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picked up a spare Inspiron 1545, but cannot reach same level ofresolution as my original



 
 
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  #1  
Old April 1st 17, 04:05 AM posted to alt.comp.hardware
John Abnarthy
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Posts: 4
Default picked up a spare Inspiron 1545, but cannot reach same level ofresolution as my original

Ok, something going on here baffling me slightly. I found and picked up
a spare Inspiron 1545 today expecting it to have nearly the same
characteristics as my original. However, I'm finding the maximum
resolution slightly less on the spare than on my original and I'm
wondering why? On mine, I have it set at 1600x900, but on the spare,
the max seems to be 1366x768, and that's even after a bios update from
a10 to the most recent a14. The bios shows nearly identical video info
aside from native resolution differences as mentioned, plus on mine is
listed a panel type of 15.6" HD+ but on the spare just 15.6" HD (no plus
sign). I DID have to replace the LCD on mine one time and I'll bet that
why the resolution is able to go higher. Unfortunately, I probably
won't be able to adjust the spare to the same resolution as my original,
will I?
  #2  
Old April 1st 17, 05:02 AM posted to alt.comp.hardware
VanguardLH[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,453
Default picked up a spare Inspiron 1545, but cannot reach same level of resolution as my original

John Abnarthy wrote:

I found and picked up
a spare Inspiron 1545 today expecting it to have nearly the same
characteristics as my original. However, I'm finding the maximum
resolution slightly less on the spare than on my original and I'm
wondering why? On mine, I have it set at 1600x900, but on the spare,
the max seems to be 1366x768, and that's even after a bios update from
a10 to the most recent a14. The bios shows nearly identical video info
aside from native resolution differences as mentioned, plus on mine is
listed a panel type of 15.6" HD+ but on the spare just 15.6" HD (no plus
sign). I DID have to replace the LCD on mine one time and I'll bet that
why the resolution is able to go higher. Unfortunately, I probably
won't be able to adjust the spare to the same resolution as my original,
will I?


When replacing parts in a laptop, like the screen, brighter lamps can be
used or those that consume less current and a different sized matrix for
the panel of the screen.

http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/...-1545/diagnose

That says the video controller is an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4330.

http://www.gpuzoo.com/GPU-ATI/Mobili...n_HD_4330.html

That says maximum resolution for that video controller is 2048x1536.
Well, it could do that if the pixel geometry of the screen panel also
supports it.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...82E16834200077

That says the maximum (native) resolution is 1366x768. Well, looks like
you got an original (non-HD+) laptop with its original screen rez.
  #3  
Old April 1st 17, 11:10 AM posted to alt.comp.hardware
John Abnarthy
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 4
Default picked up a spare Inspiron 1545, but cannot reach same level ofresolution as my original

On 04/01/2017 12:02 AM, VanguardLH wrote:
John Abnarthy wrote:

I found and picked up
a spare Inspiron 1545 today expecting it to have nearly the same
characteristics as my original. However, I'm finding the maximum
resolution slightly less on the spare than on my original and I'm
wondering why? On mine, I have it set at 1600x900, but on the spare,
the max seems to be 1366x768, and that's even after a bios update from
a10 to the most recent a14. The bios shows nearly identical video info
aside from native resolution differences as mentioned, plus on mine is
listed a panel type of 15.6" HD+ but on the spare just 15.6" HD (no plus
sign). I DID have to replace the LCD on mine one time and I'll bet that
why the resolution is able to go higher. Unfortunately, I probably
won't be able to adjust the spare to the same resolution as my original,
will I?


When replacing parts in a laptop, like the screen, brighter lamps can be
used or those that consume less current and a different sized matrix for
the panel of the screen.

http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/...-1545/diagnose

That says the video controller is an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4330.

http://www.gpuzoo.com/GPU-ATI/Mobili...n_HD_4330.html

That says maximum resolution for that video controller is 2048x1536.
Well, it could do that if the pixel geometry of the screen panel also
supports it.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...82E16834200077

That says the maximum (native) resolution is 1366x768. Well, looks like
you got an original (non-HD+) laptop with its original screen rez.


That's not great news, but I guess I can live with it. I tried "adding"
the resolution desired in Ubuntu and it rejected it on this one (on my
original, the new added resolution was no problem).

