Latitude E6510 Owner's Lounge

Did you update the BIOS to the latest version? Dell doesn't normally do that for you.

John

 

Installing drivers out of order usually does not cause a hard lock-up. Buggy Dell software usually does not cause a hard lock-up.

Chances are excellent it is a hardware problem.

Even if the symptom suddenly disappears, you won't know for sure that it is fixed.

Pack it up for return and enjoy your weekend.

Good luck.

 

Did you delete all partitions and create a new system partition when you installed Win7?

Did you change the SATA mode in BIOS to AHCI? Not required, but I'm curious.

Assuming the notebook has 2 memory modules, and it will run with one, remove them both and then try with just one installed.

Did you boot to and run the Dell CD diagnostics? Takes awhile.

GK

 

Yup...same problem with A03 that it came with, A04, and A05 that it has now.

 

Just wiped out the OS partition...left the other two alone. Think that would make a difference?

Yup, did that...figured that might be it...made no difference.

Just tried that a little while ago...was installing one of the drivers and she freezes up again (with only one stick of RAM in it)

Only did the diagnostics that are in the bios/setup...that found nothing wrong. Will try the CD for the heck of it but I think there's no way I'm gonna be able to fix it.

 

I don't know what OS it came with but I would be sure to wipe the HDD before installing Win7... not leave old partitions around.

Did the OEM installation BSOD and lockup when you first got it?

GK

 

I was in a rush to get 7 installed on it that I didn't use it with Vista (wasn't expecting problems...oh well). I'm reinstalling Vista on it now (wiped the entire drive out)...will see what happens with that.

 

I suggest you make a good plan and stick to it. Vista is garbage... Intel Corp did not adopt it. Win7 is pretty darn good. These notebooks are made for a 64-bit OS. Run the Dell CD diagnostics... if they run solid, you'll see your base hardware is solid. Then wipe the drive and install Win7... preferably 64-bit. And be sure to only install Dell downloads for the OS installed, 64-bit vs. 32-bit.

Installing Vista *is* a waste of your time.

GK

 

I'm giving up. Managed to get Vista installed again (on a wiped hard drive this time) along with all the Dell drivers in order. Seemed to be OK, so onto the Windows update stuff. Downloads whatever needed then starts installing...gets to the third one then rebooted unexpectedly (ugh). Once it comes back, go back to installing whatever needed that was left, now it's frozen again halfway in (just sitting there "installing update 29 of 62"). There's definitely something wrong with this thing that I'm not going to be able to fix that's for certain. Will run the hardware diagnostics again to see but I'm not expecting it to find anything.

Edit: got one error regarding the trackstick....error code 3500:021B mouse/touchpad/stick controller will not enable device. Dunno if that could be a clue somewhere. So far, nothing else.

 

3500-021B mouse.mdm
Pointing Stick Test
Could not set sampling rate. The keyboard controller did not accept a command to set the mouse's data sampling rate.
Motherboard

There you go. Call Dell and negotiate a repair.

GK