I recently brought a Dell Vostro 1400 laptop and set out to install Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon on it. The installation went out smoothly and Ubuntu booted up. But there were some issues like sound was not working, wired internet was slow etc. After a bit of searching on the internet, I have solved many of these issues. So I thought I would write a single post to sort out all issues on a Dell Vostro 1400 with Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon installed on it. 
This will help the owners of Dell Vostro laptops sort out the issues they have with Gutsy Gibbon easily.
Issue #1 – Sound comes out alright through headphones but inbuilt laptop speakers do not work
This is the first thing you will notice when you login into Ubuntu. To solve this problem :
- Go to Terminal.
- Type sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base
- Then paste this at the end of the file : options snd-hda-intel model=5stack
- Save the file and reboot.
- Play something, now sound will come from the laptop speakers.
Issue #2 – Fans not working in Vostro after you boot into Vostro
Although I hear the fans working, they never work at full speed. Why heat up your laptop because you don’t want to hear noisy fans ? This procedure will let you install Gkrellm along with the I8K plugin which lets you control your laptop’s fan speed.
- Goto Terminal and then type the following commands.
- sudo apt-get install i8kutils gkrellm gkrellm-i8k
- sudo modprobe i8k force=1
- sudo gedit /etc/modules
- Add the following line to the end of the file: i8k force=1. Save and exit.
- Go to System > Preferences > Sessions > Startup Programs
- Click ADD and put the command: gkrellm
- Log out and log in. Gkrellm should start up. Go to plugins and enable the I8K plugin.
Issue #3 – Wired and Wireless Internet are slow
After some searching on the internet I have found that this is due to IPv6. Due to IPv6 the DNS names are not resolved properly. So all you need to do is disable IPv6 for Gutsy Gibbon.
- To disable it, open Terminal.
- Type command : gksudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/aliases.
- Find the line alias net-pf-10 ipv6 and change it to #alias net-pf-10 ipv6
- Add the following lines to the file alias net-pf-10 off and alias net-pf-10 off ipv6
- Save the file and reboot.
- Your internet should work properly now.
These are the three major issues that have been solved till now. Still my laptop’s wireless card (Broadcom) is not working. I am yet to make it work. When I find the solution, I will post it here.
36 comments
mrityunjay says:
Dec 17, 2007
Hi….i m having vostro 1400 and my speakers r also not working.
But the information mainly cover ubuntu.
Can I have some information for vista
Manas says:
Dec 17, 2007
Hmm… Hi Mrityunjay.
I also have Vista but my speakers are working fine. Can you hear through your headphones ?
If you can, you better get your hardware checked by Dell personnel.
Marcelo says:
Dec 22, 2007
The sound is working fine, is there a way of making the volume buttons work?
kenneth says:
Dec 25, 2007
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=297092 this is an excellent guide for using ndiswrapper to use the windows drivers for the broadcom 1390 in ubuntu (with some tweaking will most likely work with other broadcom cards too) hope this helps, and thanks for the guide man
Manas says:
Dec 28, 2007
Hi Marcelo !
Hmm… My volume buttons are working by default. I have not done any tweaking to make them work.
ju1var6s says:
Jan 1, 2008
i could install fedora 7 in my lap vostro 1500, i try fc6 and it worked, with fc7 didnt detect the hard drive any help thanks
TrickyXX says:
Jan 6, 2008
Hehe Thanks this helped alot!
But i got one little but very annoying problem. I don’t know if it is because i have a danish keyboard but the ctrl+alt+2 doesn’t make the email icon (@) so i have to google it and find it, put it in my clipholder and then paste it…
ju1var6s says:
Jan 6, 2008
hey! i did it my lappy is working, forget about all vers. fc7, fc6, ubuntu ok. i download fc8 everything worked eccept for the wifi built in and i think is a dell part.
Manas says:
Jan 7, 2008
So Dell 1400 is working well with FC 8 eh ? Cool. Will try it out.
dino says:
Jan 14, 2008
Thank you so much. Your tips make my Dell Vostro 1400 work well with Ubuntu, audio, wireless all functioning well. Really appreciate it.
