Latitude e5520 on XP, Complete Freeze

Hi rjonesdj,

System can freeze intermittently due to many possible reasons. Please try the following troubleshooting steps:

1. Flash BIOS
Note: Before flashing the BIOS please check the following:-
- Battery should have 10% or greater charge
- Adapter should be connected
- No external devices should be connected
- All other programs should be closed and documents saved

Click on link to download and update the system BIOS: http://dell.to/PpH6Ap
- Click on “Get driver”
- Save the BIOS on your desktop
- Right click on it and select “Run as administrator”
- Follow the prompts on screen to install BIOS (System may produce beep sounds and may restart)

2. If the issue persists, disable 'Multi core support' option in BIOS
- Power off the laptop
- Power it back on and repeatedly tap < F2 > as 'Dell logo' appears on the screen (System setup screen appears; If Windows logo shows up, please repeat all steps)
- Navigate to 'Performance' and 'Disable Multi core support' option
- Save BIOS settings and Exit
Note: Please use the directions given in the following image to navigate through BIOS options. Mouse is inoperable in system setup.
  

3. Check 'Hard Drive' and 'Memory' for their functionality
- Click  http://dell.to/PQAV4Y to access the 'Dell Diagnostics'
- Select 'Component' and highlight 'Hard Drive' > Click 'Run Diagnostics' (Refer to image below)
- Select 'Component' and highlight 'Memory'  > Click 'Run Diagnostics' (Refer to image below)
  

Hope this helps. Do reply if you have any further questions. I would be glad to assist.

have run diagnostic tests on both hdd and memory, both return no errors

have rpeviously flashed bios to latest version, but done it again this afternoon and disabled multi core in the bios settings.

left it on to monitor and about 30 minutes later it had froze, wasnt doing anything in particular, just left idle

Hi rjonesdj,

Thank you for your prompt response. I would like to have a look at the components installed in your computer. A firmware compatibility issue was observed with specific 'Hard Drives' that were installed in this system. It resulted in the computer randomly freezing up and slowing down at times. Since you have already performed the relevant troubleshooting steps, it is likely that your laptop is affected due to corrupt firmware on the hard drive. If that is the case, the issue should be fixed with hard drive's firmware update.

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Hi Ryan,

Thank you for your prompt response. I checked the hardware specifications of both the laptops and neither of them have been shipped with the impacted hard drives. However, please try the following steps:

1. Check if a particular application/ function is being used when the system freezes up
2. Check if you can toggle the 'Caps Lock LED' when the issue occurs
3. Let the laptop stay in 'safe mode' and check if the issue reports there. Power on the laptop and use < F8 > key repeatedly at Dell logo to move to 'safe mode'
4. Allow the laptop to stay on BIOS screen and check if it still freezes up. Power on the laptop and use < F2 > key repeatedly at Dell logo to move to 'BIOS'
5. Check the event logs in system BIOS event; 'BIOS Events' category is listed under 'System Logs'
6. Try using a known good memory module to see if that makes any difference

Hope this helps. Do reply if you have any further questions. I would be glad to assist.

thanks again,

ill try these steps asap.

Ryan

This has just happened again. to answer your previous questions

1. Nothing in particular being used when it freezes up, event log in windows shows no errors or faults, and no similar pattern of services/applications being run when this occurs

2. Caps lock LED does not respond when its frozen

3. in safe mode in 2hours of testing the freeze didnt happen, but this is such a temperamental issue that it can go for two hours without problem, but surely enough it will reoccur in time

4. at BIOS screen, doesnt freeze

5. BIOS events show no BIOS or Thermal events logged. standard power on states are logged

6. unfortunately dont have any good memory modules to try in the machine

this machine is still under warranty, would you suggest i raise this with support there

Hi Ryan,

Thank you for responding. Good that the machine is covered under warranty and is eligible for part replacement if needed. However, let us first ensure that the issue is not software related; else replacing parts will also not help. I recommend you try the following steps:

1. I am aware that you reinstalled 'Windows' and all related drivers; also make sure that you have 'Windows XP service pack 3' installed on the machines. If required you may use the following link to install Windows sp3: http://bit.ly/TtQIWt
2. Allow the laptop to stay in 'safe mode' for a longer period of time to observe if it freezes up at some time
3. Let it stay on the BIOS screen for a longer period of time and check results

I would also like to know the following:
- 'Windows operating system' copy on the laptop is the 'OEM version' or is it a retail copy?
- If it a retail copy, is it a clean install or is the hard drive partitioned differently?
- Is it a dual boot setup? If yes, try a clean install

Do reply with the findings. I would be glad to assist.

thanks, i have since reported this to warranty support this afternoon. but i will try the steps you suggested while i wait for a response.

1. its an XP SP3 iso thats deployed via KACE, i work for a large organisation so there is volume licensing for the copy we use.

2.3. will leave it running in safe mode to monitor further.

thanks again for the suggestions

Hi Ryan,

Thank you for your response. I'm sure that allowing the laptop to stay in diagnostic mode and on BIOS screen will produce decisive results. Do reply if you have any further questions. Would be glad to assist.

I you figure this out please let me know.  I have the exact same issue with 6 of these laptops.  

glad im not alone, thought i was losing the plot a bit...

ive raised it with dell warranty support, am yet to hear back from them. out of interest where yours ordered in the past month or two? could be a faulty batch of components perhaps..

Ours were ordered in July I believe, I imaged them and shipped them to schools and soon as the students used them they started to freeze up.

We have been ordering them for about a year and have over 100 out and in use but this last group over the summer at least 6 are freezing and i have 8 new in boxes that I don't really want to touch until this is resolved.

I have a laptop that I purchased last December, same model that was working fine all year and put the drive in one of these new laptops thats freeze (both 5520s) and it froze.   It has to be something with the hardware or the BIOS. 

The Dec laptop was bios A03 and the freezing one was A08. i put both to A09 and I am stress testing them over the weekend to see if it keeps freezing.  I also have a new motherboard on route to see if perhaps that is the culprit.

thanks for that update, will let you know how i get on with warranty support

Well it still frooze on the bios update to a09, so pretty much it has to be the motherboard.

Also they manufacture date in the BIOS reads 08/01/2012, not sure if yours are from that time aswell.

Hmm, i just read that it could be a BIOS option that is causing this.  I found that it only seams to be freezing while on battery, try disabling "C-state" in the bios  Not sure what it does but so far it seams to be working.

So far, warranty support have suggested running the Intel Processor Diagnostic tool. this returned no errors.

Flashing the BIOS to latest version, which I have already done.

And changing the Fastboot behaviour to minimal and Boot sequence to UEFI.

While waiting for a response from them, I decided to rebuild the machine a third time... and so far it hasnt frozen once in the last 2 days. Not sure exactly what i could have done differently as our build process is pretty standard and straightforward.

I know this isnt exactly helpful, but thats where Im at with it at the moment. looks like problem is resolved, but unsure exactly what fixed it.

I will monitor it for the next few days just to be sure...

wonder if there are any specific similarities in our builds that could be causing the problem. Do you use any disk encryption? protection from unencrypted usb devices? any VPN clients? Novell?

Not that they've caused us related problems in the past.... just thinking of any other similarities