E1705 Bootup and Hibernation mode problems

Question

I'm the some-what proud owner of a new E1705:

core 2 duo t5200
nvidia geforce go 7900GS
1GB ram
120GB hard drive
WinXP Media Center Edition
Integrated wireless
..and so on and so forth.

I decided to get rid of what I lovingly call the 'default bloatware' by going on an uninstall spree, then deleting the mediadirect partition with partition magic to just make it one big NTFS partition on my drive.

In addition I loaded AVG, Windows Defender , Spybot S&D, as well as zonealarm firewall for security. I'm using hardware profiles to disable hardware when I'm running off the battery to save power and all that jazz.. however occasionally if I have my computer hibernate for a few hours or a day or so the system doesn't come back from hibernation for some on reason.

I hit the power button to bring it back and the power light comes on, the hard disk activity light comes on, but the screen doesn't come up. Even after waiting about a minute. I have to hook the laptop into an AC power source to bring it back. This isn't just a hibernation issue either. If I've fully shut down the system it does this as well. It'll take three to five cold boots to finally get the system to come up to the windows login prompt, or I have to hook the AC adapter in to bring it back as well.

I live in a colder climate (Michigan) but even so, moisture isn't an issue and it can't be weather damage because it's in one of three places when I'm using it: on a clean, wooden desk, on my lap, or in a laptop backpack in it's own separate carrying sleeve. The system is cold to the touch, but there's no moisture or anything on it. I'd really like to know why the system doesn't come back up and whether or not it's related to any of the changes I've done. thanks in advance.

deus_ex_machina · Answer

well, thanks for the advice, but I resize active all the time. partition magic was designed to do this as far as I know.. I've done it plenty of other times without a hitch but I digress. thanks for the advice regardless.

fusioncrdd · Answer

Well, first off, I would do a complete wipe of your system - you have obviously messed something up with your original windows installation.
When I mean wipe - this means start over completely. Get your Dell restore disk or Windows Media installer disk and reload this, which should completely reformat your hard drive and with some special installations, it may repartition your hard drive many times. I never suggest repartitioning your hard drive with an active OS unless you really know what you are doing. Once your windows installation is complete, you should have a barebones windows installation. You will have to install all of the drivers from the supplied Dell drivers disk. Any programs that you don't need, well, you don't have to install them. As far as anti-virus programs - I recommend to stay away from Norton AV and McAfee AV. I personally like TrendMicro's PC-Cillin. Most software firewalls are - and get rid of ZoneAlarm - it's ! I have friends who hack into computers with it all the time. Just use the windows firewall - its sufficient enough and doesn't prevent you from connecting to your printers and network computers. If you feel that you need some extra protection - try SuperAntiSpyware and Lavasoft's Adaware they are free and pretty effective. I stopped using Spybot S&D - its too old.

Anyways, that's my two cents.
Its better to get any kind of reply then no reply at all.

Dan Fusco
Fusion CRDD

noipospf · Answer

Hey Deus,   I think it's safe to say you can ignore the person's FUD that initially replied, as far as partitioning goes, this has absolutely ZERO to do with the issue. Resizing partitions on the fly is part of what makes PQMagic a great product. If you're content to stick to the default disk layout Dell hands you, then so be it, if you're a more advanced user, then typically it shouldn't present an issue.   As a little background, the very first thing I did when I received my e1705 was take a Ghost image (read complete bit for bit hard drive image - minus the HPA obviously) of it in the event Dell ever wanted me to wade through the annoying diagnostic partition troubleshooting scripts.   The boot behaviour you describe is by no means one of a kind. The identical behaviour has happened to me several times, the only commonality is that the laptop was in a cooler environment (ie: in the car for 10 minutes in the winter) beforehand. Before contacting Dell regarding this problem, I restored the system back to factory layout and could not replicate the problem until I took it out to the car and drove around for 10 minutes or so.   Obviously there's a chance, however slim that the temp might affect the internals if I were to try and power it up immediately due to possible condensation, but on the occasions I was able to directly replicate the issue, even after being in the open at room temp in the house for 3 hours, this should not even remotely be considered a 'root cause'. As I mentioned above, the layout of the hard drive partitions had absolutely ZERO to do with replicating the problem.   One thing I did take note of early on was a pathetic life of the standard 6-cell battery. Even at an LCD brightness of 3 with the wireless turned off, there is absolutely no way I can get even an hour out of the battery. Unfortuately, I can't speak to the performance of the 9-cell battery at this time.   Apparently I got Joe 'Training-Day' on the support line when I called. Aside from the typical scripts they follow, we checked out the battery, obviously the BIOS and the QuickSet utility report that the battery is functioning properly, but under an hour life at VERY conservative settings? Give me a break.... The poor kid ends the call by telling me I should contact sales and order the 9-cell battery instead, without so much as offering to start a DPS order to replace the one I have that's under warranty.   Regardless, another example of paying for X and getting Y. Until the last 2-3 months, I never had a bad word to say about Dell in terms of the quality or the support, and I'd dealt with them for nearly 4 years at this point. Now, you'd be awfully hard-pressed to get me to recommend one of their systems to anyone. At the very least, I'd strongly suggest AGAINST paying for the additional warranty. Why gift Dell with $300 of your hard-earned money when all you get in return is the canned 'Sorry I can't help you' type of response?   As I digress...Deus, my point here was that your and my problem has never been disk related. Perhaps it may be battery related, but if the vendor isn't willing to provide the support level you paid for, it's sometimes best to eat your loss and chalk it up to experience.

fixmyhead · Answer

I have an e1705 with the 9 cell battery, and i have exactly the same problem. It was like this the first day I got it.

