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Random crashes with different reasons on 1720
Hello everyone!
I have serious problems with my Dell Inspiron 270 laptop and they began right after the warranty gone off. Let me tell you what the problem is, and how did it begin: I've bought this laptop before 2 years, and in the first 2 months it was like a charm. The video performance was low because of the old VGA driver; but everything else was just perfect. After the first reinstallation of the windows Vista I got, some problems occured.
First the HDD started a furious clicking noise, and the laptop randomly crashed. I had to turn it off then turn it on again to work. I thought it was the HDD went wrong so I took several HDD tester programs and ran the DELL diagnnostics. Both of them returned without any errors. It went like this for 1year 2-3 crashed/day then the HDD finally passed out. I bought a new one and changed it now the clicking noise stopped. However, there was a fact that the provided vga driver was too old. nVidia started to provide notebook vga drivers, and so I installed the 186.81 WHQL driver and with it the video performance is like a dream.
HOWEVER the main problem is:
sometimes some part of the screen shows me black rectangles and sometimes after these the laptop crashes then reboots. After booting it tells me there were a blue screen error, well most times I don't see any blue screen errors so I took a look at the minidumps. The BCCode is always 124, but the cause of it is always different. Sometimes the Windows debugger only tells there were a hardware error, sometimes the dvm and sometimes a windows driver.
I've already changed HDD, CPU, and RAM. Everything is brand new and tested on another laptop. There weren't any errors with them. I'm using Windows 7 Ultimate with mostly Vista drivers, except of the Windows 7 nVidia VGA driver. I've already sent these dumps to the microsoft but still no answer for them. If anyone can take a look at my dumps I'd really appreciate it.
Things I've tried:
- Reinstalling DELL VGA driver (The same with the old video performance, even movies are lagging)
- Windows Vista Reinstallation from backup disc (The same as in the previous)
- Took the laptop to service (They couldn't tell what's causing it they told the VGA is okay it's a driver issue)
And if anyone can help me here's my zipped dumps from the blue screen errors: DUMP
Specs:
- 2GB RAM Kingston
- 250GB WesternDigital HDD 5400rpm SATA
Nothing else have been changed. I put back the default cpu since the problem was the same with the brand new either.
Thanks for every advice!
Wrath87
2 Posts
0
November 10th, 2009 05:00
Update:
If I do nothing the notebook is just fine. If I'm stressing it, nothing happens. If I'm overheating every component of it it does nothing everything is just fine. If I sit down to do some work, programming, browsing internet, etc it crashes randomly. What can it be? Sometimes the VGA driver stops responding then restarts, I'm not sure but it may cause the problem. I'm using nvidia's 186.3 vga driver for win 7. It's a 8600mGT vga. Any idea from anyone?
scotc
3 Posts
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January 10th, 2010 06:00
Dear Wrath87
RE: the crashing, not the HD. Given the Age of your machine, I am responding with a post that I am posting in various places.
Sorry this reply is to an old post, but if you still haven't solved it... and others may follow in our footsteps.
This post refers to Dell Laptops, Vostro 1500 and Inspiron 1520 (I think), but may apply to other laptops and desktops.
Symtpoms:
~ Random crashes / freeze of system, even when Idle. (I am using XP or Linux Karmic on a dual boot)
~ can run for an hour or sometimes not even 5 minutes before a crash.
~ Heavy use produces crash more often (playing DVD, Flash videos, FireFox and other browsers)
~ Slow to reboot, possibly many failed boots where it hangs.
~ Error messages in boot about "memory size changed".
~ The POST aspect of boot often performs "Thorough" check - the last 20% of the progress bar is slow to advance.
~ on Vostro 1500 (and others), freeze produces flashing blue lights of caps lock and num lock
~ Memtest86 can find errors in the RAM modules.
Cause: This is a memory issue.
BUT, the RAM modules are fine it's the SOCKET(s) that are the problem.
They build up oxidation over a year or so. If you're computer is new then the memory may simply need to be reseated. If it's older, oxidation may be your cause.
TEST the theory:
The only way to check this is to substitute the RAM chips for known good ones and STILL get the same crashing.
You CAN perhaps check partly if your laptop has TWO memory slots. Remove the RAM from slot B. Reboot, allow the POST to find a new amount of memory.
Does the computer still crash? If not, then Slot B is the culprit.
If it does still crash, then see if your laptop will allow you to have a RAM module ONLY in slot B, to see if slot A is the problem.
Solution: Clean the socket AND the RAM modules with a smooth pencil eraser.
Scrub the eraser clean on a smooth surface first.
Carefully take out the RAM modules (find instructions elsewhere). Scrub the RAM gold pins gently and thoroughly.
To get into the socket contacts, cut a 1-2 mm thick piece of eraser rubber and push gently in with tweezers.
Hoover out the shavings or use a puffer of air.
Then clean with Alcohol on a cotton-bud (although this may be ineffective against oxidation, but it can't hurt)
Strong light and a magnifying glass are useful.
Further solution:
Create greater leverage / pressure of the ram contacts against the socket contacts.
How? This is up to you, but the RAM modules will be accessible by some kind of door / hatch / cover.
Ordinarily, to latch the RAM you push it down till the clips either side click into place and hold it. You need to have the RAM pushed even further down than this because the upper and lower contacts inside the socket are not directly over each other, but staggered to produce a cantilever: push down further = greater contact pressure. Look close and you will see.
Method:
Attach a small block of foam or other spongy material to the underside of the door with double-sided sticky tape such that when you close the door, it pushes the long, free end of the RAM downwards towards the motherboard.
Things to note: As well as taking all the usual precautions with handling RAM chips (static, no brute force) I would suggest that the foam block should cover as little of the chip as possible so that it does not cause a warm, busy chip to overheat.
Don't put too much pressure on the chip by this method. Finding just how much will make the contact and stop the crashing will be a trial-and-error process. Using foam will allow some give.