Blue screen of death on my M1530

I just received my laptop a little over two weeks ago, after waiting over a month for it, but I've already suffered through two blue screens of death. Each time it occurred when I brought it with me outside my condo to school, using it solely on battery power. The entire time before these to instances I have it plugged directly through the wall adapter. What could be causing it? One more and I'm going to give Dell tech a call. It's a pretty big investment for me, and for it to have a couple blue screens this early is unacceptable.

 

As most people would agree BSOD generally happens due to software problems, rather than any hardware problems.

In order to determine the source, you'll need to trace back any events back to when it happened. For instance, does it happen specifically using a certain application? Did you install something prior to seeing BSOD? If you are running Vista, is everything you installed compatible with it? Are all your drives up to date (e.g., video card, chipset, etc)?

When I first received my m1330 about 9 months ago, everything was fine with Vista, until I started to install my programs. At one point, I saw 3 BSODs in one hour. Instead of troubleshooting what it was, I just installed XP Pro, installed all the applications and never seen a BSOD since.

These are the questions you'd be asked when you call DELL; so be prepared.

Good luck!

 

Is there a Minidump folder in the Windows Directory ?

 

its a software related issue, not windows os though, just drivers.

 

Hmm..I'm pretty sure I haven't installed anything that isn't compatible with Vista, since I check every time I install a program. There is a VPN client that I used both times to log onto the school wireless network, but it is Vista compatible. And all I run is Firefox 3.0, Microsoft Word, and AIM when I'm at school.

 

I have heard of Video and Wireless card drivers having some issues with drivers..just my .02c...

 

is the VPM client by Cisco? i had experience with so called vista compatible cisco vpm client. it is very buggy, and will cause BSOD with certain wi-fi cards.

 

I've owned the m1530 for a month now and it has suffered one BSOD. I have no clue how it happened as it happened while I was out for 30min. Nothing in my Minidump folder, and Windows couldn't resolve the issue.