Computer Related: Dell Laptop Freezes & Lack of Display

[Jonathan S.]

The executive summary:
-- Dell D630
-- Vista
-- Often (i.e., sometimes within minutes, other times more like hours) freezes (no sound, no cursor movement, like time has come to a standstill), and then sometimes the screen (whether the laptop's LCD, or a separate monitor via the docking station) will display no signal whatsoever (i.e., indistinguishable from the laptop being off).
-- Once or twice, the blue screen of death appeared, along with a message like "physical memory dump" and rapidly changing numbers, but the laptop then shut down within a few seconds and before I could write down the text more precisely.

The gory details:
- Purchased around mid-September last year.
- Worked flawlessly (well, once I got rid of the ridiculous Aero effect) until around early November (i.e., about a month and a half).
- Has been essentially unusable since then because of the freeze and no-display unreliability (which is so unreliable that it's almost reliable).
- Dell customer small business "service" has basically just been stringing me along on one dead-end endeavor after another, taking a long time to get back to me, and overall giving me the impression that their goal is to get me to give up, throw the laptop in the garbage, and buy a competitor's laptop as a replacement.
- First instruction was to run a long battery of tests, all of which revealed nothing.
- Then told to use the factor image restore, except despite having Vista installed by them, that option wasn't available on my laptop.
- Next informed that the problem was competing anti-virus and anti-spyware applications (even though the computer would sometimes freeze even before Windows started up, hmm), so I removed all existing applications and replaced with a Trend Micro suite. (That of course did nothing, other than take up my time, as expected from the previous experiences, and also some $$ too.)
- Now Dell is sending me CDs to accomplish the factory image restore, which won't work now, because I can't get the screen to display any signal. Even if this does somehow work, then that apparently means some sort of software conflict with Vista, and Dell says I'm on my own for buying XP.

Thanks in advance for any feedback, even it's just denunciations of Dell (whether customer service in particular or the company in general) or Windows (whether Vista in particular or the entire family of operating systems in general)!

[rometheworld]

it's a dell, get used to it

[dk_alaskan]

Had a screen go out on my old Dell, have they trouble shot enough to figure out that it is most likley the screen gone bad?

[Goophy]

Could just be a bad Vista-image preinstalled, very common with Dell-computers.
A clean install would probably help.
Support-procedures after that would be replacing motherboard, graphic card (if discrete), RAM and LCD-kit.

Don't know how willing they are to ship lots of parts in the US though.

[summit]

Dell sucks
Vista sucks
Dell + Vista = the perfect combo for masochists

[njfreeskier]

it's a dell, get used to it

i second that. dell laptops are pretty much useless. i had so many problems with mine. i got a macbook and absolutely love it. i'd convert if i were you. you know the saying...once you go mac you never go back.

[Jonathan S.]

Ugh, what have I inflicted upon myself? (Guess I shoulda asked here in the first place before buying a laptop, instead of just trusting the buying habits of the firm I used to work for.)

But this gives me some hope:

Could just be a bad Vista-image preinstalled, very common with Dell-computers.

Okay, so setting aside buying a Mac (and relegating the Dell to serve as a work platform for further mods to my F1 rando race boots, or something like that), is the best-case scenario:
-- the factory image restore will get it working again
-- all the problems were caused by a faulty Vista install by Dell
-- paying some etailer for XP will prevent further Vista-related problems

I suspect the LCD monitor is not the problem, but rather the consequence of some other problem. That is, the typical pattern is, freeze after a couple hours, try to use it again, freezes become more like a matter of minutes, then eventually no image at all displays upon start up. (Manipulating the FN-F8 crt/lcd toggle gets it back eventually -- now the image is back, although the first start-up resulted in a freeze even before I reached the windows log-in screen.)

[coreshot-tourettes]

I will take this opportunity to plug Sager.

Bought a nice computer from them, then the video card started to go out intermittently.

It was out of warranty. "Send it back", they said. I paid the shipping.

They call me back 3 days later. Vietnamese guy. "Hi, I the tech that working on your computer. I have it on my bench now. You video card had bad solder joint. I fix. It go out today. You do not need new motherboard like we said might happen. You pay us $70."

