Inspiron 5150 keeps crashing

Question

Hi!  I bought an Inspiron 5150 last year in Canada.  I brought it with me to Korea, where Dell won't service it.   About a month ago I started to have problems.  If I am on the computer for any length of time, or if I try to run more than one or two things at a time, the computer turns itself off instantaneously.  When I restart it, it acts as if nothing happened, although it has switched itself to less crisp icons in Windows.   Has anyone else experienced this problem?   Thanks!

jankerson · Answer

Sounds like a driver/ Windows problem.

Goto Windows update and download the latest updates.

Also go here and get the latestest drivers. http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/index.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&~ck=mn

Blow out the vents with canned air too.

amy9686 · Answer

I have been experiencing the same problem. I tried talking to dell about it but my computer kept shutting down and I can never get through on the phone. It has been doing this to me for about the same amount of time also. Sometimes when I leave it off for awhile it will run for a week and then it will shut off. It has been doing it to me all day. Have you figured anything out.                                         Amy

jankerson · Answer

@allisoninkorea wrote:

jankerson, thanks for the advice.

However, I've been told by several people not to download Windows update 2(?). They all said it caused them problems and they then uninstalled it. What do you think?

Allison

It really depends on the system and if it has any problems or not, I am running SP2 on 3 machines right now with no problems at all.

Before you upgrade do everything else on the list first.

Also as an added note it is best to install SP2 on a new XP install.

allisoninkorea · Answer

jankerson, thanks for the advice.

However, I've been told by several people not to download Windows update 2(?). They all said it caused them problems and they then uninstalled it. What do you think?

Allison

jbnimble · Answer

Heat may be the problem.  I have a friend who had a similar problem -- it was temperature related.  The fan and CPU heat sink accumulate dust gradually.  The thermal contact between the CPU and the heat sink may degrade.   Does the problem occur when you operate the laptop in a ~20 degree cooler enviroment?

allisoninkorea · Answer

Thanks for the suggestion of it overheating.   So my question then is:                      Why on earth would they make a computer that is going to continuously overheat and crash???  This is frustrating.  I want a computer I can use, not one I have to continuously worry about whether I'm overheating it.   I hope that lurking Dell staff see this and build better computers!!!   Allison Message Edited by allisoninkorea on 04-15-2005 10:58 PM

jbnimble · Answer

Don't get your knickers bunched up until you've tested your 5150 in a much cooler environment.   Chances are good that temperature is NOT your problem.  But it is a possibilty, and it's easy to check by operating your laptop outside at night, or wherever it's significantly cooler.

allisoninkorea · Answer

As well, this happened in late winter, early spring. If this computer's design can't even withstand regular indoor temperatures, what is it going to be like when summer arrives?

egoneo · Answer

rigth click on my computer and go to properties, click on advanced and under startup and recovery click settings, untick the box that says automatically restart, this way if your computer does not reboot instead it gives you a blue scree, report back on what the blue screen says, my guess is that your pagefile is corrupt.

allisoninkorea · Answer

Dear jbnimble,

If I go 20 degrees colder that would be 0 celcius. Would 20 celsius really be causing these problems?

Dear egoneo

The box you suggested wasn't checked. The computer doesn't turn itself back on. I turn it on myself.

Thanks again for all your suggestions. I am not experienced with computer troubleshooting, and now I live in a country where I can't communicate with the local computer techies and Dell refuses to service the computer for me (even though it's still under warranty).

I will be back in Canada briefly in June and I am hoping that Dell will fix the computer for me then (and replace the parts that are causing problems).

Allison

jbnimble · Answer

Heat could be a problem at 20C if something's wrong with temperature control (dust, thermal contact, fan, etc.).  Testing at 10C should be sufficient to identify or rule out this problem.  I was thinking a drop of 20 Farenheit degrees, which is a drop of about 11 Celsius degrees.  Hence I suggest you test at 5C to 10C.   jbnimble USA

beastyben1 · Answer

I recently got my 5150 back from a third party, for a motherboard pressure/sensitivity problem caused by heat.

When your system shuts off, does the "power on" light in front stay on? and do the fans stay on? Try tapping the case in various places and see if it shuts down.

Just a thought,

ben

Storage, Drives & Media

Inspiron 5150 keeps crashing

Was this post helpful?