Dell Inspiron 1520: Viable After Market Upgrades

If anyone here needs help trying to upgrade their Dell Inspiron 1520 or end up running into a problem and don't want to upgrade to a new laptop, here are some upgrade solutions available to you. All of the following upgrades are possible via parts found on eBay, you can find all of these as long as you know what you are looking for.

Processor Note: Processors in the blue will run much more efficiently and produce less heat than the ones in the red, as they are manufactured by different companies. Another underlying difference is that the red processors are built upon the 65nm and the blue processors are built upon the 45nm. 45nm uses less power and produces less heat than 65nm and since its smaller allows more transistors to fit into the same space. The X9000 would probably run cooler than the X7800/X7900 for the reasons I just stated, I've marked as red as it's going to run hot because it's an overclockable processor. Furthermore, let me give you a seller warning, not to fall for the small price gimmicks, e.g. do not buy a processor that is listed at much more lower price, than others of the same kind, odds are you are buying an engineering sample or worse, a faulty processor. Check to make sure your seller is top-rated and will allow you to return the item, if you do not like it.

Buying Screens: Try to see if you can find a combo that sells an inverter and screen together, preferably from the USA and not a knock off. There are some screens that sell for way cheaper but are also made from cheaper material. Best approach to this is buy a combo (inverter + screen) from a top-rated seller who will give you warranty of some decent amount of time. At the moment, you can get the WUXGA Screen Glossy or Matte for less than $100 on eBay. The hardest ones to find are the WXGA+ (1440x900) and WSXGA+ (1680x1050) in matte or glossy, if you find some make sure to do some research or post on the forum, so as you are not getting scammed.

SATA Note: All SATA II (3.0 Gbps) Drives (SSD or HDDs) are backwards compatible with the Dell Inspiron 1520 SATA interface (1.5 Gbps) at no performance loss whatsoever. So do not worry about that, SATA III speeds will not be reached on the 1520.

3G Networks: Mobile broadband is possible by purchasing the cards and installing the software which was originally intended for XPS-line but I have found that it is possible to use it on the Inspiron 1520. I tested both the Verizon/Sprint Cards and they worked, so based on that, I'm assuming it will work for the others as well.

Bluetooth: The Dell Wireless Bluetooth 360 Module will work with the Dell Inspiron 1520 as well, I was able to determine this by accident when I ordered the wrong piece and I just installed it and use the Toshiba Bluetooth Stack in order to run it. If anyone wants that let me know they have a trial version before you can purchase the real version or choose to re-install it after 30 days.

Windows 7 (64-Bit) Drivers: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=K3RKKWRE and for nVIDIA GeForce Driver

That's as much as I came up with thus far, if I do any other performance modifications, I will let you all know but for the moment, this is what I have and I also ended up putting it on the WikiPedia Page so that people can look at it there as well. I'll try to update this page as much as possible, instead of people always asking what's possible, I made it so that you can all see what is possible through the course of me upgrading my laptop, I was able to understand this thing inside and out. All of these upgrades should be theoretically possible for the Inspiron 1720 aside from the LCD/Display types, from what I remember I don't know if the 1720 has a WUXGA available or not, it should have the WSXGA+ available regardless.

Also, just a reminder, that most of these hardware components can be substituted into a Dell Vostro 1500, Dell Vostro 1700, with respect to their model. For instance, the optical drives aren't going to get any bigger or smaller with any of these models, nor will the RAM. I know that the RAM on the 1520/1720 can be upgraded to 6GB, but I haven't owned a Vostro to confirm this on the 1500/1700. But everything else should theoretically work properly, as both of these laptops were made with same motherboards with the BIOS being the only difference.

 

>>> T5200, T5300, T5500, T5600, T7200, T7400, T7600

These are Socket M processors for use with the 945 chipset. They won't work with a 1520/1500.

 

Oh wow, updating now, thanks for clearing it up

 

Just to add my .02

Any 800 FSB Core 2 Duo will work. I'm pretty sure you could swap in Merom 2M based Pentium Dual cores, Celeron dual cores (not that you'd want to).

