Zack_H wrote on 2022-04-09, 09:22:

I'm very happy. The laptop runs much better now. Getting my Windows Me/2000 dual-boot reinstalled was time consuming, but it was well worth it. I also have it set-up with Acronis OS Selector now instead of the built-in Windows loader, so now no matter which partition I boot from, the boot drive is always C:

ah that's a good step for usability!

I've been thinking about possibly getting one of the 1GHz Coppermine PIII Mobiles for this laptop, since that would pretty much max it out, but they seem to be impossible to find! And really, it's only 100MHz of difference at the end of the day, so I probably won't bother unless one comes up for really cheap. I'm perfectly happy with the 900MHz chip.

indeed, wouldn't offer much more performance and i think you've got this machine pretty much optimised!

gerry wrote on 2022-04-12, 08:44:

ah that's a good step for usability! […]
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Zack_H wrote on 2022-04-09, 09:22:

I'm very happy. The laptop runs much better now. Getting my Windows Me/2000 dual-boot reinstalled was time consuming, but it was well worth it. I also have it set-up with Acronis OS Selector now instead of the built-in Windows loader, so now no matter which partition I boot from, the boot drive is always C:

ah that's a good step for usability!

I've been thinking about possibly getting one of the 1GHz Coppermine PIII Mobiles for this laptop, since that would pretty much max it out, but they seem to be impossible to find! And really, it's only 100MHz of difference at the end of the day, so I probably won't bother unless one comes up for really cheap. I'm perfectly happy with the 900MHz chip.

indeed, wouldn't offer much more performance and i think you've got this machine pretty much optimised!

Thanks! I've tinkered with it quite a lot in the time I've owned it, and I've done my best to get the most out of it. It's definitely one of my favorites for sure. It's a reliable and well-designed laptop, very powerful for the era too.

Another small update:

Since I replaced the shell on this laptop, the service tag on the bottom no longer matched the one in the BIOS. So a few weeks ago I finally ran across a Disc I had with the DSTCD utility that I thought was gone forever, but it was in among a bunch of other CDs, so I made an image from it since it seems damn near impossible to find online right now.

The DSTCD utility is a Dell internal use only program that allows you to do several things, such as completely remove a BIOS password and change the service tag, among other things.

So with this utillity, I cleared out the old service tag and programmed in the one on the bottom of the laptop, so it now matches again!

Could you post that utility here or in the vogonsdrivers thread?

cyclone3d wrote on 2022-04-20, 15:02:

Could you post that utility here or in the vogonsdrivers thread?

Seconded, it would be nice to use to fix the service tag setting on my Dell Inspiron 8000 since I had to replace the motherboard in mine due to the 1GHz CPU upgrade constantly overheating on the old one, drastically reducing its lifespan to the point where it stopped working. Matching the service tag would be a nice touch, but it isn't essential.

If you're thinking about maxing this out to 1GHz just for the sake of maxing it out, don't. The 1GHz CPU will overheat and eventually kill your motherboard like it did to mine. I'd stick with the 900MHz one that you already have. Mine has an 850MHz CPU now (came with the new motherboard) and it's still an upgrade over the original 700MHz CPU.

Since these older Dell Inspiron laptops used identical parts from the Latitude laptops of the era, you can force flash the Dell Latitude C800 BIOS if you really wanted to, but IIRC there's really nothing much to gain from it, all it did was allow you to use more advanced docking stations with these laptops. I just did it because my new motherboard was from a Latitude C800.

Here is a zip containing the ISO image for the Dell DSTCD. Let me know if it works!

I have heard those 1GHz chips run pretty toasty. That's really sad your old motherboard died, these are generally pretty reliable, but I guess the heat from the 1GHz CPU was too much for it. Glad you got it replaced though.

There is two very Important things I recommend for cooling though, regardless which CPU you have (you may have done both already, but just in case not):

No.1: Remove the thermal pad completely from the heatsink and throw it away! Replace it with some high quality thermal paste. This works wonders for cooling.

No.2: Download a utility called i8kfangui. This allows you to manually set what temps the fans kick in. I set my fans to turn on at 40 degrees celsius, so they run almost all of the time. By default they come on at around 70 celsius, which is just too hot IMO.

Hi I bought an Inspiron 8000 in 2000, it was a great machine. It packed up the first day and I was in Rome. I contacted the service dept, they picked it up at 5 pm and It came back after a round trip to Holland at 9am the next morning at my office. It has never gone wrong or hung. I used to run maps with about 5 gigs of data with no problems. I have had 2 Pc since and this is also an Inspiron 15-3521. I still have my inspiron 8K loaded with XP pro, Win2000 Pro and Win 98. Still works great albeit a bit slow. It is 1GHz and 384Mb of ram with an 80GB hard disc. I use it sometimes for old stuff regarding old cellphones and also for making GIFs for them. The battery is long dead. The only problem with it are the hinges. One day the screen just went down. There is nothing broken, I took it apart and the hinges themselves are not tight. Any ideas how to tighten them up?
Isaw SSDs 128GB for 9,99 Euros which I thought might be interesting?
Mike

This is Mine, I would like to upgrade the HDD to SSD.
My inspiron says Model No PP01X and Inspiron I8000, This has a different processor P4 845, Getting a bit confused here.
Looking at F2 at start up my Inspiron 8K has a P3 1000MHz/700MHz max ram 1024Mb. Screen 1600/1200. Intel 82801 BAM Ultra ATA Storage controller 244A. Processor X86Fam
IDE ATA/Atapi Controllers. Prtmary IDE Channel Ultra DMA mode 5 and 2 No mention of Msata. appears to have 266MHz bus
I have seen IDE SSDs and mSata SSDs the connectors are the same with the adapters but the electrical interface connections are different.
There appear to be 3 connection differences, maybe drivers could sort this?
M

