Major problem with Dell XPS M1530 :(

Hello
I recently bought the m1530
intel duo core 2ghz, 4gb ram, 250gb hdd etc. The HDD is partitioned, 1 for dell recovery, 1 for the OS (60gb), 1 for storage and backup (160gb)

Everything was working fine up until last night, after leaving the laptop on my bed for 30 mins I came back to use it, trying to launch firefox and other programs, nothing would happen, trying hitting the start menu and it wouldnt come up. Then tried pressing ctrl+alt+del, again nothing.

So i eventually just held the power button down to turn it off, from then on I have not been able to turn it back on. Upon getting to the bios screen, i get the screen telling me windows did not shut down properly etc...I have two options, run the repair or start windows normally..i have tried the repair option numerous times!!
Sometimes it ended with a blue screen of death, other times the repair was running for 6 hours!! and had not finished.

Today the repair was on for another say 5 hours whilst i was at work and it actually finished this time and asked for me to restart for the repairs to take place and finish, so i hit finish and again it took me back to the screen asking me to start windows normally or run the repairs!!

Ive tried starting in safe mode, everything, but always asks me to repair or start normally
There was one time when i hit ctrl alt and del, restarted and chose to start normally, it loaded for a bit, then there was a black screen with the mouse pointer...but nothing else.

Its still under warranty with dell, but its such a pain as i needed it for a business trip next week.
Is there anything i can do? I have some discs which came with the laptop, windows vista disc etc.

Sorry for the long post

 

For one, you don't leave a laptop on a bed for 30 minutes. Your laptop overheated.

I'd recommend running a error check on your hard drive with HDTune, and use MemTest86+ to make sure your RAM is good.

 

Well...it seems ither you have a hardware problem or you have a virus (the back screen with a pointer is well assoiated with a virus). I would suggest opting for the regular startup, and once the black screen with the pointer shows up, press Ctr+alt+del and choose task manager, then go File->Run and type "explorer" see if you get your desktop back. If so, check for viruses, perhaps with a online scanner...I dont remeber the virus name, of the top of my head. If this is not the problem...perhaps a format/reinstall is in order, as this wouls "solve" any virus or software related issues.

You probably wont get to this point and still have the problem unsolvend, but if so, it's most probably a hardware fault, and you need to contact dell to get it serviced.

Anyway, I hope I was able to help...

good luck

 

Try re-installing your system, or use the Windows disc to repair Windows. tyr the latter first.
You may have corrupted a Windows file when you had to manually switch off.

 

Yes i know I shouldnt I just didnt realise and got sidetracked.
Can I use these programs even if i cant actually get past the loading/bios screens etc?

yes i have tried repairing using the windows disk but to no avail, it finished once and i had to restart but then i was just back at the same screen asking me to start the repair (recommended) or start windows normally.
I have been pretty careful and im running nod32 antivirus, so im almost certain its not a virus?

I have just run a diagnostics and it came up with an error:
error code 0142

msg: error code 2000-0142
msg: hard drive 1- self test unsuccessful. status: 70

So an error with my hard drive i presume

 

he will have to type explorer.exe i think not just explorer.....wont he?

 

looks like you shull dput in the media direct disc format/repartition your hard drive and reinstall windows.....if theres anything of the hard drive you absolutle need you could use a male to male usb cable, plug it into another computer and navigate through the hard drive.....but if its a virus you may end up copying the virus onto another computer so you should scan anything before copying it by right clicking and scanning (this is done on computer#2...not your laptop)

 

I have the disc for:
reinstalling dell mediadirect 3.5 on dell xps computers

is this the one i need?

 

yea. putting in that disc will allow you to reformat and repartition your hard drive....and i'm pretty sure it leaves the recovery partition alone. then it will tell you when to put in the windows disc

 

will it allow me to just reformat the OS partition alone so I dont lose everything on my storage partition?
Im just running a memory test at the moment as we speak
I would of thought that the vista disc would allow me to format

 

maybe....i'm not sure if it gives you the option or not. Vista disc will be able to format but you need to run the media direct disc first to format so it does the right partitions os/storage/media direct/recovery i think thats how it goes....the vista disc will not give you this option I don' think... and you need to have a partition for media direct and install it or else pressing media direct button would screw your computer over if its not installed.....I haven't formatted mine that is why im not 100% sure.....I think if you go to the thread on the bloatware removal guide it will be exactly what you want it will explain how to reformat/partition install media direct operating system and drivers....ill post the link in a miinute as soon as i find it.





http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=157838

 

