Vostro 1500 freeze

I got my new vostro 1520 system today. It took only few hours of work to relasize that it was freezing randomly. I was only browsing the internet and at some times I'd leave and come back to see the laptop not responding. In all of these intances I had to force shut down by pressing the power button for few seconds. The laptop did not always restart properly. It froze during restart while displaying the vista screen!

I'm taking no chances. I called customer service and requested to return the unit, I intend to ship it back tomorrow. I am very much dissapointed with this model.

I have a similar problem... details here:

http://getsatisfaction.com/dell/topics/vostro_1520_freezes

Madcap7, I am having the same EXACT issue with my wife's brand new 1520.  Looks like they are going to have a lot of these restocked b/c I am calling today for an RMA to have it sent back also.  So dissapointing that Dell has lowered their standards so much.

Exact same issue here with a Vostro 1520 running windows XP. Bios diagnostics show no issues. Ram tests show no issues. CPU runs cool. The computer just seems to freeze at random points in time. Windows doesn't have a clue anything is going wrong, it will just restart (via the power button) and boot normally. Computer is going back.

Just thought I would post here that I think I've tracked this seemingly random crash to the power supply.

I can run this computer reliably on the battery without issue, but usually as soon as I plug it in and the battery starts to charge, the computer freezes. Seems like once charging runs for a little while, the system stabilizes (maybe it warms up?). And once it's done charging, the computer runs great.

Not sure if this is the cause or merely a symptom, but perhaps it will help you guys drill into the issue a little further.

This is my experience too.

My symptoms were the same. I could run on battery or on AC with no problem at all. It was only when trying to do both that I'd have the problem. I suspect the more drained the battery, the sooner the freeze up. I was running on battery once until it was almost drained, and within 30 seconds of plugging in, it froze.

Fortunately, it is fixed now for me. After getting the CPU and memory chips replaced to no effect, the motherboard was replaced and I haven't had any problems since.

If your system is new or under any service contract, get them to replace the motherboard. Until that is done, use it on AC without the battery pack, or on battery without the AC!

Glen

I had the very same problem with my brand new Dell Vostro 1520 that I purchased about a month ago. 

It didn't matter whether I was running battery only or AC only, or both together, it would periodically freeze up where the only way to fix it was to reboot (hold down power button). Dell replaced the motherboard first, with no success, and then sent me a new hard drive preinstalled with a different version of software and after I installed this and then reinstalled all of my apps with the new hard drive, the computer froze again. At that point, I ended up returning the Dell laptop for a refund. Dell doesn't really know what is causing this problem.  I appreciate this thread though, it gave me some leverage with Dell support.

thanks all

programmer chick

I have similar issues as others.  Machine works fine when fully charged, or when running on battery.  If the battery charge is not full and I plug the machine in, that's typically when it freezes.  Sometimes it runs for 5 minutes, sometimes 10 or 15.  As the battery is charging, towards the end of the charge (after Ihave it plugged in for a while), the likelyhood of it freezing diminishes.  This is a fairly new machine so it is still under warranty.  Not happy about having to send it in to get it worked on.

Just as a follow up: Luckily I caught this issue on my 1520 before the end of my first 30 days and requested a replacement. That one too had the same issue. I then requested a second replacement. Same thing. At that point I had three identical 1520's, all with the exact same freezing issue. I sent them all back and got a lenovo.

I am also having this problem and I am really disappointed and frustrated with Dell.

I've spoken to their support and they say it's a software problem (??!) and they are asking me to pay for a fee to investigate the software issue.

Even though Dell says "it's not hardware" (because the boot time diagnostic passes), I am convinced *it is* a hardware issue. I say this because:

- the problem happens even after resetting the software to its original factory state;
- the problem happens if you use, for example, a Linux bootable CD (which is a completely different operating system);
- the computer only freezes if there is a power cable connected. If it's running on batteries, without the power cable, it doesn't freeze.

To say that it's not a hardware problem based solely on the "hardware diagnostic" boot test is something very superficial for Dell to say. It's perfectly possible to have hardware problems that don't manifest in that diagnostic routine!

Bottom line is... they are not wanting to replace my system or give me a refund!

Now I've just spent £550 and have a computer that freezes all the time :(

Hi Kapriel,

I had the same problem with aVostro 1700.

Fixed the problem as follows

Start/Control-Panel/Nvidia-Control-Panel/Mobile/Change-PowerMizer : Tick DONT manage my power consumption.

My freezing magically disappeared. Spent days online with Dell, they couldnt hep.

I found the answer somewhere on the web

I have encountered the same freezing problem that the others have described in this post, and I think I have determined the cause of the problem (scroll to the bottom of my post for a quick answer).

I ordered a set of 4 Vostro 1520 laptops, all of them with the same specs (most important of which is the 6-cell battery and the 65W adapter).

All four of them, without fail, froze with the power cord plugged in and the battery charging, usually within 15 minutes. The laptop was completely unresponsive (even to Ctrl+Alt+Del), and the only way to recover was to hold down the power button for 5 seconds. However, when they were on batteries, they were fine.

Failed attempt 1: Installing a new operating system (I tried Windows XP, Vista, and Windows 7) did not solve the problem. In fact, with the AC adapter plugged in, the system froze mid-installation.

Failed attempt 2: Updating the BIOS from A02 to A03 did not solve the problem.

Failed attempt 3: Running the full Dell PSA Diagnostic did not detect any problems.

Failed attempt 4: Using a known "good AC adapter" from an older Vostro 1500 laptop did not solve the problem.

Future attempt 5: Other reports of the same problem reported using either a 6-cell or a 9-cell battery with the 65W adapter. Thus, I wonder whether the problem can be resolved by using a 3-cell battery with the 90W AC adapter. 

Around the same time, I noticed that I would only have this problem when the AC Adapter is plugged into some wall outlets, but not others. Thus, what I determined is that the problem is due to a flaky wall outlet, combined with the laptop which is of poor quality, and is not robust at all (I did not have these problems with any of the other laptops that I own)

SOLUTION: Thus, one solution would be to fix the problem behind the flaky wall outlet, or to get a good power conditioner, which should solve this problem. The other, of course, would be to return or sell your laptop, and get a laptop that is of higher quality (if you want to stick with Dell, the Latitudes might be a better option).

As for me, I am going to go with the power conditioner option, due to time constraints. When I ordered these laptops, I was thrilled that I was getting such a great deal. Had I known what was going to happen, I would have gladly paid extra for laptops of higher quality. 

My vostro 1520 is only 8 days old.  Freezes at Random.  I'm  glad for the posts.

I am going to demand a refund.

Same problem here, been dealing with it for  months. Send it back a few times, they don't seem to ack the problem. Maybe I'll try to get a refund.