Dell D630... none of the drivers work?

[DanSolo]

I got a Dell D630 but I decided to switch from XP Home to XP Pro. Now
none of the drivers from dell.com work. They all give a "drivers
cannot be found for the installed device" error. The main ones I want
to install are the WiFi and the 135M graphics card. I had no problem
with the Bluetooth or Sound drivers though. Even if I try go go back
to the XP Home disk it shipped with I can't seem to get the "latest"
drivers to work.
I've shoved an old PCI WiFi card into it and installed that no
problem, so at least I'm online. Does anyone know why this might be
happening? I'm getting the drivers from:
http://support.dell.com/support/dow...mID=LATITUDE D630&os=WW1&osl=en&catid=&impid=
Thanks guys!

 

[Paul]

I got a Dell D630 but I decided to switch from XP Home to XP Pro. Now
none of the drivers from dell.com work. They all give a "drivers
cannot be found for the installed device" error. The main ones I want
to install are the WiFi and the 135M graphics card. I had no problem
with the Bluetooth or Sound drivers though. Even if I try go go back
to the XP Home disk it shipped with I can't seem to get the "latest"
drivers to work.
I've shoved an old PCI WiFi card into it and installed that no
problem, so at least I'm online. Does anyone know why this might be
happening? I'm getting the drivers from:
http://support.dell.com/support/dow...mID=LATITUDE D630&os=WW1&osl=en&catid=&impid=
Thanks guys!

When I install drivers, I try to keep them in a folder called "installed",
as that makes it easier to keep track of what I did later.

For starters, I'd want the "chipset" driver, as that helps get the
major stuff on the chipset to enumerate properly in Device Manager.
For very old chipsets, that can be included with the OS. For recent
stuff like the GM965, then it won't be included with the OS, so
it should be installed separately.

To gather VID/PID information, I might try Everest or Sisoftware Sandra.

Everest (last free version - commercial updated ones come from Lavalys.com)
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4181.html

SiSoftware Sandra (click bottom of left column, to download Lite version)
http://www.sisoftware.co.uk/index.html?dir=&location=downandbuy&langx=en&a=

To decode the VID/PID information, I'd look in this list, if Everest
won't list what a device is. The lists are not official, and the info
is collected by hand. (Official registries are kept secret, to protect
IP and product announcements etc.)

http://pciids.sourceforge.net/pci.ids

There is a list for USB devices as well.

http://linux-usb.sourceforge.net/usb.ids

There are also commercial "driver installer" programs, but I
have no idea how well something like that works.

The .inf file in a driver package, will contain lines for
the VID/PID and SUBSYS, and those have to match some hardware,
for the installer to do something. There can be other
reasons for installers to fail, such as a locked section of
registry. But then you get an informative message, such as
"The data is invalid".

Figuring it out, will require some basic comparisons of
the hardware in the box, versus the hardware listed in
the .inf file. On some of the Wifi stuff, it can be
impossible to figure out, because an extra level of
identification is used, below the level of what is
available in the .inf file. That covers different
applications of some of the wireless chipsets, and I guess
they felt like breaking the rules.

Your 135M graphics should have been a more normal install,
so maybe that one will be easier to figure out. The NVDM.INF
file contains a list of hardware for the installer. (Look
in the R180876 folder.) According to the pci.ids, DEV_042B
(of which there are only two entries), are the most likely
candidates for a match.

Paul

 

[DanSolo]

For starters, I'd want the "chipset" driver, as that helps get the
major stuff on the chipset to enumerate properly in Device Manager.
For very old chipsets, that can be included with the OS. For recent
stuff like the GM965, then it won't be included with the OS, so
it should be installed separately.

OK, that makes sense. If the chipset driver is wrong then the hardware
won't even be recognised properly. I'll give it a bash and report
back.
Ta!

 

[Big_Al]

When I install drivers, I try to keep them in a folder called "installed",
as that makes it easier to keep track of what I did later.

For starters, I'd want the "chipset" driver, as that helps get the
major stuff on the chipset to enumerate properly in Device Manager.
For very old chipsets, that can be included with the OS. For recent
stuff like the GM965, then it won't be included with the OS, so
it should be installed separately.

To gather VID/PID information, I might try Everest or Sisoftware Sandra.

