The Dell Diagnostics utility is a valuable tool for differentiating between hardware and software problems. It will run functional tests on the hardware without the involvement of Windows.

 

Intermittent failures can be much more difficult to diagnose, as it is nearly impossible to confirm a defect when it is absent. Glad to hear your problem is finally being resolved.

 

GM

Thanks for the advice and I plan to use it when needed, in my case even the re format and diagnostic solutions were not working. Even though the resolution took 3 hours to determine, I was happy it is being solved.

 

Now one question is, when this technician makes the house call .. how long do they take to re install a motherboard ? and a hard drive? will I need to take a day off from work ? do they come evening hours? day hours ? I assume they will reach out to me on Monday the earliest ..

I cannot predict with much accuracy, but plan on a minimum of two hours to make the repairs and check everything out. It may be helpful to provide a good-sized workspace for dis-assembley. You may need to reinstall all software on the new hard drive when the repairs are done, unless Dell sends a new one with all software pre-installed.

 

GM

well the tech came and left in 10 minutes, motherboard, memory, and hard drive ... upon installation of XP (going thru the format), I got an error again .. then tried to get support on phone, they asked to remove 1 memory chip (diagnostic said there was an error on the memory test) .. so that worked .. reinstalled XP, setup software, updated drivers .. 3 hours later (after several reboots for upgrades) .. BLUE SCREEN again .. and now I have a slew of error messages ..

 

C0000021a

lsass.exe entry point not found

oxc0000142

 

basically I am fed up... Dell said they are sending NEW memory and a NEW hard Drive AGAIN .. for me to install myself ( I dont trust the technician) ..

 

the other option was to have my PC replaced with a REFURBISHED pc ... I was extrememly upset by this .. why a refurbished ? why not a new PC with same config ?

 

any thoughts .. should I go for the refurbished ?

 

what about the LEMON LAW ? same problem 3 times .. Dell keeps sending me corrupted products as supposed fixes .. and dont know how to solve the issue .. They insist it is hardware .. so why cant they fix it ?

 

 

Ouch!

 

Each of those lines regarding the errors return some interesting information from www.google.com and none point directly to hardware, but I would run Dell Diagnostics anyway, perhaps repeatedly, until I was confident of the hardware reliability or verified a hardware problem. From the on-line service manual, I see also there is an advanced troubleshooting section that may provide some clues when hardware failure occurs. In the meantime, consider any software installation or security issues, and any other circumstances that might be at the root of these problems. There isn't an arc-welder next door, is there?

I'm not averse to a refurbished unit, provided it isn't refurbished following a dunking in salt water, radiation testing, or something similar that might lead to reliability issues in the longer term. My first PC (this one) is a refurbished Inspiron 8100, and my second was an identical used model from e-bay. Both have had the original hard drive fail and one had a CD-RW drive failure. I also have a Toshiba Satellite Pro 410CDT from the mid-late 90's that has been running 24x7 for several years as a wireless print server, and it has had no problems other than a dead CMOS battery, which I've been meaning to replace for a couple of years now, and the original 750MB hard drive sounding like a metal grinder in a machine shop.

I've had no other hardware problems, but it took me a year to get a grasp of the limitations and hazards associated with this software, and another year to study and configure the software for adequate security, reliability, and performance. I'm not aware of any particular problems with the XPS 400 design. If yours is plagued with hardware issues, a replacement may be the fastest route to resolution. Some problems can cause symptoms that are far removed from the source. A new motherboard, memory, and hard drive removes a large volume of system components from the troubleshooting mix, (unless they bring their own issues), leaving other boards, cables, power supply, and the chassis as common hardware denominators.

 

 

GM