If you have the Nvidia 8400M GS, the 8600M GT is a straight drop in upgrade. No need to flash the vBIOS or anything like that, it is a Dell proprietary unit. G84M/G86M cores are going to all fail, but the Vostro 1500/Inspiron 1520 have a removable graphics card module, so that shouldn't be a major concern. Intel GMA3100 owners will have to buy a new motherboard + Nvidia GPU module to get discreet graphics or use ExpressCard and do external GPU or eGPU.

X7800/X7900 are Merom 65 nm Core 2 Extreme's and run much hotter than X9000 (which can be had for under 200 dollars). Also the TJmax is 5C lower (100 vs 105) for the X7x00 vs X9000, respectively.

 

Hi
I'm running on a Dell Inspiron 1520 that I have had for about 5-6 years

Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T8300 @2.4 GHz 2.39GHz/ 2.99 GB RAM/ OS Win XP SP3/Mobile Intel(R) 965 Express Chipset Family/Conexant HDA D330 MDC V.92 Modem/ Broadcom 440x 10/100 Integrated Controller/ Dell Wireless 1395 WLAN Mini-Card/

I keep getting a Blue Screen with the error message

BAD_POOL_CALLER
error code
0x000000C2

Does anyone have any idea's on how I can fix this. I have done all I know how.
I have re-installed OS by removing partition and installing
I have reinstalled all my drivers including BIOS

If anyone know how to fix this please help me out here...
(P.S. apparently my system can't play Minecraft which sucks cause I wanted to)

 

I think this was a compatibility issue with the .NET Framework Update and Platform Update thing a while back, which they fixed for Windows Vista (SP2) & Windows 7, make sure you have all Windows Updates and if you continue to get these errors it's not your fault, it's because you have an outdated OS.

However, I didn't have this problem on Vista or 7, so you may just want to think about updating to either OS, I would say go for 7, I don't think you should have a problem at all then. You can also find all the drivers you need here as well.

 

thanks for the help.
here is something though lol
turned on computer today got critical message alert from dell support center
says that it is having trouble detecting my modular bay.

 

What kind of drive do you have in your optical bay? As in what company was it manufactured by? You can find this out by accessing "Device Manager" and then by expanding the bracket that says "CD/DVD Drive." If you cannot turn on your machine at all because of this error then I would flip over the Dell Inspiron 1520 and unscrew the one hinge holding the optical drive in the bay and when you pull it out. Follow these directions and you'll be able to identify what company made the drive (e.g. Toshiba and etc.)

The error you got above and the one prior to this one gives me the impression that you may have a faulty optical drive all together, but no worries, you can get a replacement for a good deal on eBay.

 

Wdc Wd3200bevt-75a23t0

mistake.... i looked at disk drives on device list... will need to open since it is not detected

 

GSA-T21N 12.7 tray IDE DVD+/-RW

 

The original company that developed that was Hitachi, you should look into getting a replacement DVD+/-RW drive and then installing the drivers for that. I've found a replacement part on eBay here, which should work with your laptop because it's made for it. It comes with the software this way at least you'll have a working optical drive, if it doesn't work right away, send it back to the guy because the issue is with your motherboard then.

 

hmm tnx... +rep

 

Yup sure thing, I should also remind you that you can get a blu-ray drive for your optical drive bay as well. If you feel like spending $80, that's the cheapest it goes for on eBay, at least the functional ones anyway.

 

Intel GMA3100 owners will have to buy a new motherboard + Nvidia GPU module to get discreet graphics or use ExpressCard and do external GPU or eGPU.

@Tsunade_Hime
I have a 1520 with the intel graphics, how hard is it to obtain a new mobo and graphics chip and replace the one in it versus do something with an eGPU? Also which would be cheaper? I don't care about the portability so much as the cost.

 

Depends on what you want to do.

You'll need to buy the motherboard KU926 (Inspiron 1520) or WY041 (Vostro 1500) (both are the same thing, just different BIOS) and a GPU (UW390 = 8600M GT or KU907 = 8400M GS, though the 8600M GT costs only a few dollars more). So you are looking at ~200 dollars to go from X3100 to 8600M GT.

For the same cost of going to 8600M GT, you can setup a GTX 460 DIY e-GPU but realize that is only for a external monitor. It will not work for your internal display.

