I also bought my n5110 in Nov 2011 and a month later h ad the same problem. again 2 months later twice in 1 week. I then called the help phone and they had me jump through hoops and nothing worked. called them again in Nov 2112 and they had no record of my previous calls. they had me do a BIOS update, 2 days later it froze again. called back and asked for a level 2 tech and he told me he was a level 2 tech and he would help me. Ok , now he wanted me to do a factory something but I needed to save all my info because it would all be lost. I saved all my stuff and he called me the next day and we did it. 2 days later it froze up again and the next day and at least 3, 4 or 5 times a week or 2-4 times in 1 day.

  I have several programs I want to instal and buy  but am afraid too.

In looking through the internet this seems to be a recurring problem. You would think that Dell would have a solution by now.

If anyone has a solution, please help.

FDEZ

iv not had any problems with my N5110. I just know heat kills over time that's why i have 3 pc desktop fans helping cooling my laptop. iv not had any motherboard beeps since i been using the extra cooling so that tells me it was the heat causing the beeps. So many things can freeze up a pc it's really is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. if you have lost faith in the laptop it's best going for a replacement laptop. They will not give in easy and may play on you'r lack of experience "which all manufacturers do tbh" just be upfront with them and say it's not fit for purpose. Give them a choice replace or refund. 

Hi Fdez,

I posted on this problem quite a while ago, looking for the same answers you are.

It seems that Dell do have a solution, but I don't know what it is.

I called them for some help. Ran the diagnostics. Nothing wrong there. Someone at Dell remotely loaded various driver updates and we left it there to see how it would go. It didn't go any better.

There were a few phone calls over the coming months and I don't remember what was done each time. I nearly didn't bother getting it fixed as I had a work laptop I used mostly, but my wife uses the Dell, and with it freezing in the middle of some work.... well, it was most unpleasant!

Eventually, the instruction I was given one time when I called was to reinstal Windows. I wasn't keen on this (backing everything up, etc), but I did it. With the new instal it still had the problem. When I reported this the girl at the other end of the phone asked me to send it back to them (she organised the courier, etc). I probably had it back about a week or so later (I am sure it was less than two). That was over a month ago, and it hasn't had a problem yet. It seems they have fixed it. I wish I knew what they did, but so long as it doesn't freeze, I am happy. Fingers crossed it continues to behave.

However, one other thing it has done since new (and still does), is that it won't wake up from the sleep state (most of the time). I can live with this. I have adjusted the settings that it will wait a long time before sleeping, and at least it won't freeze while my wife or I am using it.

So stick with it. If you haven't loaded all your software yet, reintstalling Windows (presuming they ask you to do so) might not be such a headache.

Eric

This is a hardware issue. I am dual booting Windows 7 Home x64 and Ubuntu 13.04 x64 and I constantly receive this error. I will be tearing the laptop apart tonight to pull the CMOS battery to see if that helps (it worked for the "not turning off/sleeping/hibernating and no CPU fan" problems). 

Just wanted to make sure everyone here knows that reinstalling Windows will do nothing because it is not software related. It's not heat related because my N5110 sits on a cooling tray 90% of the time. 

I will report back after pulling the CMOS battery and will post a suggested solution if it works out.

Sorry for my delay. My findings are as follows:

The CMOS battery being removed and inserted did NOT solve the problem. The problem still occurs in Win 7 x64 and Ubuntu 12.04 x64.

Drivers are not the issue because the issue is present in Windows and Ubuntu. Such is the case with a fresh Windows install, viruses, blah blah blah. THIS IS A HARDWARE ISSUE.

ANYWAY: I ran in to the local Walgreens and dropped $2 on an Energizer CR 2032 battery. Popped the old CMOS battery out, popped the new one in, and I have been running for 27 hours straight (Idle and full load) and haven't gotten the freezy screen.

