Problems the last 2 days

So...
Yesterday... on my m1330...
i restarted, and then it would not turn on.
so... i decided to give dell a call...
Despite my lack of service tag or warranty, i was instructed to hold "Power + FN + Esc"
This booted to dell diagnostic mode...
from here, i was instructed to cancel right away, then try to boot normally, which worked.


That happened 2 times.

Now today, every time i walk away from my computer for a little, i come back and it is totally frozen...

And, now my wireless is displaying a lack of connection, when it is connected.

And, to top things off...
Every now and again my screen goes full bright, no bright, then back to normal (so it like flickers randomly every so often)

So... now im wondering what to do, what the problem is...

All this happened after i shrunk the partition, installed ubuntu, then reversed it... so im thinking that did it some how... but i really can't figure how that would cause this...

 

Well first off, God doesnt hate you, **** happens, thats just how life is...

the way i see it you have 2 options,

1- you can try to reformat and reinstall windows, (witch i dont think will work since the thing wont even boot up... right?)

2- even if you are out of warranty, i think the option would be taking it to dell to see whats wrong, its sure to be the motherboard.

how old is this XPS?

 

no, it boots up, and im reinstalling it tonight after i finish backing up all my data...

The computer is abour 3-4 years old i think... i got it from HEP! about 4 weeks ago i think...

And i really hope it isn't any mobo problems, cause that would cost a lot!

BUT!

Since i had HEP! list it on ebay, i can buy a square trade warrenty...

its $100 for 1 year, but i really don't see how square trade could help me... can any one explain how that would work? do they extend it through dell?

 

3-4 years ?? lol these xps's have only been arround for about 1 year, but ok...

So, yeah re-install vista and lets hope that that solves it.

And no i dont know what square trade is or how it works...

 

lol, idk... for some reason that number stuck out in my head

and yea, i do too...

im also in the process with talking to dell to see what they think

 

Well, the dell person today was a total ***... he wouldnt even talk to me w/o a service tag... even after i explained my problem, and all i wanted to know is if this could be a hardware problem. I even asked about buying a 9cell from them and he said without a service tag he can't do that...

wow...

ok, well im reinstalling....... now

 

yeah the m1330 has known problems like that, usually the cause is too powerful of a configuration

 

Ok, so i finished installing all the drivers this morning...

And when i drag windows it laggs (i have not tried 3d apps) and the fan is ALWAYS on...

So, im going to try XP one more time, then Vista if that does not work...

 

OK... well this is really weird... the fan is always on now... i really don't get it...
any one know why? its not on high, but its on...

 

the laggish windows could be because you havent installed teh nvidia driver, or because you are running on battery and powermizer underclocks your GPU.

And the fan that is always on could also mean a graphics driver problem, try re-installing, if not, i think there is a thread arround here of a guy with the same problem, but hell, i would love my fan always being on, would keep my lappy much cooler.

( try using HWMonitor to see if you temps are high, if they are above 65C then the fan will come up to cool it down)

but did re-installing vista solve your issues?

keep us updated

 

well, this is my 2nd install of xp now, still with the fan issue...
my graphics card is always about 57 ish idle... and it must have beeen the driver i was using, cause this new driver works (even the old driver was the driver i used initially and it worked)...

So can some one please help me find that thread? im really busy getting everything set up

thanks

 

well this is weird.. the bizzar lag still happens on occasion... and i ran some 3d apps, so it isnt actually.. idk... ant its not powermizer... this is weird
its not a big deal though

 

a "non stop fan" thread is just developing down the hall to the left

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=319495

 

lol, i did search for dell and fan and it said no results
thanks

 

Ok, so my fan is still going on more than normal, but that isnot the problem that i origionally thought it was...
waht i thought was the fan is my harddrive....

so...
why is my harddrive always on? i have indexing off.....

 

Is the hard drive light always blinking?
Try task monitor and see whats running in the background

 

no, the light is not always blinking... it often is... but not all the time... its just always going, loudly...