The only other strange thing I'm noting is the battery affecting
performance. If I swap batteries i.e. take the battery out of my
original and replace it with the battery from the spare laptop, my
original's performance slows down quite a bit, applications are much
slower to open, etc. As soon as I swap batteries back to their native
laptops, the problem goes away and they are back at their speeds. My
only guess for the slower performance after battery swap is that the
battery isn't original either. Although all the markings are "Dell", it
says "Made in China" where my original battery doesn't say on the little
white tag, just date of manufacture. Also "cell made in Japan/ further
processed in China" and on my original laptop "battery cell made in
Korea / assembled in China". So maybe it's an original battery in both
cases, not sure, but I wonder why performance is so much worse when I
simply switch the batteries between the laptops? Seems odd. Now if I
keep them both plugged in, there is no sluggishness after the swaps.

I guess the only positive thing of note is that I was able to simply
install my back up hard drive from my original laptop in the spare and
it started up and operated normally. The spare came with Win 10 on a
256 GB standard hard drive, and I just wanted to see if I could just
install my original hard drive clone onto a separate hard drive (which
is 500 GB), plug it in and see if it would work. I double checked first
to see how close laptop configurations were and I figured the spare
would work this way and it did.

So some interesting comparisons here for sure. The laptops definitely
aren't quite identical.
  #4  
Old April 1st 17, 08:36 PM posted to alt.comp.hardware
VanguardLH[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,453
Default picked up a spare Inspiron 1545, but cannot reach same level of resolution as my original

John Abnarthy wrote:

The only other strange thing I'm noting is the battery affecting
performance. If I swap batteries i.e. take the battery out of my
original and replace it with the battery from the spare laptop, my
original's performance slows down quite a bit, applications are much
slower to open, etc. As soon as I swap batteries back to their native
laptops, the problem goes away and they are back at their speeds. My
only guess for the slower performance after battery swap is that the
battery isn't original either. Although all the markings are "Dell", it
says "Made in China" where my original battery doesn't say on the little
white tag, just date of manufacture. Also "cell made in Japan/ further
processed in China" and on my original laptop "battery cell made in
Korea / assembled in China". So maybe it's an original battery in both
cases, not sure, but I wonder why performance is so much worse when I
simply switch the batteries between the laptops? Seems odd. Now if I
keep them both plugged in, there is no sluggishness after the swaps.


Laptop batteries only last 3 years. You bought a used laptop. The
owner probably figured they wanted a newer and faster laptop and wasn't
going to waste money on getting a battery for their old one they
wouldn't use and were getting rid of, anyway.

Keeping the laptop plugged in means the battery isn't being used to
supply power to the laptop. Get a new battery for the used laptop that
you just bought. Batteries are often required when buying used laptops.
If batteries are not replaceable in a notebook or tablet, don't buy a
used one.

Almost all lithium batteries, maybe all of them, are made in China.

http://www.worldatlas.com/articles/t...the-world.html

I guess the only positive thing of note is that I was able to simply
install my back up hard drive from my original laptop in the spare and
it started up and operated normally. The spare came with Win 10 on a
256 GB standard hard drive, and I just wanted to see if I could just
install my original hard drive clone onto a separate hard drive (which
is 500 GB), plug it in and see if it would work. I double checked first
to see how close laptop configurations were and I figured the spare
would work this way and it did.


What OS, if any, came on the used laptop that you bought? If it wasn't
Windows 10 (and the same edition) then you just violated the licensing
for your instance of Windows 10. Naughty naughty.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/Uset...10_English.htm

However, since users rarely buy a new laptop to then wipe its drive to
install a different OS, the used laptop very likely came with an OEM
license. That means you took the OEM license from one laptop to use on
another, so that one license is deployed to two devices. You would have
to find the OEMer's (Dell's) EULA on the OS they image onto their
laptops to find the terms and restrictions therein (good luck with
that).

