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allisoninkorea

updated

21 years ago

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4776

April 14th, 2005 12:00

Inspiron 5150 keeps crashing

Hi!  I bought an Inspiron 5150 last year in Canada.  I brought it with me to Korea, where Dell won't service it.
 
About a month ago I started to have problems.  If I am on the computer for any length of time, or if I try to run more than one or two things at a time, the computer turns itself off instantaneously.  When I restart it, it acts as if nothing happened, although it has switched itself to less crisp icons in Windows.
 
Has anyone else experienced this problem?
 
Thanks!
  • jankerson

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    Posted April 14th, 2005 19:00

    Sounds like a driver/ Windows problem.

    Goto Windows update and download the latest updates.

    Also go here and get the latestest drivers. http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/index.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&~ck=mn

    Blow out the vents with canned air too.

  • amy9686

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    Posted April 14th, 2005 19:00

    I have been experiencing the same problem. I tried talking to dell about it but my computer kept shutting down and I can never get through on the phone. It has been doing this to me for about the same amount of time also. Sometimes when I leave it off for awhile it will run for a week and then it will shut off. It has been doing it to me all day. Have you figured anything out.
     
                                          Amy
  • jankerson

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    Posted April 14th, 2005 22:00



    @allisoninkorea wrote:

    jankerson, thanks for the advice.

    However, I've been told by several people not to download Windows update 2(?).  They all said it caused them problems and they then uninstalled it.  What do you think?

    Allison




    It really depends on the system and if it has any problems or not, I am running SP2 on 3 machines right now with no problems at all.

    Before you upgrade do everything else on the list first.

    Also as an added note it is best to install SP2 on a new XP install.

  • 768

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    Posted April 14th, 2005 22:00

    jankerson, thanks for the advice.

    However, I've been told by several people not to download Windows update 2(?).  They all said it caused them problems and they then uninstalled it.  What do you think?

    Allison

  • jbnimble

    11 Posts

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    Posted April 15th, 2005 22:00

    Heat may be the problem.  I have a friend who had a similar
    problem -- it was temperature related.  The fan and CPU
    heat sink accumulate dust gradually.  The thermal contact
    between the CPU and the heat sink may degrade.
     
    Does the problem occur when you operate the laptop
    in a ~20 degree cooler enviroment?
  • 768

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    Posted April 16th, 2005 02:00

    Thanks for the suggestion of it overheating.
     
    So my question then is:
     
                       Why on earth would they make a computer that is going to continuously overheat and crash???  This is frustrating.  I want a computer I can use, not one I have to continuously worry about whether I'm overheating it.
     
    I hope that lurking Dell staff see this and build better computers!!!
     
    Allison

    Message Edited by allisoninkorea on 04-15-2005 10:58 PM

  • jbnimble

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    Posted April 16th, 2005 03:00

    Don't get your knickers bunched up until you've tested your 5150 in a much cooler environment.
     
    Chances are good that temperature is NOT your problem.  But it is a possibilty, and it's easy to check by operating your laptop outside at night, or wherever it's significantly cooler.
  • 768

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    Posted April 16th, 2005 03:00

    As well, this happened in late winter, early spring.

    If this computer's design can't even withstand regular indoor temperatures, what is it going to be like when summer arrives?

  • egoneo

    1 Rookie

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    Posted April 16th, 2005 12:00

    rigth click on my computer and go to properties, click on advanced and under startup and recovery click settings, untick the box that says automatically restart, this way if your computer does not reboot instead it gives you a blue scree, report back on what the blue screen says, my guess is that your pagefile is corrupt.
  • 277

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    Posted April 16th, 2005 13:00

    Dear jbnimble,

    If I go 20 degrees colder that would be 0 celcius.  Would 20 celsius really be causing these problems?

     

    Dear egoneo

    The box you suggested wasn't checked.  The computer doesn't turn itself back on.  I turn it on myself.
     
     
    Thanks again for all your suggestions.  I am not experienced with computer troubleshooting, and now I live in a country where I can't communicate with the local computer techies and Dell refuses to service the computer for me (even though it's still under warranty).
     
    I will be back in Canada briefly in June and I am hoping that Dell will fix the computer for me then (and replace the parts that are causing problems).
     
    Allison