Useful or not?

[PCBONEZ]

Re: Useful or not?

http://support.dell.com/support/edoc...wist/specs.htm

[PCBONEZ]

Re: Useful or not?

http://search.dell.com/results.aspx?...False&~ck=anav

[PCBONEZ]

Re: Useful or not?

http://support.dell.com/support/edoc...st/general.htm

[PCBONEZ]

Re: Useful or not?

Will take two 64Mb PC66 memory modules plus there is 16Mb more on the motherboard.
144MB total

NON-ECC, UNBUFFERED, 144-pin SODIMM, PC-66 SDRAM

[stevo1210]

Re: Useful or not?

Thanks PCBONEZ, that's the information I needed.

[stevo1210]

Arrrgh!!!! WHy did it have to happen to ME?!!!!

I just screwed up my Dell Inspiron 3200. Ans by screwed up, I mean dead serious screw up.

I was fixing the tight hinges by oiling them up.

That all went fine, but when I reinstalled my LCD I made the BIGGEST mistake ever!!!!.

I accidentally let loose of the LCD display as I was reattaching the ground cable while the ribbon cable was plugged into the connector on the rear of the LCD. The LCD leaned forwards pretty fast and broke the male connector in half!

If only I had disconnected the ribbon cable before attaching the ground cable.

The female connection is cracked and some of the tiny pins are BENT!.
The male connector broke in half because as the screen leaned forwards, the cable was yanked out at a 45 degree angle!!.
At the same time part of the plastic female connector broke and the pins in the center part of the connector bent upwards at a 30 degree angle I guess??
I've bent a few of the pins on the connector straight with some success for now (none broken).
But my male connector has a huge ass crack through it. None of the wires are broken though.

I am about to give up and I think I will have to buy a new ribbon cable and screen. And that would mean a lot of $$$.

What should I do?? I seriously don't want a fire to start which can inure me on startup.

Grr.... why do I break everything I fix??

Thanks.

[stevo1210]

Re: Useful or not?

Ok, I had some success in the end. I plugged the cable back in and my display is working again like it used to.

[PCBONEZ]

Re: Useful or not?

Why do you have to buy a new screen too?
The ribbon cables come off the screen in back. (Inside the lid.)

If you can get the thing plugged in and the plug will stay you should be fine even if it's cracked. - All it does is hold pins. The crack isn't going to cause them to touch each other as long as you get them in straight in the first place.

Personally I'd sell it for parts and look for something similar but better.

My favorite for old Laptops is the Gateway Solo 9150 (or maybe a 9100).
[I refurbished and sold around 80 of these between 1999 and 2002.]
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They are old enough now that no one wants them and so they are cheap. (eBay)
I see working units go for $25 now and then.
They made LOTs of them so parts aren't too hard to come by.

Both have RCA TV out jacks and make great (cheap) portable DVD players either using a TV or the LCD screen. (Beats those portable players with the small screens hands down if you ask me.)

They also have a manual (hardware) volume control (thumb wheel) on the side which over-rides the software control and comes in handy at times.
(Don't have to change screens to adjust sound.)
Noted: Sound quality (specifically volume) from the built in speakers SUX on the 9100 models. It is ~ just okay~ on the 9150. Both have jacks for external speakers anyway and the jacks do cut-out the on-board speakers.

Both use BX chipsets at 66MHz FSB but do fine with PC-100 memory at CL2/66MHz.
Memory does have to be low density type.

Both models 'officially' take to up 384MB of RAM.
None of that is Fixed RAM. (3 slots on the board.)
'Unofficially' the the 9150 will take 768Mb using three 256Mb modules.
- Specs were written before 256Mb modules were available/affordable and never updated. (Haven't tried over 384MB on a 9100. Only used those with NT4 and Win98 and 384Mb was plenty.)

.

_9150
Supports up to a P2 400MHz on a MMC-2 module. (Easy to find. Usually cheap.)
(Does not support P3 or Celeron even though those came on MMC-2 modules.)
.
Hardware DVD decoder built in.
(Supported in W98, W2k, and I think XP and Linux too.)
Came with either 14" or 15" screen.
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I use a 9150 with a 15" and W2k to display my reference docs and PDF files when I'm working on something. - More or less a portable tech library. - Comes in handy when I need the info right where I'm working and the 15" screen helps a lot.
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http://support.gateway.com/s/Mobile/.../p9150nv.shtml

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_9100
The 9100 'looks' the same as the 9150 and is more common. (They built more of them.)
.
It uses the older MMC-1 CPU modules instead of MMC-2.
(Max MMC-1 is 400MHz but MMC-1 at 400MHz is still relatively expensive and only has 256k cache. It's easy to find a 300MHz with 512k cache. They are CHEAP and they work about as well as the 400/256k.
(If buying a CPU make sure it's 512k, 300MHz came with either 256k or 512k.)
.
9100 with the Trident Video chip supports an add-in hardware DVD decoder (which is already there if it came with a DVD drive stock and cheap enough if you want to add one later). Unfortunately the only OS that supports the decoder in the 9100 is Win98.
(Decoder chip company got bought out before W2k was released and new company won't support the old chip. The decoder chip in the 9150 came out after W2k and supposedly the W2k driver works in XP. - I DON'T recommend XP on either of these anyway. For me it would be WAY too slow with XP.)
.
- Chassis revisions beginning in E1, E2, E3, or E4 are okay but not preferred.
- E1,2,3 usually have small screens and also have the older Video Chip.
- E4 is 14" but has the older Video Chip.
- They didn't release a rev E5 that I know of.
- Rev's E6 and E7 had 14" screens and the Trident Video Chip.
http://support.gateway.com/s/Mobile/...P91tvdnv.shtml
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I keep a 9100 around for when I need DOS for something.
-
I have another 9100 that I use a special interface device and software with to pull up all the info from the on-board emissions control computers in cars.
[That 9100 is dedicated to that job.]

.

I'm sure there are similar Laptops in other makes.
I'm just not familiar with them.

.

[PCBONEZ]

Re: Useful or not?

I was writing while you were. (And very distracted.)
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I thought it might still plug in okay.

Congrats!

.