  #5  
Old April 2nd 17, 01:54 AM posted to alt.comp.hardware
John Abnarthy
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 4
Default picked up a spare Inspiron 1545, but cannot reach same level ofresolution as my original

On 04/01/2017 03:36 PM, VanguardLH wrote:
John Abnarthy wrote:

The only other strange thing I'm noting is the battery affecting
performance. If I swap batteries i.e. take the battery out of my
original and replace it with the battery from the spare laptop, my
original's performance slows down quite a bit, applications are much
slower to open, etc. As soon as I swap batteries back to their native
laptops, the problem goes away and they are back at their speeds. My
only guess for the slower performance after battery swap is that the
battery isn't original either. Although all the markings are "Dell", it
says "Made in China" where my original battery doesn't say on the little
white tag, just date of manufacture. Also "cell made in Japan/ further
processed in China" and on my original laptop "battery cell made in
Korea / assembled in China". So maybe it's an original battery in both
cases, not sure, but I wonder why performance is so much worse when I
simply switch the batteries between the laptops? Seems odd. Now if I
keep them both plugged in, there is no sluggishness after the swaps.


Laptop batteries only last 3 years. You bought a used laptop. The
owner probably figured they wanted a newer and faster laptop and wasn't
going to waste money on getting a battery for their old one they
wouldn't use and were getting rid of, anyway.

Keeping the laptop plugged in means the battery isn't being used to
supply power to the laptop. Get a new battery for the used laptop that
you just bought. Batteries are often required when buying used laptops.
If batteries are not replaceable in a notebook or tablet, don't buy a
used one.


I think I found the issue(s). Doesn't make sense to me, but I have
actually heard of folks running into it. It seems that even though
these are nearly identical laptops, I can't either swap batteries
between them or even power supplies. If I do either, strange things
start to happen. For one, the power light on the front starts blinking
4 red and then 1 white if I try not using the batteries in whatever
laptop they originally came with. As long as I keep the batteries in
their original laptop along with power supply, both run fine with or
without power supplies.

Almost all lithium batteries, maybe all of them, are made in China.

http://www.worldatlas.com/articles/t...the-world.html

I guess the only positive thing of note is that I was able to simply
install my back up hard drive from my original laptop in the spare and
it started up and operated normally. The spare came with Win 10 on a
256 GB standard hard drive, and I just wanted to see if I could just
install my original hard drive clone onto a separate hard drive (which
is 500 GB), plug it in and see if it would work. I double checked first
to see how close laptop configurations were and I figured the spare
would work this way and it did.


What OS, if any, came on the used laptop that you bought? If it wasn't
Windows 10 (and the same edition) then you just violated the licensing
for your instance of Windows 10. Naughty naughty.


The spare I bought had Win 10. Since I'm not ready to use it, I just
pulled the drive and replaced it with a clone of the drive in my
original laptop. That drive has dual boot with either Win 7 or Ubuntu
selection at boot up.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/Uset...10_English.htm

However, since users rarely buy a new laptop to then wipe its drive to
install a different OS, the used laptop very likely came with an OEM
license. That means you took the OEM license from one laptop to use on
another, so that one license is deployed to two devices. You would have
to find the OEMer's (Dell's) EULA on the OS they image onto their
laptops to find the terms and restrictions therein (good luck with
that).


Luckily, I don't have Win 10 issues yet to deal with, but I suppose the
day will come one day soon. For now, I'm happy with what I have as long
as I no longer try to swap out batteries or power supplies between the
two laptops.


  #6  
Old April 2nd 17, 03:27 AM posted to alt.comp.hardware
VanguardLH[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,453
Default picked up a spare Inspiron 1545, but cannot reach same level of resolution as my original

John Abnarthy wrote:

I think I found the issue(s). Doesn't make sense to me, but I have
actually heard of folks running into it. It seems that even though
these are nearly identical laptops, I can't either swap batteries
between them or even power supplies.


The batteries are not just encapsulated chemical packs. They also
contain logic. It's possible the battery is coded for use within a
range of models or within a family of models. I haven't run into this
but then I always buy replacement batteries that stipulate they are for
the laptop/notebook for I am buying them.

The spare I bought had Win 10. Since I'm not ready to use it, I just
pulled the drive and replaced it with a clone of the drive in my
original laptop. That drive has dual boot with either Win 7 or Ubuntu
selection at boot up.


Then you are violating the Windows 7 EULA. You know better. You only
get one license to use on one computer. If it is a retail license (not
likely with laptops) then you can move the license to another computer
but then you can no longer use it on the prior computer. Since it is
likely an OEM/System Builder license, you aren't allowed to move it
anywhere after having installed it. The OEM license sticks to the first
computer on which it gets installed.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/Useterms

Just pick the OS and version of the one you are copying/cloning to your
2nd computer (the used one that you just got).

