From owner-freebsd-emulation@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Nov 27 08:58:37 2003 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-emulation@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 3B39016A4CE for ; Thu, 27 Nov 2003 08:58:37 -0800 (PST) Received: from hawk.mail.pas.earthlink.net (hawk.mail.pas.earthlink.net [207.217.120.22]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 6276843FBF for ; Thu, 27 Nov 2003 08:58:36 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from welchsm@earthlink.net) Received: from bigbird.psp.pas.earthlink.net ([207.217.78.244]) by hawk.mail.pas.earthlink.net with esmtp (Exim 3.33 #1) id 1APPTP-00043F-00; Thu, 27 Nov 2003 08:58:35 -0800 Message-ID: <6767054.1069952315731.JavaMail.root@bigbird.psp.pas.earthlink.net> Date: Thu, 27 Nov 2003 08:58:35 -0800 (PST) From: Sean Welch To: UrbanMatthew@hotmail.com Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Mailer: Earthlink Zoo Mail 1.0 cc: freebsd-emulation@freebsd.org Subject: RE: Dell I8000 / Radeon 7500 X-BeenThere: freebsd-emulation@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list Reply-To: Sean Welch List-Id: Development of Emulators of other operating systems List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 27 Nov 2003 16:58:37 -0000 Hello, Matt. I got all my information from the Dell message boards a couple of years ago when newer models were just coming out. In summary, machines that could take a newer graphics card had to have the UXGA display (1600x1200 resolution) and typically needed to be the newest rev of the motherboard. Your luck is typically better if your laptop is equiped with one of the higher speed CPUs. I purchased a 1 GHz model the week before it was pulled from production. Also, you need to make sure you have at *least* bios revision A17 or it won't recognize the new adapter at all. Aparently most bios changes are propogated across all lines so that when support was added to the I8100 machine for the Radeon 7500 the next revision of the I8000 bios (A17) had that support as well. So you have a few different failure points for this upgrade. Put the original Rage 128 card back into the laptop and verify that you have a new enough bios (assuming you don't know it already). A17 worked very well for me until I had to get the screen replaced due to the backlight inverter failing (Dell Complete Care 3 year warranty was a *VERY* good buy!) -- then the new hardware in the display was not recognized except under the (then) newest bios A21a. That one was buggy but I'm having good success with the current newest bios (A22). Also, if you have something other than the UXGA panel on your laptop you are out of luck. I also heard some complaints that Hitachi panels at UXGA caused problems with the Radeon upgrade. Failing the above, it is possible your power subsystem doesn't supply enough juice to run everything -- this usually manifests itself as an issue with the machine cutting off when you push the graphics card hard (with say a game). I've found that the card actually draws less power than the old one under normal use (my battery life was extended). When I put my card in I was running bios A15 and it worked, but the card was not actually recognized as anything other than a VGA adapter by the bios -- and none of the powersaving measures would work anymore. Since your machine won't even boot I'm guessing either you have the lower res panel installed or the motherboard just can't supply enough juice (you could try taking out all but one RAM module and any peripherals you might have attached to reduce power requirements). If for any reason you can't get this to work the success rate with upgrading to a GForce2 Go card is significantly higher. I think that upgrade also does not require the UXGA panel to work. Good luck! Sean