One week later, I have it back and haven't had a problem since.

[dfinn]

I suspect the LCD monitor is not the problem, but rather the consequence of some other problem. That is, the typical pattern is, freeze after a couple hours, try to use it again, freezes become more like a matter of minutes, then eventually no image at all displays upon start up. (Manipulating the FN-F8 crt/lcd toggle gets it back eventually -- now the image is back, although the first start-up resulted in a freeze even before I reached the windows log-in screen.)

This sounds more like a hardware problem than software to me. It might be worth trying the restore with the CDs they send you, if you can get the laptop to stay up w/o crashing for the duration of the install. When that doesn't work it's probably time to start asking for managers and working your way up the chain with Dell support until you get someone who will let you send the laptop back for them to look at it.

[Jonathan S.]

They call me back 3 days later. Vietnamese guy. "Hi, I the tech that working on your computer. I have it on my bench now. You video card had bad solder joint. I fix. It go out today. You do not need new motherboard like we said might happen. You pay us $70."

Hmm, how did those credit card ads go:
New laptop, $1000.
Repair job, $70.
Tech who is both super helpful (deliberately so) and super entertaining (unwittingly so), priceless!

But back to my woes:

This sounds more like a hardware problem than software to me.

Any particular reason (that I might be capable of understanding) behind this hunch? Dell keeps blaming a potential application conflict (but then again, that's kind of a variation on blame-the-victim and gets their hardware and original factory image off the hook). What makes me so nervous about this, is that even if the restore approach works for awhile, then after I install various applications, and use the computer for a a few more weeks, the freezes might just start up all over again...

[RShea]

You need to have the discussion that they going to have to stand up and recognize this could be an actual hardware problem and not just software discussion with Micheal Dell. Ask if they have any local authorized techs or if you can send it to them for testing and diags. Otherwise bite the bullet and take it to a local computer store and pay them to do some diagnostics and testing. You can boot to CD\DVD (If they did not include their system restore CD's ask them to send them immediately) Do not complete the system restore- you are just trying to prove that the computer freezes before the Windows gets loaded and it is not any of the stupid stuff they are blaming it on (anti-virus, etc.) since you state it locks up even before the Windows load.

Also if you do send it out, as part of the repair, they will want to do a system restore so back up up before sending. I put notes everywhere that they should only do a systme restore as a LAST option if required not as a FIRST option to try and fix all that is wrong with it. If a system restore is needed you can do that yourself with the disks and process Dell provides. If you need Mike Dell's email address, let me know sometimes that gets some attention to their run-around tech support that try all the wrong things reading from some script.

[Jonathan S.]

So the system restore CDs are supposed to arrive today. And the tech is supposed to call me and walk me through the system restore.

On the one hand, the fact that the laptop has frozen before at the Windows login page, or even before that, when the little kind of progress bar goes back & forth at the bottom of the screen (ya know, like the eyes of the Cylon warriors in Battlestar Galactica -- the original major network series, at the risk of dating myself), seems to indicate it can't be a problem with Windows and various application conflicts, since Windows hasn't even really started up yet then.

On the other hand, when I ran all those built-in diagnostic tools on the laptop, no hardware problems turned up. Or can some hardware problems evade the limited capabilities of those tools?

So, top rec for the moment, instead of doing the system restore, I should ask for a list of authorized shops in the area that might be able to test the laptop for hardware problems?

and thx again for everyone's feedback & advice!

[RShea]

If you can not boot to the system restore CD's then discuss immediately that it is not a Windows problem. Also try safe mode a number of times and see if it will load into Windows that way before doing the system restore. Dell's answer to everything is a system restore (which results most of the time in lost data unless you can try to save the my documents etc and only do a Windows reload and not a full factory image restore. They do not care about your data one bit, only getting you to quit calling them ASAP.

[mmmthmtskier]

http://www.notebookforums.com/forum71.html

[Jonathan S.]

Hmm, I posted there, but no replies -- maybe they ignore jongs? (Or is posting there about a Dell laptop with Vista just as bad as inquiring about a non-Duke Marker binding here?)