Why the CMOS battery causes it, anyone guess. I suggest using a name brand battery (unless you want to be in the same position soon)

Hi ADAM_SQL - please can you let me know if replacing the CMOS battery has proved successful so far as a fix for the freezing and distorted screen issue?  Mine freezes 5-6 times a day and is insanely frustrating.

Thanks!

For the past couple weeks, my laptop has been solid. I replaced the CMOS battery and also the HDD with a Samsung 840 SSD. I have been very stable, only 1 freeze due to a broken Linux install. But I digress. 

Your milage may vary, but I highly recommend changing the CMOS battery. It's a $2 fix and only takes about 10 minutes if you know what to do. 

I don't think that CMOS battery will help. I have the same PC, but I have the extended warranty they have put a new mother board in 2 times then they had to put a new hard drive in it. So far it'r running good I don't know for how long

You are sooooooooooo right

I bought my Dell Inspiron N5110 15 months before here in Pakistan with local 10months warranty. As soon as the warranty was over, the laptop started crashing down by hanging with distorted display.

I checked the drivers, all were fine. I checked RAM, it was fine. The solution is to check your BIOS driver, it needs to be compatible with the specific model (you can check on Dell website and providing your laptop’s service tag).

Installing proper BIOS version helped me solve the problem (for the time being, though :)).

I hope this solves the problem for all my N5110 fellows...

And the problem has not solved yet. I showed my laptop at a local repair shop and they said that the cooling fan is not adjusting its speed as per the inside temperature requirements of the laptop (and that's true by the way). They repaired my laptop by connecting the cooling fan directly to USB port and now the fan runs always at it full speed at which it never ran before!

It solved my problem.

Hi everyone,

I thought I would update how mine is going.

I posted nearly six months ago that Dell did some repairs (I sent the laptop back to them on their instruction). It came back and seemed to work much better.

I can now say the problem is not fixed, but much better.

It still occasionally freezes with the pixelated display, but it happens much less frequently, and is much more tolerable (my iphone locks up far more frequently!).

Given it's a rare problem now, I am willing to live with it. (However, I will be following this thread in case the real cause is identified... the fan maybe?)

Eric

It actually happened right when i opened this page :|

-I will try this, thank you

I have an N5110, Intel i7 processor, with a screen freeze and screen fade problem different from any I have read on this thread.  I am curious to know if anyone else has had a similar problem (and fix!).  Often at boot-up the screen appears as a white screen with numerous thin blue horizontal lines running across it.  If I grab the top of the screen with my left hand and apply a little torque to pull left top of screen forward and the right top of screen backward, the display will pop on.  However, the screen then enters another <ADMIN NOTE: substitute character removed as per terms of use> mode!  The screen will either:  (a) start to fade from the lower left corner of the screen diagonally across the surface toward the upper right corner, and if left unattended, the entire screen will practically fade away - OR -  (b) the lower THIRD of the screen will freeze and start to fade (as above).  When either of these scenarios occurs (which is now getting to be at every boot-up), the mouse will not display in the affected zone [in scenario (b), the mouse is active in the upper two-thirds of the screen display, but not in the lower third].  The work-around I am having to employ is the screen torquing procedure, generally for several times until FINALLY the screen will catch in a tenuous normal display for some time, though at any moment it is liable to jump back into the freeze/fade routine, and I have to go back to the screen torquing game again until it once again settles down.  This problem started soon after the original warranty expired and has steadily worsened over time.
Because the "torquing" has an effect on restoring the screen state, I am of the opinion that my problem must be related to some loss of contact that is occurring at one or the other of the lid-lift swivel hinges, with that being, at least momentarily, corrected to some degree or other by the torquing.  I am wondering if there is any kind of electrical rotating contact at either or both of the lid-lift hinge joints that could be degrading with time.  I guess my question is:  Has anyone experienced anything similar to what I have described?  I have ordered several DELL computers over the last thirty years, and this is by far the worst experience I have ever had.  It has seriously injured my confidence in the integrity of the DELL brand.