wierd noises, but at least it would be able to turn it offvia Ubuntu without any troubles, but now the mouse is 10% moveable and the rest of the time it freezes.Because the OS has basically frozen, how can I install the latest copy of either Windows or Ubuntu onthe HDD without using the DELL itself.Thanks Simon.

author: Ampera
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 03, 2019, 02:42:29 pm
content: Let me start with the nice and helpful things to say about what you just, er, typed.Some laptops (no clue about this one) relied on the main battery to keep things loaded in volatile RAM for BIOS settings. Some laptops now use NVRAM, and only need the battery for the RTC, but I'd just check to make sure that the BIOS options aren't being reset every time the laptop is being powered off.I'd say reinstall Ubuntu fresh, or better yet use a minimal distro (Ubuntu Server if you wish you keep to Ubuntu), and install X and drivers appropriately for your system, along with whatever you need manually. This requires Linux experience. You could also try the version of Windows the laptop originally shipped with, to ensure that it's not an issue with Linux.I'd also crack the thing open and replace the thermal interface material (thermal paste/pad) on the CPU (and GPU if there is a separate one). This will almost definitely have dried and cracked, and lost its ability to fluently transfer heat. A good clean would also help, most laptops have thermal issues, especially after time.Now let me get to the complaints.This is written in possibly the most hostile, annoying, and uncomfortable manner possible for someone who potentially would like to help you. You're already pushing the topics a bit here by talking about a semi-modern laptop in a section (intended to be) about old computers, in an EE forum, with 7 posts. Add spacing between some lines, and don't start a new line three times a sentence. It's just an annoying and hard to parse block of letters.I have a sense that this was lazily shoved through Google Translate, which makes the decision to post this /here/ even crazier. Surely you speak some language better than you speak English, and surely, somewhere there is a computing forum in that language that could help you better than us.The mouse is 10% movable? Is your mousepad made of molasses?

author: Rasz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 04, 2019, 04:07:21 am
content: >NVIDIA Geforce 8600m GTits not vintage, its garbage, this is uneconomic to repair

author: ebastler
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 04, 2019, 05:54:22 am
content: Quote from: Ampera on May 03, 2019, 02:42:29 pmI agree that the text is hard to read. But I think that Simon is simply inexperienced with (longer) typewritten texts. I have no complaints about the English, and it certainly does not look machine-translated. It's just the typography which makes it seem awkward.@Simon: Three simple suggestions for typesetting, which will make your texts easier to read:When you start a new paragraph, usetwocarriage returns (i.e. insert an empty line). You can additionally indent the first line of the new paragraph, as you have done with a couple of spaces, but you don't have to and it is not commonly done in texts like forum posts.Within a paragraph, donotuse any carriage returns. People will be reading your post on screens of different width. Let the web browser take care of line breaks automatically when it displays the text.After each period (which ends a sentence), insert a space.

author: Ampera
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 05, 2019, 12:12:21 pm
content: Quote from: Rasz on May 04, 2019, 04:07:21 amMy tablet is faster than that.By around 3-4 times.

author: Rasz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 05, 2019, 09:17:21 pm
content: Quote from: Ampera on May 05, 2019, 12:12:21 pmI wasnt even talking speed, this GPU is factory defective, and there are no real fixe replacements available

author: Ampera
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 06, 2019, 12:05:46 pm
content: What's the problem with it?

author: ebastler
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 06, 2019, 01:21:33 pm
content: Quote from: Ampera on May 06, 2019, 12:05:46 pmThis chip was manufactured with some packaging/substrate defect, causing a lot of them to overheat and fail early. This got most attention in 2008/2009 in the context of Apple's Macbook Pro, which used that chip. However, the problem was not specific to the way Apple used this GPU, but rather inherent in the GPU packaging.