I've had my 9400 since Friday, too, and it has worked like a charm right out of the box. I'm surprised to hear you're having trouble with it.
I would also reccommend attempting to disable the second core (it can be done in BIOS setup, I forget the exact menu at the moment) and seeing if that improves stability.
My first E1705 (same as the 9400) was defective in a similar manner (frequent hangs and machine check exceptions, but passed diagnostics with flying colors), disabling the second core fixed the problems. After discovering this it took me almost no time at all to have Dell approve a full replacement for the system. Once the replacement finally arrived (unfortunately the replacement was approved at the same time as the big GeForce 7800 shortage back in March which delayed any system with the 7800 by a month), it was rock solid and has been since then.
You are getting good advice, so I will only add two things.
First, contact Dell and make sure that your problem is documented immediately. The technician may want you to run some additional tests, but if a problem is found, service can be arranged.
Since your computer is so new, there probably isn't a million things saved to be backed up...try using the Dell System Restore feature to reset the computer exactly as it was before. This time wait a few days before installing any software to see if the problem still exists.
will possibly try the memory one just fear it will make things worse heh static and all.
Nick:- we've tried calling tech support they made it worse ..
entropy- how do i do a BIOS setup? coz if it invloves downlaoding stuff to the laptop well yeah problem, it not connected to interent and two am lucky if it gets beyond loading page before it freezes.
Codyn- we've done that.
Rollie :- we spent an hour plus on the phone to dell tech support , so dell has been contacted, or did you mean a different area of dell?
i need a laptop for university and term starts in 2 weeks ..so need solutions, how long does it take for a replacemnet to arrive?
I've had 2 replacements done. Both of them took about 5 days to arrive. If you try reseating your RAM, just periodically touch a connector on the back of the computer to make sure you have no static. There's no risk if you do that. :]
will possibly try the memory one just fear it will make things worse heh static and all.
Nick:- we've tried calling tech support they made it worse ..
entropy- how do i do a BIOS setup? coz if it invloves downlaoding stuff to the laptop well yeah problem, it not connected to interent and two am lucky if it gets beyond loading page before it freezes.
Codyn- we've done that.
Rollie :- we spent an hour plus on the phone to dell tech support , so dell has been contacted, or did you mean a different area of dell?
i need a laptop for university and term starts in 2 weeks ..so need solutions, how long does it take for a replacemnet to arrive?
A replacement, once approved, SHOULD arrive within 2 weeks (in fact, it should be one), but component availability problems can change this like it did for mine. That said, I am not aware of any current availability problems, but this can change from day to day.
As to BIOS setup - When first turning on your machine, you should see some text along the lines of "Press F2 to enter Setup" or something like that. Note that the timing of hitting F2 (or whatever F key it is, may be F10?) can be a little tricky. I forget which menu within BIOS allows you to disable the second core, it's one of the last three at the bottom, and the I believe subchoice should say something about multiprocessing or multiprocessor, but I can't be sure. Unfortunately I almost never check the forums when I have easy access to my E1705. :(
ok so i got my sister to scream down the phone to tech support and they sent a technician round the next day , he replaced hard drive and memory , but it froze on him while he was reinstalling windows . So he took it apart and found that the ac adapter had blown the motherboard .
So he came back the next day to replace the mother board and bring and new ac adapter , after the replacement and the renstallation of windows it seemed to work fine only now when i have to reinstall a few programs ,i've found that mediadirect won't reinstall , so im not sure if he didnt leave enough space for mediadirect when reinstalling windows or that the cd i have doesnt work . And honestly i dont feel like going through much more just to get my laptop working normally with all the parts i paid for before i go to uni
NAB622
2 Intern
•
229 Posts
0
September 4th, 2006 17:00
1d49f54a95134b2
2 Intern
•
422 Posts
0
September 4th, 2006 18:00
I would call Death with HP Compaq,how about your system never arriving from repair? TOTTALY LOST!!! (that happened 4 years ago.)
Call tech support but the memory might be a good idea.
Entropy42
529 Posts
0
September 5th, 2006 14:00
I would also reccommend attempting to disable the second core (it can be done in BIOS setup, I forget the exact menu at the moment) and seeing if that improves stability.
My first E1705 (same as the 9400) was defective in a similar manner (frequent hangs and machine check exceptions, but passed diagnostics with flying colors), disabling the second core fixed the problems. After discovering this it took me almost no time at all to have Dell approve a full replacement for the system. Once the replacement finally arrived (unfortunately the replacement was approved at the same time as the big GeForce 7800 shortage back in March which delayed any system with the 7800 by a month), it was rock solid and has been since then.
Rollie_R
2 Intern
•
2.2K Posts
0
September 5th, 2006 16:00
You are getting good advice, so I will only add two things.
First, contact Dell and make sure that your problem is documented immediately. The technician may want you to run some additional tests, but if a problem is found, service can be arranged.
Second, I suggest you use Technical Support Chat, if possible.
03codyn
295 Posts
0
September 6th, 2006 00:00
Since your computer is so new, there probably isn't a million things saved to be backed up...try using the Dell System Restore feature to reset the computer exactly as it was before. This time wait a few days before installing any software to see if the problem still exists.
racheluk28
4 Posts
0
September 6th, 2006 10:00
NAB622
2 Intern
•
229 Posts
0
September 6th, 2006 13:00
Entropy42
529 Posts
0
September 6th, 2006 14:00
A replacement, once approved, SHOULD arrive within 2 weeks (in fact, it should be one), but component availability problems can change this like it did for mine. That said, I am not aware of any current availability problems, but this can change from day to day.
As to BIOS setup - When first turning on your machine, you should see some text along the lines of "Press F2 to enter Setup" or something like that. Note that the timing of hitting F2 (or whatever F key it is, may be F10?) can be a little tricky. I forget which menu within BIOS allows you to disable the second core, it's one of the last three at the bottom, and the I believe subchoice should say something about multiprocessing or multiprocessor, but I can't be sure. Unfortunately I almost never check the forums when I have easy access to my E1705. :(
racheluk28
4 Posts
0
September 12th, 2006 17:00
ok so i got my sister to scream down the phone to tech support and they sent a technician round the next day , he replaced hard drive and memory , but it froze on him while he was reinstalling windows . So he took it apart and found that the ac adapter had blown the motherboard .
So he came back the next day to replace the mother board and bring and new ac adapter , after the replacement and the renstallation of windows it seemed to work fine only now when i have to reinstall a few programs ,i've found that mediadirect won't reinstall , so im not sure if he didnt leave enough space for mediadirect when reinstalling windows or that the cd i have doesnt work . And honestly i dont feel like going through much more just to get my laptop working normally with all the parts i paid for before i go to uni