I forgot to add...the stop error message came on the blue screen which said windows was shutting down to protect itself.

0x0000007e
0xc0000005
0x804e355b
0xf89b3bec
0xf89b38e5

Laura

Could be a ram module, or other hardware - run the Dell Diagnostics.

Shutting down to protect itself? Hmmm,  sounds like a dying hdd... Did you try going into the BIOS and seeing if your HDD is still listed? If it makes abnormal noise or fails, call Dell. I'll see if I can't find those error definitions.

Hello from PA

Definitely do the DellDiag, but if to no avail:

Try taking the system down to bare bones (HDD, 1 RAM CHIP, CPU, No MiniPCI Cards, no external stuff) by removing pieces one at a time and trying to start windows. If that won't do the trick, then it may be time to do a windows reinstall

Hello, and thanks for replying to my query.

The model is Inspiron 8600, which I purchased in March of 2004. It's an Intel Pentium M, 512 RAM, 40 g. hard drive, 32 mb Nvidia Geforce fx go5200.

I still haven't been able to get into the bios, but I will try again. I will also run the dell diagnostic, hadn't thought of that.

Thanks for trying to find the error codes. I found mention of the first two, but not the last two....I even googled for the last two and found nothing. The first two were usually coupled with something elese, and I wasn't sure what it all meant.

Laura

Did some of the diagnostic testing...so far my modem is shot, and my mouse/touchpad failed the test.

I tired to re-install the modem driver, it was sucessful, but then when I diagnosed it again, it still said there were problems. I have been having alot of problems with getting disconnected lately, but just thought it was my isp.

Would these problems with mouse, touchpad and modem lead to problems in other areas of the laptop?

Laura

One more thought...about a month ago i was having problems with the touchpad. Then, I checked Windows update and...guess what, they had a driver download for me for the touchpad. So I downloaded and installed it. Then, when I did the diagnostic yesterday, the diagnostic couldn't find the touchpad. So, I downloaded the driver from dell, ran the diagnostic again, and the mouse and touchpad were found.

What gives?

I'm aslo getting conflicting reports from modem helper and diagnostics about whether my modem has a probem or not, or if it's even compatible.

Laura

The touchpad is probably fine - the Dell diagnostics looks at the driver for an id and doesn't see what it wants with the Windows-provided driver.  As for the modem, if it is connecting, then it is probably ok also.

For the error codes, when you get a Blue Screen, look at the bottom area of the message screen and in ( ) there should be a file name listed - usually a driver file or associated .dll that will point to the offending driver.

Thanks for replying and for your suggestions.

Good to know about the touchpad and modem.

Three of the numbers(the last three in the list above) were in (). I just ran a search for them (hitting start button, clicking on search, making sure even hidden files were searched). I couldn't find any of them. I tried zeros and "o"s just to make sure. Maybe I'm not searching correctly. The next time I get the blue screen, I will make sure I have copied everything down.

Laura