Got the hardware info. during Knoppix Bootup:

Video Card: Intel Corp|82865G Integrated Graphics Device, Using XFree86(i810) Server
Monitor EPI770F
DVD Philips 8801
Sound Card: 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) USB UHCI

Now to google for info. on the above.

By the way, I got the Windows XP install CD from Dell

Above Video Card related sites:
Info.
http://www.intel.com/design/chipsets...hts/252514.htm
Driver Download
http://downloadfinder.intel.com/scri...ProductID=1044
Related post by Another User:
http://beau.org/pipermail/whitebox-u...ly/002568.html
From this post, Red Hat and Suse support this, maybe I need to try those Distros
http://lists.debian.org/debian-user/.../msg01641.html


A Driver download/supported OSes:
4. Running any of the following distributions and kernel versions
a. Redhat Enterprise Linux WS v3 with kernel 2.4.21-4.EL or kernel 2.4.21-4.ELsmp.
b. SuSE Linux Professional 9.0 with kernel 2.4.21-144-default
c. SuSE Linux Professional 9.1 with kernel 2.6.4-54-default or kernel 2.6.4-54-smp
d. SuSE Linux Professional 9.0 with kernel 2.6.8-24-default or kernel 2.6.8-24-smp
e. Mandrake 10.0 with kernel 2.6.3-7mdk or kernel 2.6.3-7mdksmp
f. RedFlag Linux Desktop 4.0 with kernel 2.4.20-8 or kernel 2.4.20-8smp
g. TurboLinux Desktop 10.0 with kernel 2.6.0-6 or kernel 2.6.0-6smp

Source:
http://downloadmirror.intel.com/df-s...ENG/readme.txt

Info. on Debian Driver for this device at:
http://www.linuxquestions.org/hcl/sh...cat/187/page/1

A related SOlution for Fedora:
http://users.tkk.fi/~tkarvine/dell-o...ora-linux.html

Now For Sound Card

82801EB Info. from Intel:
http://www.intel.com/design/chipsets...hts/252516.htm

Related Sound Blaster Problem
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...d.php?t=228788

Lots of threads on related issues at LQ:
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...earchid=701422

Debain 82801EB Sound Card Related Support:
http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/deb...er-needed.html

Philips DVD Burner 8801 related threads:
http://forums.support.roxio.com/lofi...php/t5400.html

Another Dell User on this Burner (Wow !)
http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/343688

Nothing on google surprisingly on this Burner.

Adding all these threads here as Dell sells several of these machines. So apart from for my reference/research, this thread might beenfit others in a similar situation.

Vijay

I was talking about refresh rate, it is measured in Hz. For example:
VertRefresh 60-75
The other frequency is horizontal sync rate, measured in kHz. For your monitor:
HorizSync 30-69

So 70 Hz is not pushing it.

From what I have read if monitor Horiz. Sync rate is 30 to 69, then using 70 is dangerous. It might damage the monitor/video card. But this is just theoratical knowledge.

Vijay

No, this is not knowledge, this is bulls***. You really should use reliable sources for your studies. 70 Hz at 800x600 requires Horisync 44.4 kHz - well within limits, 70 Hz at 1024x768 requires Horisync 56.5 kHz - still within limits. Same at 75 Hz -> Horisync 60.7 kHz, still won't break anything.

That's the correct file, then. Newer distros use X.org as their implementation for X, while older distros (generally) us XFree86. Both xorg.conf and XF86Config have the same syntax.

I wish you had seen that file. It have hsync as well as vsync. Each was a different number, hsync was out of the range for all except one resolution, that was the lowest.

I called Dell yesterday and they helped me to install XP on the system. However, they don't support mutliple partitions and made me erase everything. Moreover, no Modem/net on that other machine.

Otherwise, I would have shared that file here and got everyone's opinion on it.

Vijay

Solutions so far:
I am using Linux live CD initially.
1. Used QPARTED to make multiple partitions in the Windows Primary Installed partition.
2. Tried using cheat code of depth=16, didn't work.
Then set mobo Memory Buffer to 8MB for this need to press F2 at boot to enter the setup screen. The Default was 1MB, no wonder it was not working and was frustrating.

Good to luck to all the others interested in this. Now to get the Audio Driver.

Vijay

Posting this from my New Dell. There was a slight issue with modem detection, tried Com3 instead of Com1, this worked well !!

Now an Issue with the Sound Card:
I typed soundcardconfig as root, followed instructions and came to this error page:

Error: No Sound Modules found

You don't seem to be running a kernel with modular sound enabled. │
│ (soundcore.o was not found in the module search path). │
│ To use sndconfig, you must be running a kernel with modular │
│ sound, such as the kernel shipped with Debian GNU/Linux or a 2.2 │
│ kernel, and sound must be compiled as modules.

Also here are the results of following the instructions for Debian SOund Card support:
(Referece: http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/deb...er-needed.html)

root@box:/home/vijay# apt-get install alsa-base alsa-utils
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
alsa-base is already the newest version.
alsa-utils is already the newest version.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 1 not upgraded.
root@box:/home/vijay# cat /proc/version
Linux version 2.6.17 (root@Knoppix) (gcc version 4.0.4 20060507 (prerelease) (Debian 4.0.3-3)) #4 SMP PREEMPT Wed May 10 13:53:45 CEST 2006

I did a search and there are no alsa modules for 2.6 Kernel.

