That bloody Dell laptop now £292 (as low as £279!!)-EDITED FIRST POST

Cat72

Hi

Im fed up using the touch pad on it for navigating the page ( too fiddily) Im set in ways at using my optical mouse. What can I purchase to use a mouse subistitue for the laptop ??

biglugs

What can I purchase to use a mouse subistitue for the laptop ??

What's wrong with using a mouse? I hate using touchpads and always end up using a mouse when I use my laptop.

Premier_2

Maybe I misunderstood, but I think it's a mouse that Cat72 is after.

You can get a mouse that connects via USB port - heres an example but others should be available including a simple 2 button mouse or indeed an optical mouse if you prefer these. (but maybe not from this supplier)

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=23159&criteria=mouse&doy=24m3

Cat72

Thanks that was what i was meaning- i just was not sure what alernatives there is to the touch pad.

monkeyspanner

Cat72 wrote:

Hi

Im fed up using the touch pad on it for navigating the page ( too fiddily) Im set in ways at using my optical mouse. What can I purchase to use a mouse subistitue for the laptop ??

Bought an optical mouse with my 1300 cost was around £6 I think. Comes with a usb connector.

weaver

scoobies wrote:

That would do the job. I would however check that your existing PC has a network card that can connect into the wireless router (assuming you will still be using that). If it does not you can either buy a network card or buy a wireless USB adapter.

There is a number of deals on wireless routers at present (with wireless adapter) - see my other post

Thanks scoobies been Argos and got this deal fantastic as its 69.99 + 39.99 to buy separatly and got the 2 for £50.00 well pleased.

Anyway set it up and had a slight problem with router but called Linksys helpline (free) and they sorted it out no problems.

thor

Grrrr...I got the laptop a few days ago but have only just had time now to get it out of the box and turn it on. All seemed fine I attempted to use the DVD rewriter. It recognises every type of disc correctly but I can only explore the contents of a few of them. I know that some drives have issues with DVD+/-R discs but it also has problems with CD-R/W and plain old CDs. When i put in the software disc that came with the laptop the disc autoran but failed to find the file on the disc that the computer was looking for.
On reading the owners manual I spotted that there was a utility that could be run to test the hardware if you press F12 before WinXP had loaded but when I ran this test on the disc drive the results were all passes.
So it looks like that I will have to test Dell's customer support unless anyone knows of a fix should the fault not lie with a dodgy drive.

talkshop

thor wrote:

When i put in the software disc that came with the laptop the disc autoran but failed to find the file on the disc that the computer was looking for.

Maybe that file is not on the CD ?

What disc/file was it looking for?

motorguy

thor wrote:

Grrrr...I got the laptop a few days ago but have only just had time now to get it out of the box and turn it on. All seemed fine I attempted to use the DVD rewriter. It recognises every type of disc correctly but I can only explore the contents of a few of them. I know that some drives have issues with DVD+/-R discs but it also has problems with CD-R/W and plain old CDs. When i put in the software disc that came with the laptop the disc autoran but failed to find the file on the disc that the computer was looking for.
On reading the owners manual I spotted that there was a utility that could be run to test the hardware if you press F12 before WinXP had loaded but when I ran this test on the disc drive the results were all passes.
So it looks like that I will have to test Dell's customer support unless anyone knows of a fix should the fault not lie with a dodgy drive.

Try http://delltalk.us.dell.com/supportforums/

I had a really obscure problem with the display on my SXGA screen and there was a resolution on there....

:o)

thor wrote:

Grrrr...I got the laptop a few days ago but have only just had time now to get it out of the box and turn it on. All seemed fine I attempted to use the DVD rewriter. It recognises every type of disc correctly but I can only explore the contents of a few of them. I know that some drives have issues with DVD+/-R discs but it also has problems with CD-R/W and plain old CDs. When i put in the software disc that came with the laptop the disc autoran but failed to find the file on the disc that the computer was looking for.
On reading the owners manual I spotted that there was a utility that could be run to test the hardware if you press F12 before WinXP had loaded but when I ran this test on the disc drive the results were all passes.
So it looks like that I will have to test Dell's customer support unless anyone knows of a fix should the fault not lie with a dodgy drive.

Hi,

You cannot write DVD discs with just Windows XP - you need to use 3rd party software. I thought my DVD writer on my HP laptop was acting funny too when I got it!

Autorun issue, try exploring the disc manually via My Computer.

Hope this helps!