i have an inspirion 8100 notebook with windows xp home edition i bought with the notebook, but i still have the same Bios and driver i bought in february this year.

Hi Uli

I have an Inspiron 8000, running Windows Me with BIOS Version Phoenix ROM BIOS PLUS Version 1.10 A09. Mine freezes just like yours. Anybody any ideas on how to start debugging?

I have an Inspiron 2650 that is only 1 month old and it freezes regularly. The first time was when I opened up the Control Panel for the 1st time to set up my internet connection. Do I have some kind of black magic touch, or is this a generic problem?

I can't beleive the amount of people having freezing problem with all version of Dell laptop.  I have the same problem... 

 

Inspiron 8500 Bios A02, latest driver, clean install.... freeze every 5 to 30 minutes.

truemobile 1300,

S.

Mine is freezing randomly (Inspiron 8500 WUXGA, XP Pro).  Although I now think that it freezes when I use my IE, scrolling the page down and there are animated gifs on the page.  At least I've had this situation a few times since a week ago when I received it.  The screen locks up.  Fan running.  No response to any keystrokes or mouse moves.  Only way to reboot is to hold power key.  Called tech support a few times.  First suggestion: boot with the CD, go into recovery console, type chkdsk /r.   After the process completed, it reported a few errors found and fixed.   After this I had a perfect day and a half of work.  Then it froze again.  Called tech support.  They had me run the extensive diagnostics test for 2 hours.   Passed it with flying colors.  The tech called me back in a few hours and, after learning my results, suggested I re-install XP completely.  I did that.  Had a suspicion that maybe one of the updates caused the lock-ups.  Decided not to install any updates.   The machine locked up after about 4 hours.   Now, I've installed every update there is.  Downloaded and installed only the latest drivers from Dell support site ( not the ones that came on the CD with this machine).    Typing this message on it.  So far, 4 hours non-stop.  

I really want to keep this thread alive.  Will keep posting any updates.  I also have a friend with Inspiron 8200 running XP pro.  His machine locks up about once a week.

If I will continue getting these lock-ups, I will send my laptop back.   Still have about 3 weeks until my 30 day period ends.

 

OK.  It froze after about 5.5 hours.  It happened when I opened my IE and went to www.msnbc.com

There was a pop-under window with an image half-loaded.  I rebooted (power-down, start again).  Out of curiosity went to msnbc again.  Nothing happened.  I hovered my mouse pointer above their navigation menu on the left.   The computer froze immediately.  So, I am 95% sure the problem is with IE.

Edit: Went to msnbc again.  No freezes. 

Any suggestions (besides using a different browser)?

Service tag: 6NH6T21

Message Edited by DrGliuk on 05-21-2003 10:48 PM

Many of your freezing issues are probably being caused by bad or poorly written software. I would recomend either removing the software or some programs in the system tray and see if that helps resolve the problem. It's not just dell computers but all computers that can crash, you just have to learn to live with it or isolate the problem. Using improper drivers or hardware also may crash the system. If you can't stand the crashing, re-install windows. Generally XP and 2000 are the most stable platforms out right now. I'd need more information to determine the source of the crash.

Message Edited by Nerdtalker on 05-21-2003 09:58 PM

If you read my above posts you would see that I did reinstall XP from scratch and it crashed.  

I am also suffering the Inspiron random freeze (must cycle power to recover). I have a 3 weeks old 8500, WUXGA, XP Home, 60 GB, CDRW/DVD, TrueMobile1300.

I had 512MB of Crucial PC2100 DDR waiting when the system arrived, and immediately installed it (system came with 1 256MB DIMM). I am sensitive to ESD issues, and took precautions. The freezing started the first day, before I had installed any additional software or updated XP or any drivers. At first I suspected IE, then the touch pad, but eventually ruled those out. I installed all updated drivers from Dell, and all "critical" Windows updates. Problem persisted. Makes no difference if system is docked or not. Suspected the Crucial memory, so I took it out and tried the 256MB DIMM alone. Wasn't able to recreate the problem with the single DIMM in either slot. Got a NEW 512MB DIMM from Crucial and installed it WITH the 256MB. A couple of days later, the system froze again. I am now trying to re-create the problem with the 512MB DIMM ONLY.

I am not doing anything memory intensive when the freeze occurs. Typically I only have a couple of applications running (Messenger, IE/Netscape, Outlook).

Those of you experiencing the problem, are you running with 2 dissimilar-sized DIMMs? Anyone with any other tips for trying to isolate the problem?

I am in the same situation.  I have 2 brand new 8500.  One rarely if ever freezes the second freezes all the time.  Mostly it happens in IE.  I ran the diagnositcs but nothing showed up.  Now I am going to start a reinstall of XP but I am not hopefull.  Open to suggestions.

 

--kamie

Inspiron 8500 XP Pro

512 RAM, 60gig HD, 64Meg Nvidia