I have a three week old STOCK 8500 with no unusual software installed. I tried the things suggested in these threads including FanGui installation. The freezing continued. However, I have seen a few hints that at least SOME of the people that are having freezes with the 8500 (and other 8000 series models) are using PCI card wireless LAN cards. I have been using an Orinoco b series gold card (power saving feature off) with my 8500, and I took it out yesterday. I have been using the internal network card in these last two days, and as of yet I have NOT had a freeze on the 8500.
I am curious if there are any others that have tried removing their PCI wireless LAN cards and have seen the freeze problem go away or NOT go away. Perhaps there might be something to this. Any input on the possibility that PCI wireless LAN cards (please list your brand if you are NOT having freezes) might be a factor in the mysterious freezes on the 8000 series Inspirons (particularly the 8500). Incidentally I had seen an OCCASIONAL
I have been experiencing the random freeze problem with my new Inspiron 8500. I also have had an occasional freeze with my Inspiron 8000 over a period of time. I assumed that the occasional freeze of the 8000 was just usual XP hiccups, but now I am not so sure. I have tried the fixes that are on these threads including installation of FanGui without success. The one common thing between my 8000 and my new 8500 is a PC card wireless LAN card (Orinoco Gold 811b). The power save function of my LAN card is disabled. I have seen a few threads that others have had the freezing problem with a PC card wireless LAN installed.
I removed the Orinoco card yesterday, and as of yet I have not seen ANY freezes on my 8500. I am curious as to how many users have had freezes WITH or WITHOUT using a PC card wireless LAN. It might be worth a try. Perhaps there is something of substance concerning a problem with the use of a PC card wireless LAN card with the Inspirons. I would appreciate input from any owners of the Inspiron 8500 (or any other series) as to their experience with or without use of their wireless LAN cards.
I will continue to leave the wireless LAN card out of my 8500 and use the internal network wired card to see what happens. If there is any change in my experience I will re-post.
If you suspect the fans run all the diags. I had an inspiron 7500 that the fans gave out. Actually it's the
fan sensor that tells the fans to turn on. Call Dell support, and work with them.. On my 7500 it took a couple of times and replacing the fans and motherboard but it works fine, fans crank up when they are supposed too and the computer doesn't freeze.
I ran all the diags. The fans were tested over 100 times. There's no hardware problem on my 8500. Since I removed SP1a my machine has been running fine and the fans have been "normal". When I install SP1a, the fans switch to High at times, even when the machine is idle. And eventually it freezes.
No joy here. My replacement 8500 came Monday. I upgraded it to the current BIOS (A03). I installed my replacement 512MB DIMM. Otherwise, system is as Dell shipped it.
I was running about an hour, only application open was IE. I clicked on a link, and the laptop POWERED DOWN. I was running on AC at the time. Powered back up, could not re-create.
Next night, I'm running between 1 and 2 hours, again, only IE open, I click a link, the fan comes on (low speed), and it's frozen.
I'm contemplating sending both systems back to Dell for a refund.
Did it go through an actual shutdown procedure or did it just turn off?
Mine just turned itself off instantly when I was in process of swapping CDs in the drive and just put a new one in and closed it. Otherwise my machine stopped freezing since I re-installed it clean and disabled power management for the wireless card.
I have an Inspiron 7500 running windows XP Home. My Laptop freezes up and shuts down all the time now. I have run the Dell Diaganostic CD and the test shows that my fan is working fine. My Laptop freezes more when it is docked in my Advanced Port Replicator. I guess this is because it heats up faster when it is docked. I really think it is a heating problem, because when I undock my laptop and plug in my wireless pc card, it rarely ever shuts down. I do notice that I never hear the fan come on high anymore. Does anyone know of a program that I can use to keep my fan running high all the time? Also is there a program out there, that will monitor my inside temps of my laptop. Any suggestions or comments would be apreciated. Thanks.
This time it ran 2 1/2 days (idle) before it froze. Still nothing but the base OS and drivers installed. It was about due for its 30 day service anyway I guess.
