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Scary!! My computer wouldn't go on!
My Dell Inspiron 15 (I think, why don't they ever print this on the computer where you can see it obviously?) just about gave me a heart attack. It had been 'sleeping' for a bit (I closed it after a meeting and went home), and when I went to turn it on, the fan went on, the light went on for about 2-3 seconds, (nothing on screen), and then it went off again. My ultimate solution was to take the battery out and unplug it, wait a bit, then put everything back. Thank goodness it worked.
However, I did not just buy a new computer a few months ago to have it pull this stuff. Anyone have this happen to them? What's going on, and how can it be avoided?
I'm running XP - paid extra for it so I wouldn't have to deal with Vista. So it's not the weird issue with 'sleep' that Vista computers seem to have, where they won't wake up again.
(And I'm wondering to myself... at what point do I just spring for a Mac and have done with it?)
Thanks for your help!
Elizabeth
LaptopNomad
539 Posts
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November 11th, 2009 03:00
Windows XP's behaviour with sleep (standby - powered) and hibernation (power off) has always been sketchy.
When it was in sleep (standby) it's actually still running - taking the battery out abruptly kills everything running.
If i was in your shoes i'd try to reproduce the situation - rule of thumb is - it'll bite you again at Murphy's moment.
I can be hardware related to - so keep your warranty papers standby
I avoid sleep (standby - powered) by powering off into hibernation. (pressing shift in the 3 button power off screen)
This saves the battery also.
ebmargit
8 Posts
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November 11th, 2009 06:00
Thanks! I never had this problem with my old computer (though there were plenty of other issues by the end). I'll avoid sleep from now on. If it's a hardware problem, what do you think it might be?
Thank you!
Elizabeth
LaptopNomad
539 Posts
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November 11th, 2009 07:00
To trail a hardware issue it needs to exhibit the failure more than once.
The worst are failures that happen every now and then - like once every few days.
First buckshot troubleshooter is to reseat / swap / change RAM memory.