OR you can put the 200 towards a new laptop, up to you.

 

The reason I was interested in upgrading was so I could play ut3 at a playable frame rate. Right now I get around 13 fps with what I have on lowest settings at default resolution. I thought with the intel chipset on this one I could use that nvidia driver workaround to output to the internal display.

Edit: Just got home from work and I feel like an idiot... It's an Inspiron 1525 not a 1520. How does that affect my upgrade prospects?

 

It's generally the same platform, you'll be using Core 2 Duo Processors, however, I don't think the 1525 is available in a discrete GPU, if you want to play games, you will have to use the DIY GPU because the the 1525 is only available w/Intel Graphics.

 

when i had my inspiron 1520, i sure liked it...i thought the silver case with blue lights were cool...i just bought a inspiron 17r- hopefully i will like as much as the 1520 i had

 

I just acquired an Inspiron 1520, it has the 1280x800 screen and the integrated graphics, has anyone updated their screen before and verified the x3100 graphics will drive a WUXGA panel with decent enough acceleration?

DELL INSPIRON 1520 1521 1525 1526 LCD SCREEN 15.4 WUXGA | eBay

This guy has a ton of them, and it's roughly $20 more than the 1680x1050 panel, and cheaper than the 1440x900 one.

Thoughts?

Edit:

I assume I need to find an inverter that can work with that panel too, huh?

 

Umm, dont' fall for those retarded cheap, compatible screens. That's worth $91.95, you can get one with an inverter as a combo deal from here fro $99.95:

New Dell Inspiron 1520 15.4 WUXGA Matte LCD + Inverter | eBay

I've used them before and they offer warranties on their product as well. However, as for the the graphics compatibility, I don't think the WUXGA (1920x1200) will work with the on-board graphics card. Perhaps the WSXGA+ (1680x1050) will work, but don't quote me on that.

If you really need screen space and etc, you should probably get a motherboard and graphics card yourself and replace your current mobo. They are cheap now, especially the unused ones go for somewhere around $110 on eBay. Just remember, that the part number you looking for is WP044, it will have the option for a graphics card.

The screen I've shown there should be adequate for your needs, they not only offer the best price/performance ratio, especially since they stopped developing these screens. ScreenAid isn't something I would trust.

 

I appreciate the input, it was the one on the top that's why I linked it, that one you linked is indeed a far better deal, I was hoping someone had experience with using the panel with the integrated graphics, I was assuming it could easily drive it, as I believe there were c2d laptops with x3100 and 1200p screens, hoping someone can come in and provide some real experience with using integrated graphics and a 1200p panel, buyuing a motherboard graphics card and screen is far too much to spend in a laptop that's old and not very good anymore. I could justify just buying the screen, but not the rest.

I am upgrading from this 1520 in the near future to something newer, I just hate 1280x800 screen resolutions.

 

You can try it, but it's an expensive try. The real issue is that the Inspiron 1520 was never sold with 1200p screens, as I saw it, this was more of a compatible luck-of-the-draw upgrade towards the end. That's why I'm uncertain if the x3100 can support the 1200p, but perhaps you should wait for someone else to respond and see if they can help out.

The motherboard + graphics card (new & unused) would run you around $130 in total, as I just checked on eBay. But perhaps you would be better of putting that money towards a newer laptop.

 

This is a holdover laptop as my 6400 completely died finally, this is just surviving me until I get my settlement that allows me to buy my laptop, $130+$100 in a laptop that's already 4 years old is a waste in my opinion. Especially considering the laptop itself is not exactly 'great', it's a cheap consumer laptop, after using my sisters 6400 (the one that died) and this 1520 I can honestly say I'd never buy an inspiron, let alone the horrible resolutions provided, hence the reason I wanted to go for 1920x1200, which is a much nicer screen, the other reason was that the 1680x1050 screen is nearly as much, the difference being like $20.

 

I don't think X3100 can drive WUXGA, and that was only really offered on the Latitude/Precisions with CAD grade cards. All in all, just go to WSXGA+, you might need a new LVDS cable.

