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F***** up Dell Windows installation....

I

imported_thomase

Member
I just got a new 600m laptop. Absolutely first thing after booting up, I configure my wireless settings to connect to my router. Then, bringup Internet Explorer and connect to www.microsoft.com. The page is rendered but looks.... strange (images oddly misplaced, text is blurry, etc.). In a second or 2 images in the middle of the page strangely start shifting towards the right of the page before they are half on/off the screen. Then the browser completely locks up. After clicking the close window button twice, I get the "program is not responding" dialog box and says "Please tell Microsoft about this problem".

Now, I have no problem using the Mozilla Firefox browser and it is able to render the www.microsoft.com page without hanging. It does bother me that Micrsoft's OWN BROWSER has this issue. Dell was no help, they wanted me to do a repair installation even though I told them I had already done a system restore (completely resets the harddrive to factory settings using a hidden partition with a compressed image). They then connected me to an antivirus "specialist" who was also not helpful, but offered to connect me to a technician.... for a fee. A F***ING FEE!!!!

I know that a lot of people probably took advantage of the $750 off deal a week and a half ago. Has anyone had similar problems? I really don't want to send it back. I know if I pursue the Dell tech support option any longer they are just going to want me to return it. They'll replace the harddrive, give me the SAME image, and I'll probably have the SAME problem. I may just wipe the HD and install Windows fresh without any Dell bloatware.

Edit:
I found some reference to a similar problem on a random message board. http://www.mcse.ms/message1024588.html
 
Does your 600m have centrino? I've heard the it doesn't always behave well with certain wireless routers. I'm not sure if that would cause the problems you're having, though.

Try connecting via network cable (if you can) and see if you get the same results.
 
No it uses Dell's wireless solution.

P.S. To top it all off, the Dell support website will not recognize my service tag so that I can email questions. This means I have no choice but to get on the phone with India if I want to ask questions. Even to ask META questions about why their online support system is broken!
 
Well, you sound pretty dissatisfied already. You can always return it within 30 days (I believe).

Anyway, the laptop didn't come with an integrated nic?
 
Yes, I am dissatisfied. However, I can always fall back on wiping the hard drive clean if necessary. I don't like all the crap that Dell installs anyway. But since this is my wife's computer, I don't want to put her in a situation where her warranty is voided (not sure if reformatting voids the warranty) or where it is more difficult for her to get support because her machine is "modified". It bothers me that tech support relies heavily on scripts and the people have absoultely no REAL technical knowledge of the prodcut. On the other hand, the deal was so good that I think its still worth it even if I have to support it myself.

Why do you presume that the laptop didn't come with an integrated nic? It does, but I used wireless instead. What does that have to do with anything? I'm feeling more an more that this is some weird Internet Explorer issue related to SP2.
 
I've been doing some more investigating and the problem seems to have something to do with the way IE is rendering pages. Images look wrong. It is as if they are scaled up in size and interpolated in some strange way that makes them look aliased. Because the sizes are all wrong many pages look like there is something wrong with the layout. Unfortunately, I have no idea what kind of messed up settings/configuration can cause this.
 
Originally posted by: thomase
Yes, I am dissatisfied. However, I can always fall back on wiping the hard drive clean if necessary. I don't like all the crap that Dell installs anyway. But since this is my wife's computer, I don't want to put her in a situation where her warranty is voided (not sure if reformatting voids the warranty) or where it is more difficult for her to get support because her machine is "modified". It bothers me that tech support relies heavily on scripts and the people have absoultely no REAL technical knowledge of the prodcut. On the other hand, the deal was so good that I think its still worth it even if I have to support it myself.

Why do you presume that the laptop didn't come with an integrated nic? It does, but I used wireless instead. What does that have to do with anything? I'm feeling more an more that this is some weird Internet Explorer issue related to SP2.
Click to expand...

*sigh*

I was trying to get you to try to use the integrated NIC so that you could verify it was a software and not a hardware problem. Since Mozilla seems to work fine all you need to do is format and reinstall to fix the problem, but it doesn't hurt to take 120 seconds to hook the laptop up via cable and verify that the problem is not related to your wireless setup.

But, whatever. Format it and be done with it.
 
Problem solved .

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=820286

Factory default settings for DPI are problematic when the display resolution is 1400x1050. IE sucks. Dell should have noticed this and changed the factory default settings for machines with SXGA+ screens.

BTW.... I'll format my desktop when I get it. I personally don't need Dell's bloatware and support software, etc. My wife on the other hand, may want it on her laptop.
 
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