MikesInspiron8K wrote on 2024-10-05, 10:28:

Hi I bought an Inspiron 8000 in 2000, it was a great machine. It packed up the first day and I was in Rome. I contacted the service dept, they picked it up at 5 pm and It came back after a round trip to Holland at 9am the next morning at my office. It has never gone wrong or hung. I used to run maps with about 5 gigs of data with no problems. I have had 2 Pc since and this is also an Inspiron 15-3521. I still have my inspiron 8K loaded with XP pro, Win2000 Pro and Win 98. Still works great albeit a bit slow. It is 1GHz and 384Mb of ram with an 80GB hard disc. I use it sometimes for old stuff regarding old cellphones and also for making GIFs for them. The battery is long dead. The only problem with it are the hinges. One day the screen just went down. There is nothing broken, I took it apart and the hinges themselves are not tight. Any ideas how to tighten them up?
Isaw SSDs 128GB for 9,99 Euros which I thought might be interesting?
Mike

Yep, they are great machines. Dell hinges are somewhat know for stripping out. Usually they just get kind of loose, but sometimes they strip out completely, though I personally haven't had this happen myself yet. You might could fix it but may be easier to find a new set of hinges at this point. All of the Inspiron 8000 series and Latitude C800 series use the same hinges, so they are easy enough to find.

MikesInspiron8K wrote on 2024-10-11, 22:26:

This is Mine, I would like to upgrade the HDD to SSD. My inspiron says Model No PP01X and Inspiron I8000, This has a different p […]
Show full quote

This is Mine, I would like to upgrade the HDD to SSD.
My inspiron says Model No PP01X and Inspiron I8000, This has a different processor P4 845, Getting a bit confused here.
Looking at F2 at start up my Inspiron 8K has a P3 1000MHz/700MHz max ram 1024Mb. Screen 1600/1200. Intel 82801 BAM Ultra ATA Storage controller 244A. Processor X86Fam
IDE ATA/Atapi Controllers. Prtmary IDE Channel Ultra DMA mode 5 and 2 No mention of Msata. appears to have 266MHz bus
I have seen IDE SSDs and mSata SSDs the connectors are the same with the adapters but the electrical interface connections are different.
There appear to be 3 connection differences, maybe drivers could sort this?
M

I'm slightly confused what you are asking about here? All 8000s are Pentium IIIs, none have a P4 or support one. These don't show the max RAM supported in the BIOS, and they only support 512MB, not 1024MB.

OP you seems to be the resident expert on these Inspirons! I had some questions on your experience with the displays on them. I have the twin to these, the Latitude C840, and it has the 1400x1050 display but It's a bit.. soft compared to modern displays whether running XP or Windows ME. I was considering upgrading to a the 1600x1200 display. Is it a pretty easy swap? Is there a big difference in clarity and color gamut / vibrancy and such to warrant it? I do already have to increase scaling to make it a bit easier to read even at this lower resolution haha.

I'm getting ready to upgrade the P4 in mine as well as upgrade from the 32 MB Geforce4 440 Go to the 64MB version as I found one recently for a "decent price" I'll say even though still way over priced for what it is haha. Your experience upgrading the HDD has me considering it as well. I'm also about to max out the ram 😀

9646gt wrote on 2025-06-05, 16:35:

I have the twin to these, the Latitude C840, and it has the 1400x1050 display but It's a bit.. soft compared to modern displays whether running XP or Windows ME. I was considering upgrading to a the 1600x1200 display. Is it a pretty easy swap? Is there a big difference in clarity and color gamut / vibrancy and such to warrant it? I do already have to increase scaling to make it a bit easier to read even at this lower resolution haha.

Yes, swap is easy - disconnect old, plug in new, connectors are the same on both types.
I don't have personal experience regarding the difference between standard TFT and IPS, but it will definitely be there. Get ready for smaller icons - where they looked just right for me at 1400x1050, at 1600x1200 they already seem small enough.

9646gt wrote on 2025-06-05, 16:35:

OP you seems to be the resident expert on these Inspirons! I had some questions on your experience with the displays on them. I have the twin to these, the Latitude C840, and it has the 1400x1050 display but It's a bit.. soft compared to modern displays whether running XP or Windows ME. I was considering upgrading to a the 1600x1200 display. Is it a pretty easy swap? Is there a big difference in clarity and color gamut / vibrancy and such to warrant it? I do already have to increase scaling to make it a bit easier to read even at this lower resolution haha.

I'm getting ready to upgrade the P4 in mine as well as upgrade from the 32 MB Geforce4 440 Go to the 64MB version as I found one recently for a "decent price" I'll say even though still way over priced for what it is haha. Your experience upgrading the HDD has me considering it as well. I'm also about to max out the ram 😀

What are you going to use this for? IMO think twice before upgrading the screen. 1400x1050 is quite high resolution for that time period already. If you are going to use games (that's what people commonly do with this old hardware) upgrading to 1600x1200 may be counter-productive. You may have to run at lower resolution to get usable performance and then you'll get scaling and much worse results than you'd have on lower resolution screen in the first place.

Also this old screens just are not amazing. Will not be comparable to new one and it is not only about pixel density. Colors, brightness, etc will likely remain the same.

HDD... technically 44pin IDE - msata adapters exist and that's probably the simplest option if you want SSD. Simply getting a better HDD is an option too, but honestly it might not be worth the hassle...

The great thing about 1600x1200 is that it should scale very well to 800x600

H3nrik V! wrote on 2025-06-06, 13:18:

The great thing about 1600x1200 is that it should scale very well to 800x600

This is another side effect I was thinking about as a plus since the main purpose is to use it for older games!

I got the GPU in and upgraded the CPU to 2.2gjz while I was in there and so far so good!