Manas says:
Jan 14, 2008
^^ Glad to know that.
Rich says:
Jan 26, 2008
Thx for the workaround for the sound, been working on that for a while now.
Saleh says:
Feb 5, 2008
I appreciate your inf.
But my vostro 1400 has an Intel graphics card
and for some reason, I can’t run the full graphics of ubuntu ! I mean the 3D desktop for example.
can you please help me ?
Manas says:
Feb 6, 2008
Hi Saleh…
Intel graphics should work by default on Ubuntu system. Dont know much but have you tried Restricted Drivers Manager ?
Bruce says:
Feb 6, 2008
Thanks! I spent an hour or two battling to get the sound working on a Vostro 1400 (XUbuntu), and it never occurred to me to see if sound was coming out of the headphone jack! Thanks for the quick-n-easy fix!
Manas says:
Feb 7, 2008
@ Bruce – Glad to hear this post helped you.
Vinay Patel says:
Feb 19, 2008
Hey
For Sound if you update to
options snd-hda-intel model=5stack
it stop the keys to up/down the volume keys
so upfate this to
options snd-hda-intel model=3stack
Thnaks
Manas says:
Feb 19, 2008
@ Vinay – I am using
options snd-hda-intel model=5stack
But my volume keys are working fine.
Vinay says:
Feb 19, 2008
yes , may be
but i have dell vostro 1400 and that not working for me , and i got working solution so replied
)
Manas says:
Feb 19, 2008
Ok…
It will be useful to people who face the problem. Thanks Vinay.
nosmirck says:
Feb 22, 2008
Hey man, thanks for the info, it worked on my Vostro 1500 with Ubuntu 7.10, but the wireless (Broadcom) doesnt work, cant connect to any network… I would like to know if you fixed the problem. So, thanks again.
pixelot says:
Feb 24, 2008
Make sure the restricted driver repository is checked, then check under restricted drivers, and there should (might) be a Broadcom driver in there. Enable it and reboot. It worked for me, and I have the same laptop.
Btw, thanks for the post about the sound! I was pulling my hair out trying all sorts of things to get it working. (linux n00b here, lulz).
Cheers!
hgyang says:
Mar 8, 2008
Thanx for the info and at last it works. My Vostro now come with sound. Found out that Ubuntu quite simple to us as faster than MS XP.
Saurabh says:
May 12, 2008
Hey Manas
Have you got any solution/trick for setting up the wireless network working for Ubuntu. I am also on the same boat………….
Manas says:
May 17, 2008
Hmm… Hi Saurabh..
I am yet to make wireless working on Hardy.
lucas says:
Jun 24, 2008
I’ve been using options snd-hda-intel model=5stack for some time now, but it had the problem that the sound stopped working after I hibernated
I tried options snd-hda-intel model=3stack, and the post hibernation sound problem seems to be fixed.
AirtekHVAC says:
Jul 30, 2008
Thanks for the tips…just converted from Vista, and still learning Linux. My inspiron 8600 was overheating terribly…now fans run high, temp does not! Thanks again!
Gourav Mehta says:
Aug 11, 2008
I have vostro 1400 and everything working fine in ubuntu except wifi. Can you please tell me how to enable the wifi in ubuntu. Thanks in advance.
Alok says:
Aug 31, 2008
I have dell vostro i have installed ubuntu. everything works . but not the WIFI.. any suggestions ? how to make it work ?
Fascist says:
Sep 4, 2008
Note that the i8k kernel module will not work on 64bit distributions due to i386 specific assembly in the source.
Anyone that can’t get the wifi to work, and has the 3945 wireless, try both available drivers. I switched mine to iwl3945 from the defaut ipw3945 and it works well.
J D says:
Jan 17, 2010
my dell vostro 1500 just stopped having sound it was working fine I shut it down and the next time it didn;t have any sound can someone help me or give me some advice thanks JD POWELL
sam says:
Mar 24, 2010
Please post your Linux compatibility reviews for this product at http://ubuntuhcl.org/browse/product+dell-vostro-1400?id=808
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Jul 1, 2011
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Dec 30, 2011
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