Everest (last free version - commercial updated ones come from Lavalys.com)
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4181.html

SiSoftware Sandra (click bottom of left column, to download Lite version)
http://www.sisoftware.co.uk/index.html?dir=&location=downandbuy&langx=en&a=

To decode the VID/PID information, I'd look in this list, if Everest
won't list what a device is. The lists are not official, and the info
is collected by hand. (Official registries are kept secret, to protect
IP and product announcements etc.)

http://pciids.sourceforge.net/pci.ids

There is a list for USB devices as well.

http://linux-usb.sourceforge.net/usb.ids

There are also commercial "driver installer" programs, but I
have no idea how well something like that works.

The .inf file in a driver package, will contain lines for
the VID/PID and SUBSYS, and those have to match some hardware,
for the installer to do something. There can be other
reasons for installers to fail, such as a locked section of
registry. But then you get an informative message, such as
"The data is invalid".

Figuring it out, will require some basic comparisons of
the hardware in the box, versus the hardware listed in
the .inf file. On some of the Wifi stuff, it can be
impossible to figure out, because an extra level of
identification is used, below the level of what is
available in the .inf file. That covers different
applications of some of the wireless chipsets, and I guess
they felt like breaking the rules.

Your 135M graphics should have been a more normal install,
so maybe that one will be easier to figure out. The NVDM.INF
file contains a list of hardware for the installer. (Look
in the R180876 folder.) According to the pci.ids, DEV_042B
(of which there are only two entries), are the most likely
candidates for a match.

Paul

Paul:
To reword your response above, do I take it from your info here, that
these utilities, everest and sisoftware can be used to assist you in
finding that obscure device listed in device manager with the yellow ?
in it and find out what it is? I don't have an issue, but you never
know what next year holds for me.

 

[DanSolo]

No go I'm afraid. I'm still short an Ethernet Controller and a Network
Controller on my Device Manager. There's no sign at all of an
uninstalled video adaptor on that list? Should I open up the laptop
and see if there's a 135M card in there at all?

 

[Paul]

No go I'm afraid. I'm still short an Ethernet Controller and a Network
Controller on my Device Manager. There's no sign at all of an
uninstalled video adaptor on that list? Should I open up the laptop
and see if there's a 135M card in there at all?

What does Everest see in there ?

The 965GM chipset, could have built-in graphics support,
and in a low end laptop, that is enough to drive the screen.

As the price of the laptop goes up, more capable additional
GPU devices may be added.

An addition GPU can be soldered to the motherboard (meaning
it is fixed in place), or for high end laptops, there may be
an MXM slot, to install the GPU on its little card.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MXM

If I look at the specs here, the motherboard of the laptop
gets 965GM (i.e. built-in graphics in Intel Northbridge),
or they use a combination of 965PM (no graphics) plus
the Nvidia 135M. So looking with Everest or Sandra, may
hint at either 965GM or the (965PM + NVS 135M) combo.

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/latd630/en/UG/specs.htm

Laptop manufacturers have a base model number, and can vary
the configuration depending on the region of the world,
the local market conditions and so on. You have to
rely on enumeration, to give you some idea what is in
there, if you never had any detailed docs to go with the
product.

Something else I should mention, is you can disable hardware
in the BIOS, so if an item is not showing in Device Manager,
it could be that the OS really cannot see it at all. The BIOS
setting can do that.

Paul

 

[Paul]

Paul:
To reword your response above, do I take it from your info here, that
these utilities, everest and sisoftware can be used to assist you in
finding that obscure device listed in device manager with the yellow ?
in it and find out what it is? I don't have an issue, but you never
know what next year holds for me.

Well, I'm a hardware guy, and if I cannot figure out a way to get
the OS to identify exactly what it is looking for, then I search for
a utility that can identify the hardware. By comparing the things
that do have drivers, in Device Manager, to the list of everything
seen in Everest, sometimes it is possible to identify what is
missing.

To give you an example, I currently have a CMI8738 based sound
card in my computer. One day, my sound disappeared, and so did
the Device Manager entry. By using Everest, I could see a
"mystery device" on the PCI bus, where the VID/PID were off
by one binary digit. The conclusion ? The card was not making
good contact with the PCI slot it was in. Reseating the card,
brought my sound back. So that is an example of the kind of
thing I'd use Everest for.

