Laptop Freezes, Screen glitches

Question

Hello Dell friends

I have Vostro 3550 that is being a little bugger. When the teacher is using it, it will randomly freeze and cause a screen glitch. Once it freezes, it is unresponsive to the power button no matter how long it is held down. The teacher explains that when she pulls the charge, the computer will shut down and about 30 seconds later it will turn itself back on. I have worked with dell chat and we have a technician replace the motherboard. I have ran the diagnostic tests multiple times with no faults. I have updated the bios as per the chat technician. I wanted to post this here so I can get more opinions then just the chat technician.

This is what appears on the screen when it is frozen.

So far I have yet to see it freeze like this while I have it in my possession. It will happen to the teacher roughly once every 1-2 weeks. Any help at all or some direction would be great. So far dell just wants to replace the motherboard again and swap the hard drive and instead of a shotgun approach I would like to hone in the actual problem.

Thanks

Brock Fittro

DELL-Sujatha K · Answer

Hi Brock Fittro,

I am sorry inconvenience.

Since the motherboard replacement did not resolve the issue and diagnostics passed, I request you to run extended test on memory and HDD. To run diagnostics restart the system and at the Dell logo tap the F12 key every two seconds. This will start the One-time boot menu. Using arrow keys select ‘Diagnostics’ and hit enter. This will run diagnostics on the hardware components of the system which may take around 5 minutes. Next Press Y for yes when it asks you to continue Memory test. Check the result of the extended memory test

Next the option listed will be: ‘Test Memory’, ‘Test System’ and Exit. Please select ‘Test System’. Then there will be option to run ‘Express test’, ‘Extended Test’, ‘Custom Test’ and ‘Symptom Tree’. Select Custom test and click on HDD and hit enter. Reply with the status of the test for further assistance.

Note: The HDD and memory test will take a longer time depending on the size of memory and HDD.

Also send me a private message with the system service tag to assist you further. Please click on my name and click Start Conversation to send me a private message.

kasunz · Answer

Hi Sujatha

I have the same problem. I reported the problem and they made several test to the laptop and changed the memory sim. The problem yet still. The last time they reinstall the drivers of many apps. Do you know finally how solve the problem?

Regards

Kasunz

vchoe69 · Answer

I have this same problem.

I bought this used Vostro 3550, did upgrades to the memory and changed the 500gb HDD for a 480gb SDD. I noticed that with the SSD, the fan runs a lot less.

Recently, it started to have the freeze and if I press and hold the power button, it would restart, ask for a normal boot and runs ok.

The freeze affects the display (Pandora plays in the back ground). I did the suggested extended tests and the memory and SDD tests comes ok.

Anything else to try?

Thanks

vchoe69

kasunz · Answer

Duplicate:http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/laptop/f/3518/t/19603506

Locked Topics – Laptops General

Laptop Freezes, Screen glitches

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