1. Place MediaDirect 3.3 in drive;
2. Restart/Hit F12 at initial screen/One time boot/Boot Dvd;
3. Follow instructions to change your partitions. This will delete everything. (Note, I got my system to accept two partitions which are the 3Gb MediaDirect partition and the main partition but sometimes you will have no choice but to go with 3;
4. When it says, remove MD3 disk and replace with your Vista disk;
5. Restart/hit F12 at initial screen/one time boot/Boot DVD;
6. When "press any key when ready" comes up make sure you press this right away. On mine, if you dont in the first few seconds there will be no reaction;
7. Follow the instructions/select complete install and, in the select partition screen, click bottom left to install the AHCI driver, insert the driver medium and direct it to the file which will say AHCI. There may be two files identified, ensure you select the AHCI driver. Once you have completed installing the driver, select correct partition to install Vista on;
8. On completion and windows is running, reinsert MediaDirect 3;
9. Run "DellKit" and press enter to complete installation of MediaDirect;
10. Change disk to your 'Drivers and Utilities' Disk and install 'Dell Resource Application;
11. Let it open and press extract for all that are checked. Install them. (note: Dont reboot after each installation of appropriate driver or it will take forever.);
12. Look at the unchecked drivers carefully. NOTE: There are a few that may be unchecked that are on your system. For example, my fingerprint reader doesnt come up checked as well as Quikset but they are there; and
13. Go to the Dell website/support/drivers and downloads and enter your service tag. Look for drivers that arent on your disk. I am aware that there are a few such as a DVD update.


Edit: I got this off the bloatware removal guide.....not my own words

 

thanks a lot for the help i really appreciate it!

im going to give it a shot now

8)

 

no problem man, hope it works out for you

 

There is your problem... NEVER, and I mean NEVER leave your notebook running on anything soft like your bed or sofa. What you did was fry the notebook as the cooling fan is at the bottom and vents out the back. This notebook runs hot enought without plugging up the air vents.

I hate those ads where they show people using their notebooks on the beds or ground. Looks cool maybe but NOT smart!

 

So are you saying to leave the notebook always on a hard surface? If I'm hearing you correctly, does this mean that one should never have their laptop on their actual lap?

 

Using it on your lap can block the air intakes located at the bottom. I noticed that problem when I use my M1350 on the couch...

Here's a some contraptions that can be usefull if you really want to use your laptop on your lap.

http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-6459_7-5583251-11.html

I'm sure there's much more out there, I just found those with a quick google search.

 

yes....i also explained this earlier....laptops are not called laptops now.....maybe they're called notebooks intead because...i dunno....they're not meant to be on your lap....notebooks have much higher performance now the components are better, run hotter, and require better cooling....how will it achieve this when its vents are clogged? it won't...it will overheat.....i agree that it is very possible that his laptop is fried but he can still try reinstalling everything in case that wasnt the case...its worth a try

for future reference to everyone her...never use a NOTEBOOK on a soft surface ie: bed, blanket,carpet, etc...

 

I have to agree with Steve you never leave your notebook on anything soft that will block the vents and the cooling fan.

 

Just recover your system with factory.wim in recovery drive. when you turn on your system and before your windows goes up press F8 then choose repair and in options yous see choose DELL Factory repair ( Last option in down of list). wait ro recover your system and all the things back in your computer and work fine. I had the same problem and it solved. (sorry for bad english)

 

is there any reason why people keep referring to the fact i left the laptop on the bed?

thats not the issue, i know what is wrong with it (now) and how it was caused

what is the point in saying things like "theres your problem, NEVER leave.... etc etc"

thats not the problem, i needed help on how to try and fix it 8)

 

That is because you need to be reminded to NEVER leave your notebook, (notice I didn't say laptop) on your bed while it is running. Overheating will cause all kinds of problems, not just frying something.

So, yes... is can be and mostly likely the cause of your problem.

 

So what was wrong with it then?

All I can see is your OS got corrupted when you had to power off your laptop that stopped responding due to overheating that was caused by leaving it on your bed...

 

There you go... I'm not the only one thinking that.

 

Hey I saw that you mentioned you had the following error:

msg: error code 2000-0142

Well I have an XPS M1530 and i got the same error code after my screen was slammed closed by someone
So I ended up calling XPS support and telling them about this error code and they told me that my HDD failed and was no longer bootable. They sent me a new HDD the next day and I bought an external HDD enclosure for laptops and transferred over my data to my new HDD, and returned the broken HDD to Dell. Problem solved for me. Not sure if your HDD will allow you to access data still on it via an external HDD enclosure, but it should.
hope this helps.

 

wow... how many times do i have to say it

i dont care what caused it, i dont care it was on the bed and overheated

i KNOW that.. i told you.

i wanted to know HOW to fix it.

---

thx robbie ill have a look

 

Uhh... you don't care that it overheated while on the bed? If it had damaged mine, I'd sure as heck care... and make sure it didn't happen again.

That said, Just make sure that you don't tell that to Dell when you call them. Just say it quit and you have no idea why and they'll fix it.

 

Buddy all they said is what not to do again.

 

hey
well i was away last week, that was my younger brother replying, i dont know why he was getting so aggressive with his replies lol!.

anyway i called dell and as expected they are sending my a new HDD.
after reinstalling, it was still corrupt i.e wouldnt come out of hibernation etc

 

When using it on a bed, couch, lap, etc...just get a piece of plywood or some other hard thing so it does not cover up air holes.

 

Just caught up with this thread...waiting for my M1530 and all that.

Just curious...is the XPS M1530 more susceptable to overheating like this than previous XPS notebooks? I've never run into cautions like this before, and I leave my current XPS M140 notebook running on the bed all the time. Never had any trouble.

Are the new designs significantly more sensitive to this than the older designs?