 

The current Inspiron-line is horrible in terms of build-quality, if you have to get a new laptop, then I'd recommend looking at the XPS 15 or DV6T Quad, those are good high performance machines. I've had mine for about 4 years and I can attest if you put in the right equipment/parts it'll last you a good 5-6 years easy. I'm probably going to get a laptop next Fall, as I'm thinking my current laptop will be able to hold me over until then, but if it's still running come then, I probably won't get it a new one until this one dies.

 

Oh no, I'm not even looking at a consumer grade laptop at this point, I have around 1.5k~ to spend on my laptop, I'm looking more into a precision or a latitude right now, or a sager w/ a 6990, rather different but I haven't decided what I want overall. The 1520 isn't badly built, it's just...an Inspiron.

I have a 120GB SSD 16GB of RAM a 6230 (which hates the 1520 bluetooth wise.)

I just wanted to upgrade the screen because it'll make this a great beater laptop if I can't use mine or someone else needs to use the laptop.

 

Yeah, I thought you wanted consumer-based laptops, but hey, if you have cash to spend, I would recommend the Precision M4600, you can get that bad boy for around your price range. That's the line I planned on upgrading to once this laptop runs its course.

 

my inspiron 1520 is still running great. but the lid is full of scratches, obviously my daughter couldn't resist scratching it . but so far it's been a good backup laptop. the battery is not as good though.

 

Question: Anyone have an Intel 6230 working w/ Bluetooth on their 1520? I can get wifi to work flawlessly, but the Bluetooth drivers refuse to install properly, any ideas?

 

Did you download the appropriate drivers? Did you enable Bluetooth in the BIOS?

 

Yeah I've tried drivers from Intel's website, Toshiba's bluetooth stack and drivers for the XPS 15. Wouldn't bluetooth in BIOS just be fore the dell bluetooth 365 card? Considering Bluetooth is built into the 6230 it wouldn't need that to be on, correct?

 

Bluetooth drivers from Intel's website installed fine after enabling Bluetooth in BIOS but Add a Device cannot find my mouse or any other bluetooth device.

 

I think that's because Dell Inspiron 1520/1720's were made before the time of combined-bluetooth and wifi card. If Bluetooth is an absolute necessity, I recommend purchasing this and installing it in it's appropriate location which is under the hinge cover, next to the power button. It's a simple and easy 2-3 minute install but make sure the battery is out and the power cord unplugged.

However, I've seen people complain about having bluetooth and wireless connection on the same chip. But to be fair, most of those complaints were from the 1030 card not the 6230. But if your wireless is fine, then I recommend doing this. It's far cheaper and you'll better results with this.

 

That isn't cheaper considering I already own the 6230 and it's installed into the 1520, and the 6230 doesn't have the BT+wifi issues that the cheaper card is known to have.

 

Well, the obvious reason for it not working I would say is compatibility which is about 3-4 years, as the Insprion 1520 was launched in 2007 and the Advanced-N 6230 (Rainbow Peak 2x2) was launched in 2011, specifically with the Intel Mobile Series 6 chipsets (Huron River Platform). This was the first time Intel released dual-signal based wireless modules.

It's probably not going to work for the mere fact that the wireless card is supposed to support two signals, one for Bluetooh and the other for a Dual-Band WiFi. That's why your WiFi is working fine and your Bluetooth is unrecognized because your chipset with the Dell Inspiron 1520 (Santa Rosa Platform) isn't designed to pick up two different signals.

What I recommended up there was an alternative method for Bluetooth, one that I use and it provides decent results for my skype-based headest which I use every now and again. You can also try using a usb-based bluetooth set-up if you don't feel comfortable opening up your laptop.

 

Okay as my screen is continuously dieing (when i got it it had 4 steps of brightness) it only has 2 steps of brightness now, I need to source a new panel+inverter, I was trying to find one on ebay but all i could find (WSXGA+) was panel only, and usually had scratches. Anyone know a reputable place to source a 1680x1050 panel + inverter? Matte if possible, Glossy is fine though.

 

You can probably get the WUXGA (1920x1200) for way cheaper (like $100) but the only place I found that offered the cheapest price was actually eBay for ( $138). It's the combo.

