Inspiron 1501 problem

Question

I just got this Inspiron 1501 laptop for christmas, and already there is a serious problem.   three times now the screen has turned black, displaying a small white box somewhere near the middle with verticle lines in it. When this happens, I am forced to shut it down via the power button. this occurs randomly, the system just does it! It is a brand new computer, so I really dont know why it would already be doing something like this.   Dell tech support updated my BIOS to fix an issue with my batterey the day I got this thing. I dont know if it is related, but just thought I should tell that as well.   If anyone knows why a brand new computer would freeze and display patterns on the screen, I would much appreciate a solution.   I dont think I casused this problem, seeing as I only installed some basic software and used the computer to surf the internet and stuff. And it is not caused by some virus, my scanner says my computer is clean.   I have never posted here before, so forgive me if this is the wrong forum to ask this question in.   computer specs:   120 GB hard drive 2     GB RAM Windows Vista Home Basic AMD Turion 64 x2

clharrison1 · Answer

I have the exact same issue. I have been online w/support but no fix has been. What are we supposed to do?

SeaPadre · Answer

Look on my post, as a fellow 1501 owner, under "Laptops" in subfolder "General Hardware," and entited "Inspiron 1501, Just What IS Wrong With It?" I went through a 10-day process of getting mine beyond all kinds of crashes, including the verticle lines, and just posted my lessons learned.

Since you have 2 GB of RAM, that probably rules out one issue with Vista. Contrary to what Dell says, the 1501 wasn't designed with Vista in mind. It is a great XP platform, and can be great for Vista but may need some help....

If you have McAfee, think about uninstalling it, and going to their website for a little program that will also get of remaining traces of it. Then get install one of the shareware programs one guy posted on the thread above. I used AVG 7.5, until I put in a gov't issue copy of Norton's Anti-Virus. McAfee doesn't play well with Vista -- hated by everyone. Removing it helped my system immensely.

Check to see if you have the current driver for ATI, if that's what you have. Sometimes Dell doesn't have the current ones on its support site, nor send them out the door already installed. Yep. Really. Again, see the thread for above. Once I got the truly current driver installed, I've had 48 horus of joy! No more screens like you described.

Hope this helps!

clharrison1 · Answer

Thanks for the info. Will try it.

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