Urgent laptop help needed""

[Smowball]

Hi guys - help needed please!

To cut a long story short, we bought son Dell Inspiron laptop 5 months ago. After few months we found it was riddled with a virus, maybe from all the rubbish he downloaded, I dont know. Afte speaking to Currys, they said to restore it to factory settings, ie wipe it, which we did. It was fine for a week, then the screen went all blurred so you couldnt see what was on it. Rang Dell, they talked us through some tests on phone with laptop on and decided screen had gone. It was collected and repaired free as under warranty. We have had it back just TWO weeks and now the screen keeps freezing! Either the sec he turns it on, or within 5 mins, the whole screen and cursor freeze. in fact most of the time we cant even see where the cursor is. Rang DELL again yesterday, they did tests again and said its not a hardware issue, put me through to some software dept who now say I will have to pay a fee if it is a software issue, even thou they havent confirmed that yet. Went on and on an bout payment schemes and I kept saying that it is only 5 months old but they wouldnt listen. So they finally said they would send my son an email with a possible fix that he could try but it never arrived. I cant spend another hour on phone with them for them to still not help, so has ANYBODY heard of this freezing problem and can I try anything?? PS I cant find the receipt either, even though I had it last week!

Thankyou!!

[jake-the-peg]

Freezing is often associated with overheating - Classic case is laptops on duvets with the air intakes getting blocked.

[Smowball]

Right, yeh he sometimes has it on his bed but generally its on his lap or a table?

[rojash]

"generally its on his lap"
That's just as bad as on a bed. Believe it or not, laptops are not designed to be used on your lap.

[ChuckFickens]

Also worth downloading all the latest drivers from dells site and making sure they are all up to date.

[RATTER15]

Freezing is often associated with overheating!! how strange!

[jno]

IT has turned the world upside down, Ratter

[Smowball]

Ok well how do we sort it as it now seems to be a permanent problem. Laptop was on table whilst talking to Dell lastnight and it froze straight away! is still on table - tried turning it on and froze again straight away.

[jake-the-peg]

OK well often overheating occurs shortly after start up or when you start to do something really intensive like playing games that are resource hungry.

Dell have had problems in the past with certain video chips that got overheated

http://en.wikipedia.o..._Inspiron#Overheating

But I didn't think it was a current problem - I'd be doubtful that it's a software issue though especially if you went back to a factory config

[Smowball]

Chuck - cant download anything till this prob is sorted as it freezes as soon as turned on!

[ChuckFickens]

Does it freeze if you start it in safe mode?

To get into safe mode start tapping F8 as soon as the laptop is switched on, when a menu comes up select safe mode and press enter. (things won't look right in safe mode because none of the drivers will be loaded, but don't worry, restarting would get everything back to normal)

If it works without freezing in safe mode then it is a software problem.

[Smowball]

Dell got us to try safe mode last night and it seemed ok but after 4 mins it froze again. So what does it mean if it is a software prob??

[Smowball]

Hubbie keeps saying that son musy have downloaded something he shouldnt but he hasnt downloaded a thing since it was re set. And all he goes on are internet - facebook,youtube, and does homework.

[vinginge]

I had a similar problem - but not with a Dell.
This was caused by the security system provided by the cable company through which I get my broadband. I had to uninstall the security program and then reinstall it. Might not be the cause of your problem but if you have cable broadband I would consider this possibility.

[Smowball]

vinginge - possibly but all other laptops in house are fine.

[The Builder]

Smowey ...... I'm no expert. Roj or Chuck would have to confirm if this helps at all. When you first switch on, the screen will ask if you want to go into Set-up mode (BIOS) by tapping DEL or something similar. I may be right in saying that, if it still seizes up, considering there is no software running at all, you could then tell Dell that it must be a hardware fault.