Help! My e1505 keeps locking up!

My Inspiron e1505 keeps locking up 80% of the time whenever I boot up my computer. I followed everything the stickied reinstallation topic told me to do and my laptop now freezes up whenever I boot up my computer (when windows loads the desktop). My laptop runs perfectly AFTER it gets through the boot up. Should I spend another 4-5 hours reformatting my laptop again? Can someone give me an advice please?

My system specs are:
Intel Core Dual 2 ghz
2.0 gb RAM
100 gb hdd 5400 RPM
ATI x1400

 

Do you get any errors? or anything. I need more details. What part does it lock up at? Is Media Direct working?

 

It gives me no errors at all. It just locks up when windows loads to the desktop and I can't even move the pointer at all. Media Direct seems to be working without any problems.

 

hmmm..scan your computer and do a disk cleanup

 

Sounds like this won't work, but can you get Ctrl-Alt-Del to come up and show any 'not responding' messages?

When/if you can get into Windows, under Device Manger are there any yellow 'bangs' present/listed?

Double check what drivers you loaded to confirm they match your hardware.

As it sounds like you haven't invested too much wrt installing your own applications etc.... I'd be tempted to do another Windows reinstall rather than mess with too much troubleshooting. You may invest just as much time trying to identify the exact problem as you would with a Reinstall of Windows.

Suppose an 'intermediate' approach would be to try the Windows Repair Reinstallation....

Microsoft Info

Mark

 

Check your event log and see if any errors pop up. Control Panel-->Administrative Tools-->Event Viewer.

Check the system and applications. Are there any errors?

 

Did you upgrade the Ram yourself?

 

sounds like you have stuff launching at startup. i doubt it's locking up, just taking a long time to actually start because you probably have an antivirus app loading and/or scanning, as well as other stuff.

it took you 4-5 hours to reformat? is that because you installed a bunch of software afterwards? shouldn't take more than 1.5 - 2 hrs even if you take your time.

what have you installed on top of XP after the OS reinstall?

 

I'm at work right now and don't have my laptop with me, but I'll try to do what you guys suggested ASAP when I get home. My laptop is in hibernation mode so it should start up fine when I open it. Also, I did not put any programs in it at all, I just reinstalled all of the drivers that I need for my laptop. Although, this whole thing happened after I reinstalled my McAfee, which I deleted soon afterwards. There's nothing wrong with my hard drive or anything b/c I used scandisk to check for errors and nothing popped up. And what I mean by reformatting is reformat and reinstall everything on my laptop. Well, I'll try to fix this as soon as I get home so I'll post later.

 

Wonder if there is a Windows Restore point that you can use from the 'pre-McAffe install' state....????

Mark

 

I found someone who had a similar problem as mine

Link:
http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=insp_upgrade&message.id=50834

So I guess my laptop is fine except I have to wait a LONG time after each time I reboot. I guess I'll have to stick to hibernation mode and reboot the laptop if I really have to. If any of you have solutions to this problem, it will be greatly appreciated.

 

Check MSConfig... Here's how:

1. hit alt+r at the same time
2. type MSCONFIG in the box
3. go to the last tab (STARTUP tab)
4. uncheck everything
5. reboot

All this does is start XP with services only. No software will start. This will tell us whether it is software related or XP related. We can't give any solutions until we find what is causing the problem. There are only 4 possibilities that could cause the proble: hardware; driver; software; XP.

 

It works now! Thanks a lot SouthernGirl.

 

So then it was some software starting up. If you need something to automatically start with XP (like firewall or virus), I would just enable the ones that you need. Then reboot. If you it starts to act up again, start unchecking each program one by one until your system works good. Chances are that the last program that you uncheck before it starts working good is the one causing all of the problem.

 

Unfortunately, you can't leave your computer in that configuration and expect it to work real well. What you've done is help eliminate some hardware problem 'possibilities'. But you still need to do some 'sleuthing' as to what is the underlying cause.

I'm suspicious of your MacAfee uninstall and the potential for some left over 'bits n pieces' that aren't happy.

Go back into msconfig to see if there are any readily identifiable MacAfee entries in the StartUp tab and selectively 'uncheck' just those and see what that does....

If there's nothing there that's obvious, then you may have to 'hunt n peck' until you find the problem entry.

Mark