It's been 10 days now since receiving my replacement from Dell. Not one freeze, not one problem. As far as I can tell, it contains the same components as the prior unit. The setup is the same; same IRQ assignments, same driver versions.
I really think they got hold of some faulty hardware. A bad set of graphics boards or something. This freezing behavior is indicative of IRQ collisions or hardware incompatibility of some sort. I don't think drivers are going to solve the problem.
But that's just my opinion.
Good luck to the rest of you. Hopefully, I'm outta here....
I never did get XP Pro working properly on my 8500. I didn't use a "Dell" version and I couldn't install the Dell Notebook System Software on it. (Setup cannot continue on this machine.)
It seems I have to install XP Home first to install the Notebook System Software, then upgrade to XP Pro. I'm extremely unhappy about that development. This is getting more tedious all the time. I didn't plan on making a career out of getting this thing running. With an extremely plain XP install it hasn't frozen yet but I still haven't installed drivers for audio, video, modem... I haven't installed any applications or any Windows updates... Should I spend the next month installing them one at a time and watching for freezes? Isn't someone at Dell supposed to be tracking down problems like this? Shouldn't we be kept informed about our uh... "investments"?
Glad I am not the only one in the freezing boat...
My 8200 has recently started freezing... It just locks up... and power button wont even solve it... battery and cord removal...
I am running newest version of FANGUI...
Weird thing is ... Machine runs perfectly @ work in the docking station... Not 1 Lockup... as soon as I am at home tho... it randomly freezes.. (no dock)
I dont think its a software issue.. more like a hardware driver problem relating to either
ethernet jack in dock
wireless connection ( I do run one at home... but not @ work)
frankbiba
18 Posts
0
June 10th, 2003 04:00
Hi:
I have a three week old STOCK 8500 with no unusual software installed. I tried the things suggested in these threads including FanGui installation. The freezing continued. However, I have seen a few hints that at least SOME of the people that are having freezes with the 8500 (and other 8000 series models) are using PCI card wireless LAN cards. I have been using an Orinoco b series gold card (power saving feature off) with my 8500, and I took it out yesterday. I have been using the internal network card in these last two days, and as of yet I have NOT had a freeze on the 8500.
I am curious if there are any others that have tried removing their PCI wireless LAN cards and have seen the freeze problem go away or NOT go away. Perhaps there might be something to this. Any input on the possibility that PCI wireless LAN cards (please list your brand if you are NOT having freezes) might be a factor in the mysterious freezes on the 8000 series Inspirons (particularly the 8500). Incidentally I had seen an OCCASIONAL
frankbiba
18 Posts
0
June 10th, 2003 04:00
Sorry about the double (now triple) post of the above thread. I hit the wrong key (cough).
Frank
frankbiba
18 Posts
0
June 10th, 2003 04:00
Hi:
I have been experiencing the random freeze problem with my new Inspiron 8500. I also have had an occasional freeze with my Inspiron 8000 over a period of time. I assumed that the occasional freeze of the 8000 was just usual XP hiccups, but now I am not so sure. I have tried the fixes that are on these threads including installation of FanGui without success. The one common thing between my 8000 and my new 8500 is a PC card wireless LAN card (Orinoco Gold 811b). The power save function of my LAN card is disabled. I have seen a few threads that others have had the freezing problem with a PC card wireless LAN installed.
I removed the Orinoco card yesterday, and as of yet I have not seen ANY freezes on my 8500. I am curious as to how many users have had freezes WITH or WITHOUT using a PC card wireless LAN. It might be worth a try. Perhaps there is something of substance concerning a problem with the use of a PC card wireless LAN card with the Inspirons. I would appreciate input from any owners of the Inspiron 8500 (or any other series) as to their experience with or without use of their wireless LAN cards.
I will continue to leave the wireless LAN card out of my 8500 and use the internal network wired card to see what happens. If there is any change in my experience I will re-post.
