Dell Inspiron 6400 Notebook - Page 4 - Answered Questions & Fixed issues

Rick Echert,Please take a look at the resolution to this error from the link below. Error Code ResolutionThank You,Dell-Jesse LDell Social Media and Communities

Return it. Inexpensive batteries, are, at best, will not work properly, at worst, a fire hazard. They are inexpensive for a reason

If you get the erroneous characters in the set-up (BIOS) screen on external monitor, then either your graphics card is defective or the motherboard. The diagnostics are just reporting that it cannot detect the LED display. Unfortunately the only way to determine if the graphics card is defective is to replace it. If that does not resolve the problem then you know it's your motherboard. That whole process can be costly. That model laptop is about 5 years old and parts could run you about $100 to $300 online. Might be time to shop around for a new one.

There has been a hard drive password initiated on the system by someone. If you do not have access to the password, you'll need to contact Dell Technical Support (800-624-9896) and after you verify ownership, they can generate a password to access the hard drive.

• Intel Core Duo T2400 / 5 Mb Cache / 1.83 GHz / 667 MHZ FSB
• 15.4" Wide-screen XGA Display with Truelife
• 120 Gb 5400 rpm Sata Hard Drive
• 1 Gb DDR2 SDRAM / 553 MHZ
• 256 Mb ATI Mobility Radeon X1400 Hyper memory
• Windows XP Media Center
• 9 - Cell Battery

Too much gaming can make such problems....i guess the 256 Mb ATI Mobility Radeon X1400 Hyper memory is failing...

Simple solution is to visit manufacturer website and download the specific drivers.If you are a non-technical user then use Driver scanner tool that will search for drivers online. DriverScanner2013.net

I don't know really if this would work but do you have the video drivers installed on your Notebook for the second monitor?

I believed this can be resolve by clean the cmos battery. you need to remove the cmos batery from the laptop then power it on then immediately turn it off. then put the battery back to the laptop then power it on keep tapping on f2 to enter setup. please follow the instructions from the link to remove the cmos battery http://tinyurl.com/yb3mhyg

press alt+ctrl+upper arrow key it will help and let me know

If you forgot the windows login password and want to recover or reset windows password, there is two methods to reset windows login password:Methods 1: Use the password reset disk to recover the Windows password, by this methods, you need create a Windows password reset disk before you have lost or forgotten your Windows admin password.Method 2: Using Windows Password Recovery software to recover Windows passwordAs an easy method to recover the forgotten Windows password, there are only four steps as follow:Step1: Download Anmosoft Windows Password Reset V8.0and install it(Download from here: http://www.resetwindowspassword.com).Step2: Burn the ISO image file onto a blank CD/DVD or USB.Step3: Boot up your Windows PC by the bootable burned CD/DVD or USB in minutes.Step4: Remove the forgotten Windows password on the operation interface and logon PC without password.

You can download the video and device drivers from Dell WEB site, the support download page. Make sure you select your model desktop or laptop, better still, type in the Service Tag number, it is printed on the label on the bottom of the laptop and on the back or sides of a desktop. (If the Service Tag label is missing then go into the BIOS setting and on one of the BIOS pages, the Service Tag number will be displayed). This will open the page where the specific drivers for your model computer are located. Also make sure you select the Windows of the drivers for your Windows operating system. Click on this link to download the drivers: - http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/index.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=gen

does the Hard drive led come on?

if your net is working than go for online updates...or the last option is to format and reinstall vista ...give me points if answer is sufficient..

This is more of a remedy then an actual trouble shooting step but mostly works. You would probably hear this from a support agent if they are trying to get you off the phone because this problem make no sense. Remove the battery and the power adapter from the computer. Then hold down the power button for at least one minute. Then connect every thing back up again and see what happens. or Remove the battery and the power adapter from the computer and leave it alone for about 24 hours. Then connect every thing back up again and see what happens.

Forgetting your Windows administrator login password. With no way to get into the system, you can’t even perform basic maintenance, let alone a thorough tune-up. Formatting is always an option, but we consider that a last resort. (Plus, guess who’s going to have to help reinstall all the programs lost after a wipe?) But all hope is not lost. There are a few ways to actually retrieve a lost Windows account password. Read on, and we’ll show you the light.

1st Method:
The first thing which you check if you forget login password. When we install Windows, it automatically creates an account "Administrator" and sets its password to blank. So if you have forget your user account password then try this:
Start system and when you see Windows Welcome screen / Login screen, press ctrl+alt+del keys twice and it'll show Classic Login box. Now type "Administrator" (without quotes) in Username and leave Password field blank. Now press Enter and you should be able to log in Windows.
Now you can reset your account password from "Control Panel -> User Accounts".
Same thing can be done using Safe Mode. In Safe Mode Windows will show this in-built Administrator account in Login screen.

2th Method:
There are a lot of Windows password revealers and crackers available, but we’ve found that Windows Password Recovery Tool is the most effective.:
Windows Password Recovery Tool is one of the easiest password recovery tools to use. It allows you to reset a user account password, including the Administrator password. It is also a relatively small download.
Windows Password Recovery Tool Service: http://www.windowspasswordsrecovery.com

most probably your harddisk is failing ....get a new harddisk and try to recover your data from present one...

It's something whit the LCD or LCD cabel. Take it to the service if you not so expert about taking a part the computers.

May be your touchpad had lost its contact with the motherboard, due to broken wires or lose cable. If your laptop is out of warranty open it, do this: Find out the flat cable that connects your touchpad and motherboard. Make sure it is connected preoperly, if not do it well. And start your machine. If connection is OK and still not working you should replace the cable or replace the entire touchpad unit. Note: do remember to check your BIOS for disabled touchpad device. If so enable it.

Chances are your keyboard has a problem with it. I suggest that you try restarting your computer. Strange but it does the trick sometimes. If no go, go to safe mode.SAFE MODERestart your computer. While it's restarting, tap F8 until you can see the option to go to safe mode. Use your keyboard arrow to highlight safe mode. Try using the shift key in safe mode. If it works, then you need to do a system restore so that you can revert your computer's functionality to a date when it was still working well. Hardwares like your keyboard is controlled by drivers. To avoid from getting driver problems in the future after fixing your current issue, then I suggest that you install Radarsync to your computer. It will automate your computer's updating and fixing (driver) mechanism. I hope this helps. If you have any questions, please reply to this post.

The battery has 5 small dots in it. Those are there for no reason. Those are actually LED lights. There's a button you can press. If we number the lights 1-2-3-4-5 with 1 being closest to the button, check the lights when you press the button. If 1-3-5 are lit, that means that you have a dead battery and needs to be replaced. Other than that, you're battery might still be working but nearing the end of its life. Goto support.dell.com -> drivers and downloads -> enter your service tag or system type -> download Dell Quickset. Once Quickset is installed, it will diagnose your battery automatically and let you know if your battery already needs a replacement. It is just sad that batteries are covered with a separate 1-year warranty only. You can also go to www.dellbatteryprogram.com and check if your battery was part of the Dell Battery Recall Program.