So every Dell produced since at least 1998 has had a service tag (which I faintly recall being called express service codes back in 98), a 5-7 letter and number code that uniquely identifed the machine. The code is printed on a sticker somewhere on the outside of the case. Newer machines have a sticker on the side which includes the service tag, date machine was produced, and other such useful tidbits.
Now with a unique identifier one would think that it would be easy to lookup the exact specs of ones system as it was purchased. Dell's support site does indeed let you do this. Sort of, if you can figure out what lines like this mean...
1 K3444 CARD (CIRCUIT), NETWORK, MINI PCI CARD, INTEL2200, NOT APPLICABLE
In this instance it means an Intel 2200 minipci wireless card. Usually dechipering these descriptions isn't too hard. Here is an example spec sheet for a full desktop system.
Service Tag: 7KYPQ01
System Type: OptiPlex GX400
Ship Date: 7/19/2001
Dell IBU: Americas
1 43YVH PROCESSOR, 80528, 1.4GHZ, 0K, 400FSB, SOCKET W
1 57589 CABLE, AUDIO, MOLEX TO MOLEX
1 6F067 PRINTED WIRING ASSY, PLANAR (MOTHERBOARD), ASTRO, NETWORK INTERFACE CARD/CONTROLLERS, 4RIMM, OPPLX
1 9019C ASSEMBLY, CABLE, DORADO/ATHENS/TUALATIN/ALMODOR, 34P, FLOPPY DRIVE, 1DROP, HUNNICUT/MEDIUM DESKTOP
1 9809T ASSEMBLY, CABLE, 40P, IDE (INTEGRATED DRIVE ELECTRONICS), 2DROP, LS120 FLOPPY DRIVE
1 5120P CORD, POWER, 125V, 6FT, SPT2, UNSHIELDED
1 25PGG KEYBOARD, 104, 6P, UNITED STATES, NMB, MIDNIGHT GRAY
1 735HE MOUSE, PERSONAL SYSTEM 2, 6P, 2BTN, WHEEL, 1.3A, MICROSOFT, MIDNIGHT GRAY
2 1561P RAMBUS INLINE MEMORY MODULE, 256, 400M, 128X18, ERROR CORRECTION CODE, 16C
2 9578D CARD (CIRCUIT), MEMORY BOARD, MEMORY, PRINTED WIRING BOARD, CONTINUITY, RAMBUS
1 70NYT COMPACT DISK DRIVE, 128K, I, 5.25" FORM FACTOR, 48X, LENGTH/LONG, 8482B, MIDNIGHT GRAY
1 06HRM DISPLAY, FLAT, D-INTFC, 17, 1701FP, UNITED STATES, MIDNIGHT GRAY
1 34MCW CARD (CIRCUIT), GRAPHICS, VIDEO, 16MB, TNT2, PROFESSIONAL
1 5828D ASSEMBLY, CABLE, ATA66, 2DROP, KLINGER
1 903DP HARD DRIVE, 40GB, I, 7.2K, 20/P, IBM-ERC
1 4C496 FLOPPY DRIVE, 1.44M, 3.5" FORM FACTOR, 3MD, NO BEZEL, NEC CORPORATION, MIDNIGHT GRAY, 418
1 0C138 REMOVABLE MEDIA STORAGE, ZIP DRIVE, 250M, I, 3.5" FORM FACTOR, IOMEGA, V4, MIDNIGHT GRAY
1 97MNT KIT, COMPACT DISKETTE, OPERATING SYSTEM, WINDOWS 98 SECOND EDITION, ENGLAND/ENGLISH, A01
If you tell the Dell support site a service tag, your experience
will be customized to what is appropriate for that machine. Well,
that's my dream anyway. It is tailored to that machine type, not the
specific machine. This is an important distinction, as when looking at
the downloads available for the machine type you are shown all the
possible downloads for all the combinations of standard hardware the
machine sold with. This is annoying when presented with a half
dozen different wireless card choices for a laptop. You can usually
work out what part you have from looking at the somewhat cryptic
system spec sheet.
Sometimes it isn't easy though. I have a laptop, that I know has an
Nvidia video card in it. Dell presents three choices for me to
download. And from past experience, installing the wrong driver will
create graphical weirdness that is only curable with a windows
reinstall. A look at the system spec list doesn't help that much.
My choices for files to download are for an nVidia GeForce FX G05650,
GeForce FX Go5200, or a GeForce4 4200 Go. From going through this once
before (and needing to reimage the machine between mistakes), I know
that it is the GeForce4 4200 Go.
To add to this silliness, the download page will frequently list a
LONG list of optional perhipherals for the machine. For example, the
downloads page for the desktop listed above shows 26 different monitors.
Would it really have been so hard to give me a list of just the
applicable software for me?