Seems like catch22 situation. Comments/tips welcome.

Thanks.

Vijay

Some related commands/steps that I tried for the Sound Card:

vijay@box:~$ /proc/asound/version
bash: /proc/asound/version: Permission denied
vijay@box:~$ cat /proc/asound/version
Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.11rc4 (Wed Mar 22 10:27:24 2006 UTC).
vijay@box:~$ cat /proc/asound/cards
0 [ICH5 ]: ICH4 - Intel ICH5
Intel ICH5 with AD1980 at 0xfeb7fa00, irq 21
vijay@box:~$ lspci | egrep audio
0000:00:1f.5 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 02)
vijay@box:~$ /dev/sndstat
bash: /dev/sndstat: Permission denied
vijay@box:~$ cat /dev/sndstat
Sound Driver:3.8.1a-980706 (ALSA v1.0.11rc4 emulation code)
Kernel: Linux box 2.6.17 #4 SMP PREEMPT Wed May 10 13:53:45 CEST 2006 i686
Config options: 0

Installed drivers:
Type 10: ALSA emulation

Card config:
Intel ICH5 with AD1980 at 0xfeb7fa00, irq 21

Audio devices:
0: Intel ICH5 (DUPLEX)

Synth devices: NOT ENABLED IN CONFIG

Midi devices: NOT ENABLED IN CONFIG

Timers:
7: system timer

Mixers:
0: Analog Devices AD1980
vijay@box:~$ alsaconf
You must be root to use this script.
vijay@box:~$ su
Password:
root@box:/home/vijay# alsaconf

Terminating processes: 13672 13792.
Unloading ALSA sound driver modules: snd-intel8x0 snd-ac97-codec snd-ac97-bus snd-pcm-oss snd-mixer-oss snd-pcm snd-timer snd-page-alloc (failed: modules still loaded: snd-intel8x0 snd-ac97-codec snd-ac97-bus snd-pcm snd-timer snd-page-alloc).
Building card database...

Running update-modules...
Loading driver...
Setting default volumes...


===============================================================================

Now ALSA is ready to use.
For adjustment of volumes, use your favorite mixer.

Have a lot of fun!

The Often asked lspci -v

root@box:/home/vijay# lscpi -v
bash: lscpi: command not found
root@box:/home/vijay# lspci -v
0000:00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 82865G/PE/P DRAM Controller/Host-Hub Interface (rev 02)
Subsystem: Dell: Unknown device 01d5
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
Memory at f0000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=128M]
Capabilities: [e4] #09 [1106]

0000:00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 82865G Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 02) (prog-if 00 [VGA])
Subsystem: Dell: Unknown device 01d5
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 11
Memory at e8000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=128M]
Memory at feb80000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=512K]
I/O ports at ed98 [size=8]
Capabilities: [d0] Power Management version 1

0000:00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 02) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
Subsystem: Dell: Unknown device 01d5
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 17
I/O ports at ff80 [size=32]

0000:00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 02) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
Subsystem: Dell: Unknown device 01d5
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 19
I/O ports at ff60 [size=32]

0000:00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 02) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
Subsystem: Dell: Unknown device 01d5
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 17
I/O ports at ff20 [size=32]

0000:00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 02) (prog-if 20 [EHCI])
Subsystem: Dell: Unknown device 01d5
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 18
Memory at ffa80800 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1K]
Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2
Capabilities: [58] #0a [20a0]

0000:00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 PCI Bridge (rev c2) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
Bus: primary=00, secondary=01, subordinate=01, sec-latency=32
I/O behind bridge: 0000d000-0000dfff
Memory behind bridge: fea00000-feafffff

0000:00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 02)
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0

0000:00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) IDE Controller (rev 02) (prog-if 8a [Master SecP PriP])
Subsystem: Dell: Unknown device 01d5
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16
I/O ports at <ignored>
I/O ports at <ignored>
I/O ports at <ignored>
I/O ports at <ignored>
I/O ports at ffa0 [size=16]
Memory at feb7fc00 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1K]

0000:00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) SMBus Controller (rev 02)
Subsystem: Dell: Unknown device 01d5
Flags: medium devsel, IRQ 3
I/O ports at eda0 [size=32]

0000:00:1f.5 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 02)
Subsystem: Dell: Unknown device 01d5
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 21
I/O ports at ee00 [size=256]
I/O ports at edc0 [size=64]
Memory at feb7fa00 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=512]
Memory at feb7f900 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256]
Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2

0000:01:08.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82562EZ 10/100 Ethernet Controller (rev 02)
Subsystem: Dell: Unknown device 01d5
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 64, IRQ 20
Memory at feaff000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
I/O ports at df40 [size=64]
Capabilities: [dc] Power Management version 2

root@box:/home/vijay#

Sound started working suddenly. Looks really interesting.

https://bugtrack.alsa-project.org/wi...roubleShooting