Studio 1558 freezing, unresponsive

Had this Studio 1558 for about a week now. It's been mostly good, except it's been freezing for no good reason every so often. I'm not getting error messages, BSODs, automatic restarts, or any of that. The screens just stop responding.

I suspected it was a bad Win7 install, so I wiped and reinstalled Win7HPx64. Still froze.
Went back to a single-monitor setup, still froze.
Tried updating to the Catalyst 10.04 drivers, still froze.
Disabled Powerplay, still froze.
Changed AV/Firewall and uninstalled a pile of crap, still froze.
Installed XP, then Ubuntu, still froze.

Odd thing? Nothing in the event viewer to indicate a crash, other than the fact that a kernel power error shows up because I force a shutdown. I've yet to find a .dmp file anywhere that would indicate an actual BSOD. Fan never spun up, CPU monitors and logs don't show any sudden spike or drop in processor activity. Think the 4570 is busted?

*edit*
just recalled, I've also changed power settings so the CPU can't throttle, been monitoring all 8 cores, ran off battery and off ac, all to no effect.
happens whether i'm streaming video via hulu desktop, just browsing webpages, running virus scans, or just doing mostly nothing. ran the gamut of dell diagnostics, but nothing.

 

same problem as mine

 

Ubuntu has actually been stable since that post, I suspect a 10.0.45.2 flash install mucked it up. Clean install of Lucid and it's been solid since. Installed Flash 10.1 RC4 from Adobe Labs on Win7 and Ubuntu, now I don't see quite so many crashes, although win7 still eats it every so often during flash video. Not sure whether it's actually flash or not, since I also had a lockup playing a game, but only after approx 3 hours in. Hasn't locked up running scans or browsing since then.
Did find a sticky on Dell Community about Studio lockups, but there's been no love for the 1558 thus far.

 

I'm having the same issue as you, only difference is that I have the ATI 5470 card. I've had the 1558 for 4 days, the day I got it she froze. I though it was something I did until it did it again, and again, and again.... about 12 times since Friday Plan on calling Dell when i get a chance today. This is the 4th replacement for my 1557, all having problems. Now this with the 1558 ??? Dell need to get on their game

 

Hah, I'm not actually sure if it's a 5470 or a 4570. When I first got it, the warranty folks said it was a 4570. I wiped it and installed the 10.4 catalyst drivers, and I see Radeon 5400 series, so now I assume it's a 5470, and am updating my sig to reflect that.

 

There is A05 bios out, maybe you can give it a try. It says it supports new CPU but since you both had i7 maybe it is related to the i7 CPU.

 

All you guys seem to have the I7 ...

The BIOS may help ... I have an I5-520 with no issues ...

 

That bios just came out today. Just flashed, now only time will tell

 

http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/laptop/f/3518/t/19325689.aspx?PageIndex=1
FYI: That's the discussion link I referenced earlier in the Dell forums. It's a giant mess, but the consistent string throughout is that the Core i7 processors are having issues on the Studio 15/16/17 lines.

http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/laptop/f/3518/t/19303691.aspx
This applies to the 1557, but the problem is almost identical and posters in that thread also mention the problem on the 1558

Definitely going to install the BIOS tonight and see what comes of it

Sidenote: There's a recent date on that Chipset IMEI driver, but I swear that's the same file I installed before the 12th, same version number.

 

I've found solution in this link:
AMD Game Forums - ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5470