DHL just delivered the "software restoration DVDs" -- now given the following additional behavior, does this mean the restore approach is pointless:

1. When hooked up to docking station, and everything going fine for maybe half an hour or so, image to external monitor just cuts out. With laptop still on, press the undock button, remove from docking station, open lid, and Fn+F8 fails to bring up image on laptop LCD.

2. Computer freezes even at the "Windows Error Recovery" screen (after a prior freeze).

All of this happened today, but might have happened previously, although I can't remember for sure.

[Jonathan S.]

Hmm, so now Dell is convinced the laptop has a hardware problem:
"At this point, it appears the lcd screen would need to be replaced. According to your contract, you have the "return to depot" warranty. Any hardware replacement, the system would have to be sent to the depot to get repaired. Once they repair the system and return it to you, then you can go ahead and install the SRCD's."
Seems kind of odd though: they replace the LCD, but apparently don't investigate anything else, and instead just ship it back to me, then see if that has done the trick, and if not it's back to the software restoration option.

[axebiker]

Dell sucks
Vista sucks
Dell + Vista = the perfect combo for masochists

GOOD ANSWER!! Sorry to arrive late to the show...

[RShea]

Tell them that if you are required to send it in under the warranty for repair, that you expect it to come back in working order (assuming you are OK with them doing a system restore for you) and you do not want to have to deal with their equipment any longer than you have too. You have invested enough time and energy in trying to prove what we all knew from the beginning- that there is a hardware problem - the system is still under warranty and you want it fixed and working right ASAP.

[Jonathan S.]

Okay, thanks, they're now (as in, in real time, on the phone) acknowledging it can't be a simple LCD screen problem, so they're actually going to assess other issues when I return.
But they want me to keep the hard drive -- this seems very odd, since if no other problems show up in their tests, it has to be something with the OS, which meanwhile is back on the hard drive far away from them. Apparently though, that's the way they do it, although curiously enough, this latest tech says that if it comes to that, the next step is the reinstall the OS, *not* use system restore...

[RShea]

Have they had you run diagnostics on the hard drive to make sure that the hard drive is not going bad? If not then again you need to point out that you WILL be a unhappy customer if the drive stays with you and then you put it back into the system after they do their work and it does not boot. A reinstall of the OS does save your documents, but it does not insure that the hard drive in fact is good and working....

Best of luck!!

[Jonathan S.]

Ugh, no, they haven't -- they seemed absolutely intent on having me keep the hard drive, even after I tried to press the issue. (The tech went and checked with someone else, then confirmed that I should keep the hard drive.)

[wildstyle]

a few questions ....

do you have an old laptop that had XP home or pro on it ?

do you still have it?

does it have the XP code on the base ?

[Jonathan S.]

Yes & no: have an older C-series Dell laptop (going away present from my old firm), originally had 2000, friend installed XP (which along with some add'l memory I installed, has hugely improved the performance -- why didn't my old firm ever do that when I worked there?!?), but I'm a bit unclear on how legit his install is (e.g., some sort of little app says it's a verified version of XP, or something like that, but can't install updates).

[RShea]

I'd go and purchase an enclosure while the system is back with Dell and see if you can plug it into a desktop or another computer and run at least the chkdsk tools in windows or better yet the drive testing tools from the drive manufacturers (like Seagate Seatools or the Hitachi Drive Tools) If there are any reports of errors I'd call Dell immediately and report it and tell them to quit dragging their feet and having you doing all their work for them.

[wildstyle]

^^^^
what she said...

it may be that you have disk issues but i would say its likely you just have good old 'vista is shit' issues......

I run a dell x1 that was instantly reinstalled with XP pro.... after that , life was good...

no way would i put vista on this slow little machine ...

a dell d630 should be able to handle vista but i would always start with a clean install of the OS, vista or XP. Lets you know you have a good original platform.



If you can get a clean install of vista on the machine and then it is still having issues, dell will sort you out with a new laptop / disk / motherboard.

It sounds to me if they have had loads of issues like this and they are working through a defined set of tasks before they dole out new hardware....