 

Remember that I don't have the GPU in my board, so I don't know exactly if the 1920x1200 panel will work, hence why I wanted to find the 1680x1050 panel to swap in.

 

Oh in that case, I would recommend the $138 panel, it comes with an inverter.

 

The WUXGA panels will work with any of the graphics options offered with the 1520. I don't think you'll need a new display cable, but I'm not 100% sure about that one.

 

I'm just referencing the below quote then I mentioned the WUXGA issue.

I don't know anyone that has successfully attempted it at all, so..

 

Tsunade's being silly. I guarantee it will work given that the display cable(s) support(s) it. There are plenty of D820/D830 with integrated graphics and WUXGA screens.

 

Should I need anything more than the combo linked in the second page? This one: New Dell Inspiron 1520 15.4 WUXGA Matte LCD + Inverter | eBay Screen + inverter for $100?

"Onboard video ONLY for Inspiron 6400 / E1505
WILL NOT WORK with ATI Video Card"

Is what it says in the description, so I imagine it will be a drop-in replacement.

 

No that should be enough, you'd just have to remove the following screws:

- 6 screws on the front of the bezel
- 4 screws on each side (total of 8 screws)
- Integrated web cam, gently lean the screen over and remove the strip
- Completely dislodge the LCD cable, should be this big green cable

And do everything in reverse order with your new screen and then try it out.

 

Hi guys, I was just wondering if it would be possible to swap my Dell Inspiron 1520 8600M GT 400MHz DDR2 graphics card for one from an XPS m1530 with 256MB dedicated 700MHz DDR3. I'd like to know whether or not they both use the same proprietary dell pci-express slot and if they are compatible in terms of pcb size - in other words are they interchangeable? I'm aware of the fact that the heatsinks are certainly different - that's a given, but I don't think it would be physically impossible to disassemble the cooling solutions and install the original 1520 heatsink on the replacement card. Your opinions would be greatly appreciated!

 

Another thing - is 1520's stock cooler going to be able to keep Core 2 Extreme X9000 within reasonable temperature boundaries? It says on the Intel's website that the TDP of X9000 is the quite impressive 44W as opposed to the 35W of my current T7300. Since X9000 is an overclockable CPU it's not really clear which frequency range that value refers to. I can only assume they are talking about the nominal frequency - which is 2.8GHz. But it's quite a raise from the 2.6GHz TDP 35W of the physically identical T9500. Weird.

 

I haven't done this upgrade but if it is the same physical size and has the same connectors, they should be compatible. However, I haven't gotten around to doing this type of upgrade, but try it out and let me know how it turns out for you. I might be inclined to do this as well, as I started playing some games as of late as well.

This was one of the reasons as to why I just stuck with the T9300 (2.5GHz) because I wasn't sure if the X7900/X9000 would be kept cool enough to run. I avoided the T9500 because I wanted a brand new processor but it was ridiculously expensive ($250) while the T9300 is ($125). But those prices must've dropped by now, I think I saw the T9300 brand new for $90. If you had a 1720, I would probably recommend using the an Intel Core 2 Extreme Processor because it's larger size allows there to be more ventilation, but I'm not sure of the adverse temperature effects it would have (if any).

 

Well, as it turns out, we're out of luck here. After doing some extensive research on this matter it became clear that the m1530's the video circuitry is actually on the mainboard itself which makes this little operation of ours impossible. DELL were probably aiming to make 1530 thinner and a bit cheaper to make and by doing so in some ways it inevitably became worse. It is a damn shame though. It would have been a really nice upgrade. Having said that, it's already obvious that 1520 is one of the very few laptops which can offer an upgradeable/replaceable graphics card solution. And in our case - unfortunately there is nothing to upgrade it to.
As for the X9000, I gave up on this idea, because I did have my doubts about it being able to run cool enough in my system. So I placed an order on a new OEM SLAYX T9500 instead. It's simply the safer bet and just as fast. Thanks for the advice

 

Hello All,

I'm currently running my Inspiron 1520 with the T5550 processor. I was thinking of purchasing the T9500. Is it as simple as swapping the old one with the new one, or am I going to need a new MOBO to do this? Please advise. Thanks in advance

 

The worst you'll need to do is update the BIOS. You won't need a new mobo.