Tx,
Frank (fbiba@bellsouth.net)
frankbiba
18 Posts
0
June 10th, 2003 13:00
No joy. Wrong theory. The 8500 locked up this morning WITHOUT the Orinoco wireless LAN card installed.
Frank
kamster_2fd83b
11 Posts
0
June 10th, 2003 13:00
If you suspect the fans run all the diags. I had an inspiron 7500 that the fans gave out. Actually it's the
fan sensor that tells the fans to turn on. Call Dell support, and work with them.. On my 7500 it took a couple of times and replacing the fans and motherboard but it works fine, fans crank up when they are supposed too and the computer doesn't freeze.
--kamster
Karpy147
19 Posts
0
June 10th, 2003 14:00
I ran all the diags. The fans were tested over 100 times. There's no hardware problem on my 8500. Since I removed SP1a my machine has been running fine and the fans have been "normal". When I install SP1a, the fans switch to High at times, even when the machine is idle. And eventually it freezes.
clare8500
10 Posts
0
June 11th, 2003 18:00
I was running about an hour, only application open was IE. I clicked on a link, and the laptop POWERED DOWN. I was running on AC at the time. Powered back up, could not re-create.
Next night, I'm running between 1 and 2 hours, again, only IE open, I click a link, the fan comes on (low speed), and it's frozen.
I'm contemplating sending both systems back to Dell for a refund.
DrGliuk
8 Posts
0
June 11th, 2003 19:00
Did it go through an actual shutdown procedure or did it just turn off?
Mine just turned itself off instantly when I was in process of swapping CDs in the drive and just put a new one in and closed it. Otherwise my machine stopped freezing since I re-installed it clean and disabled power management for the wireless card.
Rebbie
2 Posts
0
June 12th, 2003 11:00
clare8500
10 Posts
0
June 12th, 2003 14:00
It just powered down. Nothing graceful about it.
Karpy147
19 Posts
0
June 12th, 2003 19:00
This time it ran 2 1/2 days (idle) before it froze. Still nothing but the base OS and drivers installed. It was about due for its 30 day service anyway I guess.
cadams9
16 Posts
0
June 16th, 2003 14:00
It's been 10 days now since receiving my replacement from Dell. Not one freeze, not one problem. As far as I can tell, it contains the same components as the prior unit. The setup is the same; same IRQ assignments, same driver versions.
I really think they got hold of some faulty hardware. A bad set of graphics boards or something. This freezing behavior is indicative of IRQ collisions or hardware incompatibility of some sort. I don't think drivers are going to solve the problem.
But that's just my opinion.
Good luck to the rest of you. Hopefully, I'm outta here....
PeterMcLinn
1 Message
0
June 16th, 2003 14:00
Karpy147
19 Posts
0
June 17th, 2003 06:00
I never did get XP Pro working properly on my 8500. I didn't use a "Dell" version and I couldn't install the Dell Notebook System Software on it. (Setup cannot continue on this machine.)
It seems I have to install XP Home first to install the Notebook System Software, then upgrade to XP Pro. I'm extremely unhappy about that development. This is getting more tedious all the time. I didn't plan on making a career out of getting this thing running. With an extremely plain XP install it hasn't frozen yet but I still haven't installed drivers for audio, video, modem... I haven't installed any applications or any Windows updates... Should I spend the next month installing them one at a time and watching for freezes? Isn't someone at Dell supposed to be tracking down problems like this? Shouldn't we be kept informed about our uh... "investments"?
them0nk2003
2 Posts
0
June 17th, 2003 11:00
Heh...
Glad I am not the only one in the freezing boat...
My 8200 has recently started freezing... It just locks up... and power button wont even solve it... battery and cord removal...
I am running newest version of FANGUI...
Weird thing is ... Machine runs perfectly @ work in the docking station... Not 1 Lockup... as soon as I am at home tho... it randomly freezes.. (no dock)
I dont think its a software issue.. more like a hardware driver problem relating to either
ethernet jack in dock
wireless connection ( I do run one at home... but not @ work)
Still doesnt explain the dock problem tho...
Neway... my 2 pence (cents)