Need help with freezing, buzzing, and turning-off during sleep mode

Hi JGreel,

My suggestion would be to start by running the Dell diagnostics to rule out problems with your hard drive, memory, or sound card. There's a link below to the procedure. I suggest you run the diagnostics from the F12 utility partition, which you can access during boot up.

Well, I ran all those diagnostics you suggested, but everything passed.

Do you have any other ideas?

Hi.

Thank you for replying. When we checked the memory, we used the Air Duster inside and cleaned everything. The machine seemed to run better than new - fast and perfect - then 24 hours later, buzzing started again. Now freezing. Very frustrating.  Do you think it could be the Sound Card?  Although it checked out fine on Diagnostics, could there be some sore of glitch?  This buzz did start from day one, but again, infrequently enough to be ignored until it escalated.

Look inside your PC and take a picture.

Buy a can of AIR DUSTER and use on the heatsink and fans.

Hello

I don't want to intrude into your thread, but I am having similar issues. I have a 2.5 year old Studio XPS 8100 Windows 7. Very infrequently, it would do the momentary freeze and loud buzz. It was so rare that I ignored it. Then a few months ago it started freezing entirely. I wiped the drive and did a complete factory reinstall. It was great for 2 months, then started the intermittent buzzing again. Then suddenly it started freezing and buzzing.

This does not occur when any specific application is running. I thought it was linked to Windows media player, because it appeared this triggered. I stopped using Firefox because I was told it was a heavy application, and now use Chrome. It just froze again, but this time, without buzzing.

I ran the Dell website diagnostics and everything checked out perfect.  

I've read a few threads on the Internet and most are Inspiron computers. Someone suggested reseating the memory, which I did yesterday. It did not help. The computer is running like a dream, other than this buzzing and now the new freezing issue.

Hopefully someone can answer this question for both of us.

Thank you

Victoria

Hi VictoriaSky,

Does the buzzing come out of the speakers or from the case?

You might want to run the Dell diagnostics.

Hi

I think it's the speakers because today when it froze, I didn't hear anything, and I didn't have the speakers on. Do you think there's a connection with the speakers?   I'm going to do the safemode diagnostics now.  I'll let you know what it says.  

Thank you

Hi Osprey

I ran the Diagnostic Test and everything checked out as:  Passed.  Any ideas?  

Thank you

Yes, I did F12 and ran diagnostics from there.

I've been using the computer for over an hour, using Microsoft Word, and it seems fine.  Using the browser also.

But, I've not used the speakers.  I'm going to turn on Winamp or Media player and start some music to see if

that triggers it.

I hate to rock the boat, but I have to know if it's the speakers.  Could something external do this?

Back soon.

Thanks !!

Ok, that's good. While you're troubleshooting this, I would try with the speakers connected and disconnected.

Did you try booting to the F12 partition and running the diagnostics from there?

Well - I'm  back.  I'm using Media Player.  I opened Photoshop and it buzzed for a split second, like a stutter, but didn't freeze. I opened and closed programs and browers, while playing music, and it's okay other than an occasional buzz, but again, not freezing yet. Intermittent problems are the hardest to solve, I imagine.  Okay - as I type it's buzzing more, but nothing major. It seems like I'm annoying it now.  

I'll keep using it and post back.

Thank you :-)

So the sound seems to be coming from the speakers, correct?

By the way, I also have an XPS 8100 and have not had this problem.

Yes, I believe it's transmitted through the speakers. I've been working on the computer all day and it's acting fine other than occasional short buzzes.  It seems to happen when I open a program, for instance, I opened Photoshop and it buzzed. I opened Chrome and it buzzed. All the while I had the media player going and it did not freeze. I'm totally clueless. It's back to very occasional/intermittent.  It's done this from day one. I probably should have returned it for another.

Hi Osprey

I ran another Diagnostic that took hours. It tested absolutely everything on this computer, and it passed. I've been on for half hour and it's already buzzed twice. It's a deep, harsh, momentary buzz. This eventually leads up to the freezing, although it hasn't done that yet. Other than that, it's running beautifully.  It's an awesome computer other than this one problem. If everything passed, then it must be software, correct?  I'm trying to narrow it down to what it could be.

Here is what I have installed:

Adobe CS3   InDesign - Photoshop - Illustrator (rarely use)   Pagemaker

Microsoft Office 2007 (I only use Word)   Frontpage

Corel Video Studio

Aleo banner maker

Carbonite

Brother printer

Lexmark printer

ESET  virus protection

Free programs: Calibre, Sigil, Coffee Cup FTP, Dropbox, Adobe digital reader for kindle books.

I have a few old programs I've used for years on my Dell XP and installed on this one. (flash slide, flash banner maker, jpeg sizer,  pdf2pageturn.)  That's about it.

I've only used 171 GB out of 921 GB.  And I run this computer relatively easy.

Have you known of any of these software products to cause problems?

Thank you

I think the way to attack this is by checking event viewer (use search to find it). When you get a buzz (so to speak), make note of the time, then go to event viewer to see if the sound corresponds with any errors or other notifications.