Moving an HDD between computers does not make the 2nd one the same
device as the first one from which you yanked the HDD. Putting a cloned
drive into your 2nd computer means you are duplicating the OS license
but you only have one license so you are violating the EULA.
  #7  
Old April 2nd 17, 02:13 PM posted to alt.comp.hardware
John Abnarthy
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 4
Default picked up a spare Inspiron 1545, but cannot reach same level ofresolution as my original

On 04/01/2017 10:27 PM, VanguardLH wrote:
John Abnarthy wrote:

I think I found the issue(s). Doesn't make sense to me, but I have
actually heard of folks running into it. It seems that even though
these are nearly identical laptops, I can't either swap batteries
between them or even power supplies.


The batteries are not just encapsulated chemical packs. They also
contain logic. It's possible the battery is coded for use within a
range of models or within a family of models. I haven't run into this
but then I always buy replacement batteries that stipulate they are for
the laptop/notebook for I am buying them.

The spare I bought had Win 10. Since I'm not ready to use it, I just
pulled the drive and replaced it with a clone of the drive in my
original laptop. That drive has dual boot with either Win 7 or Ubuntu
selection at boot up.


Then you are violating the Windows 7 EULA. You know better. You only
get one license to use on one computer. If it is a retail license (not
likely with laptops) then you can move the license to another computer
but then you can no longer use it on the prior computer. Since it is
likely an OEM/System Builder license, you aren't allowed to move it
anywhere after having installed it. The OEM license sticks to the first
computer on which it gets installed.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/Useterms

Just pick the OS and version of the one you are copying/cloning to your
2nd computer (the used one that you just got).

Moving an HDD between computers does not make the 2nd one the same
device as the first one from which you yanked the HDD. Putting a cloned
drive into your 2nd computer means you are duplicating the OS license
but you only have one license so you are violating the EULA.


You make this sound like a huge issue. If it is, it is no problem for
me to ditch 7 altogether and just use Ubuntu on each machine. Windows
hasn't touched the Internet in years on ANY of my Win machines and I
don't plan to have it do so in the future. Besides, I hardly use Win
anyway and I do have a desktop (not a clone of anything) where Win 7 is
in full force with all the programs I need. If any of the Linux distros
ever covered the range and/or quality of programs available in Win, I'd
stop using Win altogether. Ubuntu takes a good stab at it, but still
falls pretty short in some areas, hence the need for still keeping Win
around.

  #8  
Old April 2nd 17, 10:21 PM posted to alt.comp.hardware
VanguardLH[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,453
Default picked up a spare Inspiron 1545, but cannot reach same level of resolution as my original

John Abnarthy wrote:

You make this sound like a huge issue. If it is, it is no problem for
me to ditch 7 altogether and just use Ubuntu on each machine. Windows
hasn't touched the Internet in years on ANY of my Win machines and I
don't plan to have it do so in the future. Besides, I hardly use Win
anyway and I do have a desktop (not a clone of anything) where Win 7 is
in full force with all the programs I need. If any of the Linux distros
ever covered the range and/or quality of programs available in Win, I'd
stop using Win altogether. Ubuntu takes a good stab at it, but still
falls pretty short in some areas, hence the need for still keeping Win
around.


Threatening to discontinue use of Windows, any version and edition, or
citing little use of Windows or not connecting the hosts to the Internet
are not excuses regarding licensing violation. If you don't want to use
Windows then don't install a pirated copy of it. Go to Linux, as you
said. You still have the one Windows 7 host running a valid license if
you need to do something under Windows.

So far, I've decided I'm not going to Windows 10. I never went to
Windows 8. I'm back on Windows 7. If Microsoft doesn't fix a lot of
untoward behaviors in Windows 10, especially by letting me control
updates rather than simply postpone them along with making them
independent (so I can get the updates I want without getting forced to
get the earlier non-applicable updates), then I will also be going to
Linux. Other than video games (Linux pales by comparison), there are no
apps on Windows that I use that do not have an equivalent or substitute
for Linux. My guess, at this point but still tentative, is that I'll
end up going to Mint and drop Windows altogether. I can sacrifice the
loss of Windows video games. The stealth genre has waned severely in
video games (most times they haven't a clue what is stealth) and I'm not
a hyperactive squirt-all-ammo-at-everything player. Trying to find a
good stealth video game for Windows (that I haven't already played to
death) is like trying to find video games for Linux: poor selection.
 




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