computer freezing and sometimes not turning on

Question

hi, i recently reinstalled windows xp home. i did a clean reinstall. formatting the C drive. When it was done, i jumped on the internet and immediately began to use windows update. i got all updates, SP2 and all. Then i started to download AVG free virus software. the download was almost complete when my computer froze. i had to power it off by the power button. when i powered it back on, nothing happened. i pressed the power button and the screen stayed black, the power light came on, and the caps lock light started blinking. after about 10 sec it powers itself back off. sometimes it powers all the way on, gets to the desktop and loads everything, aim and msn sign on, and then it will freeze again and you have to hard shut it off. and then it does the power thing for awhile. i have nothing on the harddrive, except the windows xp updates and whatnot. i have no idea where to go from here, because if i put the xp reinstall cd in, the screen comes up saying to press any key to load the cd, i press a key and it freezes on me. so i cant reinstall xp again either. any ideas as to what could caause this problem? i have a dell inspiron 600m. running windows xp home.

jmwills · Answer

Are you bootiing from the CD?  When you get XP reinstalled the first thing to do is to get an anti-virus client and Spyware program installed, then go to Microsoft for the OS updates.

krazyk011 · Answer

no.i am not booting from the cd. like i said, when i have the setup cd in, it comes up and says press any key to boot from setup cd, i press a key and the computer freezes? should i call dell? i cant do anything on it!

jmwills · Answer

I've only seen that message when you boot form the CD.

krazyk011 · Answer

yes i know. i was just stating that i cant even load from the cd. if the cd is not in the cd rom when i boot up the computer, sometimes it makes it to the desktop and loads, but then it freezes a few seconds later. other times it freezes at the DELL startup screen, where you can chose setup or boot menu. other times it doesnt even start. i press power, the power light comes on, and the caps lock light blinks for about 12 seconds, then it powers itself off. thats where im at

Message Edited by krazyk011 on 10-17-2005 07:27 PM

Message Edited by krazyk011 on 10-17-2005 07:51 PM

webbrain · Answer

I just ran into the same problem today on my 600M =\ I suspect it may be related to memory problems because one of the times when the system crashed (today) it showed a memory error message, and said that the computer had automatically disabled 256MB of my RAM because of it (I have 2x256MB)...

Would love to know if you have discovered the real problem.

Jason

tmohn · Answer

I have a Dell Inspiron exhibiting the exact same symptoms. They began three months ago, almost a year after XP Home was installed. I run disk diagnostics and review event viewer with no failures. The symptoms have progressively worsened. After I log in and begin using the laptop, the system freezes within 10 minutes. Power-off/on is the only remedy. Occasionally, when turning the system on, boot process begins followed by immediate power-off (within 20 seconds). I can power on again and the system will freeze within 10 minutes. Without the ability to remain powered up, I resort to other computers to use the internet (this forum). I have tried booting in Safe mode but experience the same symptoms. How can this problem be diagnosed? What do the DELL professionals offer as way of diagnostics?

webbrain · Answer

After phoning the Dell support and also doing some diagnosis on my own, I determined there were 2 problems in my case.

According to the Dell support technician, the blinking caps lock indicates some kind of problem with the display. In my situation it was somewhat obvious, as when I get to the windows login screen the display becomes completely corrupted, and if I leave it like that for a few minutes, I'll end up with a blue screen with the ATI video driver crashing. I uninstalled the ATI driver and let it revert to the default windows display driver, and after turning off all hardware acceleration for graphics, I no longer had the video corruption problem (of course this rendered the graphics card pretty much useless...).

Even after identifyinig the graphics problem, I still had problems with the computer freezing after a period of use (which did not happen before). Like I mentioned previously, I had gotten a memory error before at boot-up, so I proceeded to swap the 2 sticks of 256MB RAM in and out to see if that was the case. After much testing, I found that whenever I inserted a stick of RAM into slot 1, the computer would become unstable, and it didn't matter which stick of RAM I put in there. Memtest and Dell diagnostics both turned up nothing when I tested the RAM, which leads me to believe the motherboard or RAM connector was somehow broken. I haven't had a crash since I removed the RAM in slot 1, but obviously the laptop now runs really slowly...

Bottom line is the RAM could be the culprit if your computer is crashing. Should try running memtest on your laptop.

This is the 4th problem I've had with this laptop in 2.5 years, and all of them have involved components breaking (battery, cd writer, hd, now graphics+motherboard)... I'm not impressed.

Jimud · Answer

Thanks for the information !

I had the exact same problem ( unable to boot / blank screen / blinking caps light ) - and your solution solved it !!

I would add that the replacement of the one 256 mem card with a 512 card in the 'good' slot should help.

Jim

ShnikeJSB · Answer

In my case my XPS Gen 2 wouldn't even turn on (screen was black), with the blinking CAPS LOCK key. I tried removing/reordering the RAM modules, trying different A/C adapters, etcetra. I called support, and they had me take out ALL the user serviceable parts, and RAM swap and such, to no avail. The conclusion was that either the RAM was bad and/or the ram SLOTS were bad -- this they are sending out a new motherboard AND RAM. BTW, this is the SECOND time this has happened since owning my XPS since May of last year.

My graphics card has failed 1 times and was defective a 2nd time, also. SO many hardware problems with this thing...

Just my experience...

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computer freezing and sometimes not turning on

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