Help!

My laptop's been freezing on me a lot lately. It used to work just fine until one day it would just lock up within seconds of loading Windows (nothing would work, not even ctrl-alt-del) , or sometimes before it could even finish booting up the OS. Sometimes I wouldn't get any display at all when turning it on.

Dell support told me to run the HD diagnostic test on it and they said the old HD was non-functional, so they sent me a new HD, but that didn't stop it from freezing, so I'm guessing it's some other kind of hardware problem - I just don't know what.

Anybody have any idea what would cause this? And about how much would I have to spend to get it fixed? Would it be worth my time & money to try to fix it or should I just wait for a deal on a new laptop?

My first guess: Chip is overheating.

A good technician should be able to spend about 1/2 - 1 hour on it to see if that's the problem.

How old is the laptop? What are the specs? Did it get banged around before the problems starting happening? Maybe something just came loose. Did you scan for viruses?

I see from one of the pics that you were trying to install Mandrake Linux. Does the laptop support it?

I bought it used last September. I think it's almost 3 years old because when I check the service tag on Dell, it says the ship date is 5/11/2000. It was running Win XP fine and I was always careful not to bang it around. Since I just got a replacement HD, there's nothing on it at all (not even an OS because it freezes during any OS install).

The only specs I know for sure are that it's a 500 MHz PIII, 256 MB RAM, 6 gig HD, 14" screen, 24x CD-ROM, and floppy.

I don't know if this helps, but these are all the parts that Dell lists for it:

Quantity Part # Part Description
1 0120C Insert, Blank, PC Memory Card Intl. Assoc., CP/CPX
1 09YXE SUBASSY, Floppy Drive, INT\EXT, CELESTICA, Latitude CP
1 1940E Assembly, Shield, Shielded, Electro Magnetic Interference, Processor, Metal, CRNA
1 5833R Processor Module, PDA500M, 256K, Accelerated Graphics Port, Copper, A0
1 262EP Assembly, Filler, DOC/CBL, CPX, CPT
1 9364U Adapter, Alternating Current, External, 20V, 70W, 3W, Bell Atlantic
1 0655P Keyboard, 87, United States, Dual Pointing, United States
1 0082R Assembly, Palmrest, Touchpad, CRNA2
4 0640E Cover, Screw, TOP, Adhesive, CRNA
1 1691P Battery, 53WHR, 14.8V, 8CELL, Lithium
1 2844T Assembly, PWA, Main, CRNA2-CYP
1 302TR Liquid Crystal Display, TFT, 14.1, HITACHI, V2
1 3440E Assembly, Bezel, Liquid Crystal Display, TFT, 14.1, CRNA
1 645RW Assembly, Cover, TOP, Liquid Crystal Display, 14.1, CRNA1/2
1 6626T Assembly, Cover, Bottom, BASE, CH-ST
2 89346 Cover, Screw, Bottom, Round, Adhesive
1 5395P Dual In-Line Memory Module, 128, 100M, 16X64, 4K, 144
1 43JFR SUBASSY, Compact Disk Drive, 24X, TOSHIBA, CELESTICA, Latitude CP
1 5074T Hard Drive, 6.0GB, IDE (Integrated Drive Electronics), 2.5" Form Factor, 9.5MM, IBM
1 6568C PWA, Interface, Interconnection, Hard Drive, CRNA
1 6640E Assembly, Carrier, Hard Drive, CRNA
1 4547R KIT, Documentation, NTWS, V4, SP5, 5.25" Form Factor, England/English

Did you add any memory recently?

The only thing I added to it was my wireless network card that I bought a couple weeks after I got the laptop.

Have you opened it up to take a look? Maybe something jiggled around?

After opening (it can be scary) try making sure that everything is securely in place.

Do you know which model Dell laptop this is?

might help a little

Are you just trying to run windows?

your problem sounds similar to this

http://www.hardwarecentral.com/hardwarecen...reviews/1540/4/

http://www.cns.nyu.edu/~masmith/i3800/


The following article mentions the windows video display software
http://www.wood-tang.com/archives/000006.php

It's a Latitude CPx H500GT. Right now I'm just trying to get it to install any OS without locking up on me during the install.



I don't know the first thing about taking apart a laptop, but I found the service manual for it - I'll read through it first to see if it's something I can do, if not, I'll have someone else take a look at it for me.

Thanks for the links, cron! Right now I'm searching Dell's forums to see if more people can confirm the touchpad drivers or the video display problem.

Well, after a few more e-mails to Dell and running a few more tests, the support person told me I have a failing hard drive.

Since I have a parts-only warranty, they'd send me a new motherboard for free, but they wanted me to pay $110-129 (on-site or ship to them) in labor costs to install it. Heh, I'm not gonna pay that much, so I took out the motherboard myself.

When I removed it, there were three loose screws just sitting there at the bottom of my laptop's case. Could that have been the cause of all my problems???

Click here for more pictures

You can see the screws in the first three pictures (near the middle of the first picture, bottom right in the second picture, left side of the third picture).

Some of the DELLS here at work have problems with loose screws.
The laptop actually grounds itself with these screws, SO if they are not all the way in IT CAN CAUSE PROBLEMS
possible that these loose screws were the culprit all the time. Did you try tightening the screws before taking the board out???

Very suprised the DELL tech didnt ask you to do this.... VERY COMMON in some the laptops here. Sorry I didnt think about that...kept thinking about the touchpad when reading the thread

Hey Miranda, you do a better job of taking a laptop apart and laying out all the parts than most technicians I know. Good job!

Just get everything off the carpet and put it onto a hard surface, preferrably in an area with a hard floor. The last thing you need is a jolt of static to affect any of the parts.

I got it off the floor after I took the pictures. I sort of put it back together without screwing everything in and put it back on my desk. I just have to wait until the new motherboard from Dell arrives.

p0larbear, I have no idea where the three screws came from, so I don't know where to screw them into. And I didn't find them until after I had taken everything apart.

It is possible that one of those loose screws short-circuited something on the system board. You did the right thing getting a new board from Dell.

As a side note, since you have a full parts warranty, you might want to call up Dell and see if you can get them to send you a new set of teflon screws with that motherboard, since they often do not stay put as well as they should once they are re-used (you CAN re-use them, but the manufacturers do not "recommend" it, probably because of the sorts of problems you are having with loose screws on that laptop).

Let us know if the new board fixes it.

Hey, look at the bright side, at least you are getting a new laptop piece by piece!

Good luck,

Nack

Got the new board (actually a refurbed one) today. The laptop works like new. I'm actually posting with it right now.

My warranty is good until the 11th. I'll ask for a new set of screws while I can still get them free. And maybe I can get a new set of trackpoint caps too.

glad everything is back to normal

That's cool. Glad it worked out for you.