Some people have had luck by removing the battery, the RAM, letting their system sit for an hour, then replacing the ram and battery. You can open the RAM compartment without voiding warranties as it has its own access hatch.

I tried the above procedure and it did nothing for me. This occurs even when it isn't incredibly cold, it just needs to not have been on for a few hours. It takes me about 10-15 boots to `get it up`. If i'm plugged into alternating current I'm up and running like a track star.

if you have any luck with dell tech support deus, please bump this thread. i don't have time to get this repaired right now, but in a month or so i plan to start my progress past tier 1 tech support.

--Eric

deus_ex_machina · Answer

I don't know if this will work on not, but I've recently talked to tech support as this was really starting to me off. I'm surprised I didn't think of this sooner, but have any of you attempted to upgrade your video driver and BIOS? if not, I have links for each, and you may want to consider doing so:
http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/download.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=gen&releaseid=R143448&SystemID=INS_PNT_P4_9400&os=WW1&osl=en&deviceid=10432&devlib=0&typecnt=1&vercnt=5&formatcnt=1&libid=1&fileid=191453

http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/download.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=gen&releaseid=R126106&SystemID=INS_PNT_P4_9400&os=WW1&osl=en&deviceid=10520&devlib=0&typecnt=1&vercnt=1&formatcnt=1&libid=6&fileid=167482

the links are long (thank god for copy and paste). The first is a link to a page with an updated e1705 BIOS. It's pretty self-explanatory, all you have to do when it's downloaded is make sure your laptop is plugged into AC power and that all your other programs are saved and shut down, because this requires a reboot. Additionally if you had any different LCD brightness settings then the manufacturer default for battery power, you're going to have to reset that.

the second link points to an updated nvidia 7900GS video driver. Some of you may have the X1400 video card, or I believe there's another choice too. if that's the case, then you have to go and find the driver for your respective video card. I haven't really tested to see if this has resolved the issue yet or not, but just so we're playing by dell's rules and all on the same page make sure you've done these two things first before filing a tech support chat session/phone call with dell. hopefully, this works. (edited for wonky formatting)

Message Edited by deus_ex_machina667 on 02-03-2007 11:33 AM

Message Edited by deus_ex_machina667 on 02-03-2007 11:34 AM

noipospf · Answer

I've been running both the updated driver and A06 BIOS since they were released, neither of which made any difference in regards to the issue at hand.   Unless there's something specific you absolutely need to have set correctly in the BIOS in terms of the LCD brightness? (I believe the default is 3?)

inspiron1705 · Answer

I have the same problem in my inspiron  9400 with 2 gig of ram and core duo 2.16, dell will not honour the warranty in Australia so took it to a computer tech who said he was 99% sure it was a battery issue as when the hard drive is cold it needs about 5x the amount of power to boot up. If it boots up on ac adapter when cold it is almost certanly the battery. Have not got my laptop back yet so do not know for sure.

deus_ex_machina · Answer

I myself am still having the issues with my laptop as well. When I last talked with dell tech support they advised me to update my video drivers and bios, and I did so and the problem still exists. The solution I was given did not work, but to make it easier on technical support if you're going to log a support request for the same issue, make sure these things are done. I haven't had time to chat with a dell technician as of late, but I'll give it another go tomorrow, or I suppose I should say later on today. I still have my ticket ID from the previous help request, so that should help speed things along a little bit and cut the useless questions from their script. In any case, if I find a solution or any further news tomorrow, I'll post here and keep you all informed. So, until then.

noipospf · Answer

Deus,   There is an A07 BIOS update available now, and after the flash, it appears to have resolved the issue completely. I have not had the problem come up in the last week at all, as hard as I tried to replicate it.   Give it a shot and post your results when you can.

noipospf · Answer

Allow me to retract my last comment...   The BIOS update did not resolve the issue. Even a slight drop in the temperature of the battery / chassis appears to be more than enough to put the system into the same ridiculous coma, of which the only known way to wake it is by plugging in AC power.   Thanks Dell, I appreciate being permanently attached to an AC outlet with my 'Portable' Dell laptop.

inspiron1705 · Answer

A dell technicion said that the only way to fix the boot up problem is to put a new motherboard in the laptop. That is what is going to happen to mine when I get back from overseas and will see how it goes.

inspiron1705 · Answer

I have now got a warranty for my laptop and the technician said that the motherboard needs to be replaced to fix it but I am off overseas so when I get back I will get them here and put a new motherboard in and see how it goes.

fixmyhead · Answer

noipospf,

I also updated the GeForce drivers and BIOS, and still have the same problem. You can get it to start up if you power it on/off a good 10-15 times, sometimes 20-30, without plugging into the wall. This of course is awful for nearly every component, but it works. I'm going to also try powering it on, leaving it in the wacko not-quite-alive state for 5-10 minutes, then rebooting and seeing if it comes up alive. This will test the theory that it's temperature of the battery/hard drive, since they are supplying/drawing at least some power even in this zombie state.

inspiron1705 · Answer

I got my laptop fixed by a dell tech and the only way to fix the boot up problem was to install a new motherboard, it works great now it boots up on battery no matter wat the temperature is.

Wrangler1968368 · Answer

Call Dell.  I just went through much of the same.  I thought for sure I totally fried my whole system.  I thought I was going to have to send it in for repair or get a new computer.  I called Dell and the guy walked me through the SIMPLE STEPS and in just a few minutes everything was back and working even better!  I was getting absolutely no response, my screen went black, I couldn't even enable the tech to help me remotely.  Call them if you want your headache to stop.

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E1705 Bootup and Hibernation mode problems

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