Laptop acting up

2009-08-30 09:39:41

#1

Bevo: Nah; +718|6780|Austin, Texas

My new Dell XPS is acting up real badly lately. Takes ages to start up, opening a folder or starting mozilla (once fully booted) sometimes takes 10-20s. Programs will freeze for 20 seconds for no reason.

I don't know the specs off the top of my head, but

the HDD isn't even close to full
6g RAM
Pentium 9xxx processor
Radeon HD 3570 (I think..)

It's not even a year old. I don't run any cleaners or anything - should I run a CC cleaner? Any other ideas?

2009-08-30 09:42:17

#2

Hakei: Banned; +295|6254

Anti Virus
Anti Malware/Spyware
Defrag
Check temps
chkdsk /r
Memory test
Reformat

2009-08-30 09:42:52

#3

alexb: <3; +590|6199|Kentucky, USA

Hakei wrote:
Anti Virus
Anti Malware/Spyware
Defrag
Check temps
chkdsk /r
Memory test
Reformat

Also, check task manager for any processes taking up lots of CPU usage. If you have UAC enabled, make sure you click "Show processes from all users".

Last edited by alexb (2009-08-30 09:43:18)

2009-08-30 09:47:19

#4

Bevo: Nah; +718|6780|Austin, Texas

Oh right, forgot to mention it does a weekly defrag and I just did that yesterday, so no go. Also I'm pretty positive it's not a backround process - I know what kind of stress that puts on your computer and it's not that.

2009-08-30 09:48:15

#5

Kimmmmmmmmmmmm: ©; +1,811|6256

wipe the drive and do yourself a clean install with the stuff you really use.. i bet they loaded up that laptop with all kinds of poo before you even got it

2009-08-30 09:50:41

#6

Bevo: Nah; +718|6780|Austin, Texas

Kimmmmmmmmmmmm wrote:
wipe the drive and do yourself a clean install with the stuff you really use.. i bet they loaded up that laptop with all kinds of poo before you even got it

Yeah it wouldn't be a bad idea. It was a pretty severe change, though. It just started acting up one day, I never had these issues prior.

2009-09-03 22:24:55

#7

Bevo: Nah; +718|6780|Austin, Texas

I went through and cleaned out all the "crap", cleaned up active processes and taskbar items and did the windows updates.

It's still not speedy and already had mozilla lock up which eventually made the whole lappy freeze and had to hard reboot. Any suggestions for anti virus software and a cleaner of sorts that'll clear out temps and stuff? I don't mind doing a reformat, but I don't really want to go through the hassle of reinstalling everything if it can be avoided. Especially some programs (such as photoshop) I don't have the disc handy (it's at home) and it would be a while before I could get them back.

2010-02-06 22:46:42

#8

Bevo: Nah; +718|6780|Austin, Texas

Unfortunate bump.

I have reformatted since then and the problem still persists. Programs decide to freeze intermittently... surfing forums, trying to watch a video, opening itunes, what have you. Sometimes they'll unfreeze after 20 seconds, sometimes after 2 minutes. Other than that, it runs flawlessly.

Could this be a hardware issue? The computer is pretty clean virus/firewall wise and like I said I've reformatted and still run into this same issue. It hasn't always been this bad, but now it's 10+ times a day.

2010-02-06 22:52:04

#9

Winston_Churchill: Bazinga!; +521|6998|Toronto | Canada

I had a similar kind of thing and I replaced the HDD and its working great again. Though, I would have a fairly loud spinning noise from where it was on the laptop most of the time when this kind of thing occurred.

2010-02-06 22:58:06

#10

Bevo: Nah; +718|6780|Austin, Texas

Winston_Churchill wrote:
I had a similar kind of thing and I replaced the HDD and its working great again. Though, I would have a fairly loud spinning noise from where it was on the laptop most of the time when this kind of thing occurred.

Hm, no odd sounds, the fans aren't on, the comp isn't hot etc. I haven't really had any issues with it except this very one. Not sure what to do.

2010-02-09 22:21:25

#11

Bevo: Nah; +718|6780|Austin, Texas

3 Blue screens of death today, among tons of freezes.

I feel like throwing off the 4th story into the pool

2010-02-09 23:32:24

#12

CC-Marley: Member; +407|7087

http://support.dell.com/
or
http://en.community.dell.com/forums/
Both can help, you have to put in the effort.

2010-02-10 00:19:16

#13

tazz.: oz.; +1,338|6433|Sydney | ♥

Bevo wrote:
3 Blue screens of death today, among tons of freezes.

I feel like throwing off the 4th story into the pool

If you have formatted, and it's a fresh OS and it has issues, then it has to be a hardware problem...

What you describe is what i had almost to a t. i replaced my HD, and it's all good again...

Try downloading Seatools if you have a seagate or maxtor drive.. and do a full scan overnight... If it brings up errors, you've found your issue.

http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/suppor … s/seatools

Also because windows is elfucking.. download the DOS version and burn it to a disk.

Full tutorial can be found here:

http://seagate.custkb.com/seagate/crm/s … NewLang=en

^{everything i write is a ramble and should not be taken seriously.... _{seriously. ♥}}

2010-02-10 00:26:16

#14

mcminty: Moderating your content for the Australian Govt.; +879|6980|Sydney, Australia

CC-Marley wrote:
http://support.dell.com/
or
http://en.community.dell.com/forums/
Both can help, you have to put in the effort.

Yeah, this.

If you have done a format and fresh install of the OS, it sounds like a hardware error. Time to hit up Dell for some warranty repairs..

2010-02-10 07:22:05

#15

Bevo: Nah; +718|6780|Austin, Texas

Running the seagate utility (well, hopefully..)

Will post up a question on the dell forums

calling rajiv is going to be my last step.

ed: my mate suggested I run it in safe mode to determine whether or not it was a hardware issue... it froze while trying to bring up boot options, so I guess it's definitely hardware. Will call dell support after class I guess.

Last edited by Bevo (2010-02-10 07:42:22)

2010-02-10 14:37:38

#16

Bevo: Nah; +718|6780|Austin, Texas

Running pre-boot system assesessment

got the error

error code 0151
msg: error code 2000-0151
msg: hard drive 0 - incorrect status : 32 no additional sense information

HDD fried?

ed: getting new HDD and mobo.

Last edited by Bevo (2010-02-10 17:06:55)

2010-02-10 17:07:50

#17

Flaming_Maniac: prince of insufficient light; +2,490|6966|67.222.138.85

closed at OP request

BF2S Forums Laptop acting up

Hakei wrote:

Kimmmmmmmmmmmm wrote:

Winston_Churchill wrote:

Bevo wrote:

CC-Marley wrote:

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