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Inspiron 8500 stalling problems
I'm having some problems with my 8500. Starting about a week, ago my computer will slow down and then stall usually within 10 minutes of rebooting. If I were to wait about another 5-10, my computer will recover and work for another 5-10 minutes before slowing down and eventually stalling again. I'm away at college and I am awaiting my systems discs in the mail so I can try to repair XP using the XP disc, so I haven't tried that. I've ran every test I can. I ran the sfc /scannow test and it did not return any results, I've ran every test on SystemWorks and Tune-Up. I've uninstalled over 20 Gb worth of files. Is anyone familiar with this problem or have any suggestions? I REALLY do not want to have to format and reinstall everything. I've searched through several pages of threads on this board and can't find anything related. I also don't know if this is software or hardware related. This laptop is only 6 months old. Thanks for any help.
- I tried that and the system won't let me restore to an image back in November which was the last time the computer worked correctly. I reinstalled XP over the current one (didn't format, but went through XP install). The computer is doing a little better but is nowhere near where it should be. Still takes 6 or so minutes to boot and will still lock up for a couple minutes before coming back. I have to reboot after every CD I burn (I'm burning CDs in preparation for a possible format).
- To be honest, it sounds like you've mucked it up even more by attempting a re-install over what's there. I only do that in emergency situations when I need to limp along for a day or two. You should do a complete format and reinstall of the OS. I'm hoping you've received your discs in the mail.
In the meantime, I would run the Dell Diagnostics (you should be able to boot from them if you haven't deleted that partition) on the hard drive. It sounds like your hard drive could have some sort of issue (if this isn't a software problem), like the ball bearing going out and the platters stop spinning and spin back up. I've had the same problem on a Dell desktop. Do the diagnostics before you call Dell tech support because they take a while, and you'll only waste your time and their time talking to them and having them tell you to call back when you are done.
nmajdan
10 Posts
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0
Posted December 8th, 2003 15:00