Couple of Dell Inspiron Hacks

[MajorClink]

I have my Dell Laptop hooked to my 52inch Sony LCD so it sits in the entertainment center most of the time. Problem is I don't want to leave it turned on all the time and hitting the power button under the lid is kind of a pain since there really isn't much room to open the lid when it's sitting on the shelf.

Sooo, my laptop is a 6000 and it has a few buttons on the front for media playback (play pause, ff, rew, etc...) I never have (or probably ever will) use those so I opened up the case and hardwired the power button under the lid to the big "Play" button up front. It wasn't really too hard to do, but you will need some basic soldering skills, and a multimeter to find where to solder to for both the main switch and the play button switch. Also, I used some old IDE ribbon cable to make routing the wires easier.

It worked out great however I noticed the laptop wouldn't power up unless the lid was opened. After a certain point in the bootup process the lid could be closed again, but if it is closed too soon the boot would fail and it would shut down again. That was fairly annoying, so I researched it found out the lids "switch" is actuated by a magnet and hall sensor near the touchpad. I removed the LCD bezel and simply took out the magnet that was glued on there. Now the laptop thinks the lid is open all the time which is great as now it powers up or wakes up no problem...

Anyways just wanted to share those couple of mods in case anyone else is having similar annoyances. I can provide more specific details if anyone wants em...

 

[itguy7305]

Very cool, you get an A for ingenuity. Good job

 

[kimsland]

This was already in two guides, one here:

4. Check your laptop lid switch. If it is broken, you may have power but your screen may not come on. This is usually a little button or mechanism located close to the lid hinge that turns on or off your screen when your lid is open or closed respectively. Normally the operator does not push this button. These are fragile and broken easily on some laptop models. Sometimes these can be fixed, more often they will require replacements. If you aren't an expert repair person, get a technician to repair/replace it for you. Opening up laptops is a very delicate operation and much more difficult to repair than desktops. It may be worth it to spend the money for repair.

And one here: (pointing to the above thread actually)

Or even the Display off micro button is faulty, (on laptops)

Both guides are very good
Mind you, no one said actually remove the magnet, so that's new at least