Another good source of info, is when a Linux user dumps their
"dmesg" info, into a USENET posting. If a commercial computer
has a fixed hardware configuration, I can use that as a
reference listing of hardware, and suggest to someone who
needs drivers, what to look for. Linux has "dmesg", and it
also has "lspci" and "lsusb". In their way, they're equivalent
to Everest and UVCView, in the info they can dig up.

Some devices are hard to deal with, because the lowest level
of enumerable info, is not handled in a standard way. Some
Wifi devices are confusing that way. Also, I've had trouble
making sense of USB webcams - they consist of a USB chip and
a sensor chip, and it is possible to mix and match them in
a variety of combinations. Some hardware devices support
changing their internal identity info, which makes a joke
out of enumeration. For USB webcams, I don't suggest buying
one, unless it comes with an actual driver CD. A USB webcam
by itself, could well be absolutely worthless.

Paul

 

[DanSolo]

What does Everest see in there ?

Thanks for the hints Paul. The free Everest had trouble even
recognising the processor so I'm not sure if it'd be very reliable. It
didn't find the Nvidia 135M that's supposed to be in there though,
seemingly just two instances of the Integrated Graphics chipset.

gets 965GM (i.e. built-in graphics in Intel Northbridge),
or they use a combination of 965PM (no graphics) plus
the Nvidia 135M. So looking with Everest or Sandra, may
hint at either 965GM or the (965PM + NVS 135M) combo.

Hmm, now I check it's not very clear if they ALL ship with the 135M.
Can it "feature" it without having it?

"Latitude D630 features integrated graphics solution from Intel and
discrete graphics from nVidia
If you require high performance graphics for CAD, Image & Video
Editing please consider the portable Precision Models.
Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100 (up to 256 shared)
nVidia Quadro NVS 135M (128 MB on board graphics memory)"

Laptop manufacturers have a base model number, and can vary
the configuration depending on the region of the world,

I've been going by the part number on the base when prompted at the
dell site

Something else I should mention, is you can disable hardware
in the BIOS, so if an item is not showing in Device Manager,

I certainly checked the WiFi was enabled when I changed to boot media
order.

Thanks!

 

[Paul]

Thanks for the hints Paul. The free Everest had trouble even
recognising the processor so I'm not sure if it'd be very reliable. It
didn't find the Nvidia 135M that's supposed to be in there though,
seemingly just two instances of the Integrated Graphics chipset.

Hmm, now I check it's not very clear if they ALL ship with the 135M.
Can it "feature" it without having it?

"Latitude D630 features integrated graphics solution from Intel and
discrete graphics from nVidia
If you require high performance graphics for CAD, Image & Video
Editing please consider the portable Precision Models.
Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100 (up to 256 shared)
nVidia Quadro NVS 135M (128 MB on board graphics memory)"

I've been going by the part number on the base when prompted at the
dell site

I certainly checked the WiFi was enabled when I changed to boot media
order.

Thanks!

Maybe I glossed over the details too much. In Everest, go to
DeviceCI_Devices. Now, my video happens to be identified, but
if it wasn't, I'd look at the "Device-ID" field in the display.
It reads 1002-4E68.

If I look at http://pciids.sourceforge.net/pci.ids ,
1002-4E68 gets me "Radeon R350 [Radeon 9800 Pro]" and
my video card is a 9800Pro. 1002 stands for ATI and
is the VID. 4E68 is the PID or product ID. The subsystem
entry is used to distinguish the various companies that make
video cards using that particular GPU.

Now, if you had a NVS 135M present, I would have expected
to see something in the PCI_Devices list. If a 135M was
present, I'd expect 10DE-042B for VID/PID.

For another tool to identify the Northbridge of the chipset,
try CPUZ. Maybe it can tell the difference between PM and GM.

http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php

This is a picture of CPUZ on a GM965 based notebook.

http://www.notebookcheck.net/uploads/pics/CPUZ_MB_34.jpg

Paul

 

[DanSolo]

OK, I've given up on the 135M. Everest can't find it so I guess my
D630 shipped without one. (It is a "work" model). The integrated (i.e.
"no") graphics will run Vice City and Morrowind so I'm happy enough!
However I still can't get the internal WiFi going. I have the
Bluetooth symbol up on the dash, and the switch on the left of the
chassis turns it on and off, but no WiFi. I tried every driver on the
Dell D630 page. (Well except "(R) Wireless WiFi Link 4965AG Intel(R)
PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection" which is the last one on the
page. Wish me luck when it's downloaded) There's definitely an
uninstalled Ethernet Controller in the device manager.

