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Vostro 220's Intermittent Freeze in XP
We have two new Vostro 220's here, and they're both exhibiting the same intermittent freezing behaviour.. The machine will just freeze without warning, and although the mouse and keyboard are still responding (mouse cursor still moves, keyboard lock keys still light up) the system is in a hang, that refuses to bring up Task Manager at all, and the user has to force a reset. They're reporting an incident level of about 2 to 3 freezes per day.
Apart from the following software, the machines are as they arrived from Dell.
Sophos Antivirus, MS Office 2000, Novell Netware Client, Firefox, Thunderbird
I've run all the diagnostics on the hardware, the pre-boot, the utility partition ones, and they all report passes. The only diagnostic I've managed to run that had a fail on it was the Realtek Ethernet card diagnostic utility reports that there is an IRQ conflict on 18, however Windows itself (in the Driver properties) doesn't report this. Checking it with System Info, it seems some of the USB ports are on IRQ18 also, but there doesn't seem to be a way to change this for either the USB or the Realtek Ethernet card. The PC's are as they were out of DELL, we haven't changed any IRQ's so I suspect the Realtek diagnostic utility is being overly sensitive?
I'd appreciate any help or pointers as to where to look to solve these elusive intermittent freezes, if it was a hardware problem I wouldn't expect it to show on two machines, unless it was a known problem with the Vostro 220's. I'm hoping its a software conflict somewhere I can clear up and not have to organise sending the machines back, but we're a bit wary of ordering these Vostro's now, so we have some orders sticking in the queue until I can fathom this out.
Any help would be very much appreciated.
mjlull
3 Posts
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October 23rd, 2009 00:00
I'm in a very similar situation as the person above though in no way tech -wise. This is the first computer we've had this problem. I'm very frustrated and disappointed in the product. My issues seem to cluster around use of the USB ports though not always. I hope someone sees the message above - I am interested in resolving this frustrating issue. I sure don't want to replace it - that is time and money.
ipszju
3 Posts
0
November 18th, 2009 06:00
I have the exact same problem. In order to type this message, I have rebooted system for 4 times. Very frustrating. I would not order from Dell computer later if this issue would not be solved.
kevincole
2 Posts
1
November 30th, 2009 16:00
I have two Dell Vostro 220s PC's, and they're both showing a similar 'freezing' to the one you describe!
My freeze/pause/delay seems to happen while accessing the internet through a broadbank modem. I can't say whether it's software or hardware, but the whole machine freezes for at least ten seconds, ie: nothing responds! Then, if you've 'clicked around a bit', all your 'clicks' are actioned together in a burst...
I'm running XP, and have all the operating system and product upgrades I can find installed!
Any thoughts anyone?
mjlull
3 Posts
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December 3rd, 2009 21:00
I won't be purchasing another Dell. Support for this issue is non-existent. MJLull
ipszju
3 Posts
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December 4th, 2009 06:00
Recently I solved this problem by changing my usb wireless adapter to a HP pci-e wireless adapter. While I do not know who to blame, but Dell definitely needs to provide more support on such issues.
TrackCoach
3 Posts
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March 23rd, 2010 20:00
I have had the same EXACT problem. It is comforting to know that someone else has the same problem but I don't have a solution. My Vostro 220 worked perfectly for a year. I don't know if it is related but it seems to have started after I loaded the Norton Security Suite 360. I replaced McAffee because of a switch from Comcast. I removed the program but it still freezes.
TrackCoach
3 Posts
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March 30th, 2010 11:00
Still looking for a solution to the Windows XP freeze. Ran virus software (again) from the C prompt since the OS freezes after twenty minutes. Thoroughtly cleaned out dust from fan etc. Didn't think this was the problem since it will run for hours in diagnostic mode but wanted to eliminate any possibility of overheating. Updated all drivers including chipset and BIOS. I suspect it might be bad RAM but it doesn't show up on memory diagnostics, might have to just switch and check memory. The problem emerged when Norton Security Suite was installed. Created error messages and caused XP to lock up.
james247
1 Message
1
April 16th, 2010 14:00
We to have ad the same issue with now going on 4 Vostors however durning the process of freezing the units beep. And of course most of them or just over the one year warranty. Any one find a solution?
TrackCoach
3 Posts
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April 17th, 2010 16:00
Several things: One good suggestion (that did not work) was to disable the hibernation feature. This has worked in some situations but not mine.
My problem was a virus (Security 2010) embedded in the registry with a rootkit that foiled attempts to remove it. I was infected when I replaced McAffee security with the Norton Security Suite through Comcast. Norton and several other anti-virus programs did not identify this virus but Malwarebytes from Anti-Malware found and quarantined the problem. I have not attempted to put Norton back on my computer.
luciano136
4 Posts
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November 27th, 2010 23:00
Did anyone ever find a solution to this? I have the EXACT same problem!! I thought it was the RAM, so I switched the locations but that didn't solve it. After 10-15min it still locks up. I switched the RAM again but doubt it will work now. I might take it all apart for a thorough cleaning since I don't know what else to do?!
luciano136
4 Posts
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November 28th, 2010 11:00
I also did a thorough spyware/malware cleanup. It has been running for a few hours now (internet disconnected); I'll see if it holds up...
ipszju
3 Posts
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November 28th, 2010 11:00
I found the problem is my usb wireless adapter, after I switched to pci-e wireless adapter, this freezing problem is gone. Hope this can help.
luciano136
4 Posts
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December 3rd, 2010 09:00
I'm actually just using wired internet now. It just froze up again. The weird part is that I could still close an Excel sheet that I had open and the radio that was streaming through a website keeps going, even though everything else but the mouse froze.
When I had PC problems in the past, I always had good luck formatting the entire system and reinstalling everything. Should I give that shot? It would definitely get rid of any software related issues (should there by any). I have all my files backed up on an external HD anyway.
luciano136
4 Posts
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January 5th, 2011 12:00
So, for anyone still having this problem. I did wipe out the entire system about a month ago. Since I have backups of everything, the whole thing took less than two hours and the PC has not been freezing up over the last month...
josiahr
4 Posts
0
March 22nd, 2011 07:00
Running the Vostro 220 hardware with Ubuntu Linux on it also results in intermittent freezes.They seem to be related to USB devices. I make heavy use of USB on the front and back. Some pull power from the bus. I've found that he freezes are getting more hefty. The last few months the freeze happens more regularly and the last few weeks, when I reboot, it will freeze even in the POST process before even thinking about booting up the operating system. This is clearly not OS related, but something to do with the hardware if my problem is consistent with the ones mentioned here. Other 220 owners have complained about high-powered USB devices slowing down the boot process. Also, I've had strange interactions with a USB powered hub that I assumed was the hub and gave up on it awhile back. Could it all lead back to the USB bus not having enough power to operate properly under heavy load even if it is consistent with number of ports available?
I have another Vostro desktop that is off warranty, but it has a problem with XP where when using Skype with a camera (USB Powered) and moving the mouse (USB Powered) it will sometimes freeze up the computer and force a reboot.
This all is starting to look suspiciously connected to me.