 

[Paul]

OK, I've given up on the 135M. Everest can't find it so I guess my
D630 shipped without one. (It is a "work" model). The integrated (i.e.
"no") graphics will run Vice City and Morrowind so I'm happy enough!
However I still can't get the internal WiFi going. I have the
Bluetooth symbol up on the dash, and the switch on the left of the
chassis turns it on and off, but no WiFi. I tried every driver on the
Dell D630 page. (Well except "(R) Wireless WiFi Link 4965AG Intel(R)
PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection" which is the last one on the
page. Wish me luck when it's downloaded) There's definitely an
uninstalled Ethernet Controller in the device manager.

Wifi devices can be USB connected. They don't have to sit
on the PCI bus or PCI Express bus. Use a copy of UVCView, to get
enumeration info. Everest would have shown something, if the Wifi
was on the PCI or PCI Express bus.

http://web.archive.org/web/20070516...com/whdc/device/stream/vidcap/UVCViewdwn.mspx

The enumeration info, consists of fields like this.

idVendor: 0x046D (Logitech)
idProduct: 0xC01A (M-BQ85 Optical Wheel Mouse)

You can look up the codes here.

http://www.linux-usb.org/usb.ids

Paul

 

[DanSolo]

I'm getting lost as to whether I'm connected or not so I've had to
post this again!
Anyway, the very last driver on the Dell page worked! I've now got the
internal WiFi at the flick of a switch... but it won't connect. I get
a "problem applying profile!" error every time even though I'm 100%
sure of the WPA. I tried disabling the PCI WiFi but that didn't help.
Should I fully uninstall it, or should it matter?

 

[DanSolo]

I'm getting lost as to whether I'm connected or not so I've had to
post this again!
Anyway, the very last driver on the Dell page worked! I've now got the
internal WiFi at the flick of a switch... but it won't connect. I get
a "problem applying profile!" error every time even though I'm 100%
sure of the WPA. I tried disabling the PCI WiFi but that didn't help.
Should I fully uninstall it, or should it matter?

 

[Paul]

I'm getting lost as to whether I'm connected or not so I've had to
post this again!
Anyway, the very last driver on the Dell page worked! I've now got the
internal WiFi at the flick of a switch... but it won't connect. I get
a "problem applying profile!" error every time even though I'm 100%
sure of the WPA. I tried disabling the PCI WiFi but that didn't help.
Should I fully uninstall it, or should it matter?

Maybe it needs a profile for the new hardware ? I'm not a Wifi guy.
(Everything here is wired.)

Paul

 

[DanSolo]

I'm getting lost as to whether I'm connected or not so I've had to
post this again!
Anyway, the very last driver on the Dell page worked! I've now got the
internal WiFi at the flick of a switch... but it won't connect. I get
a "problem applying profile!" error every time even though I'm 100%
sure of the WPA. I tried disabling the PCI WiFi but that didn't help.
Should I fully uninstall it, or should it matter?

 

[DanSolo]

If you want to post a followup via groups.google.com, ensure
you quote enough for the article to make sense. Google is only
an interface to Usenet; it's not Usenet itself. Don't assume
your readers can, or ever will, see any previous articles.

I'm glad I don't use Usenet directly if the threads don't show all the
previous posts. Should I include all of my opening post every time?

 

[DanSolo]

Sorted! (I hope). The drivers at Dell plain don't work, but at Intel
there's software for the AGB that's done the job. I'm running now from
the internal WiFi, and I guess everything's running as it should. Now
to enjoy this baby.
Thanks for all the prodding in the right direction guys!

 

[DanSolo]

Sorted! (I hope). The drivers at Dell plain don't work, but at Intel
there's software for the AGB that's done the job. I'm running now from
the internal WiFi, and I guess everything's running as it should. Now
to enjoy this baby.
Thanks for all the prodding in the right direction guys!