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    Studio Freezing

    Discussion in 'Dell' started by eesh72, Aug 23, 2008.

  1. eesh72

    eesh72 Notebook Consultant

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    Does anyone else's studio keep randomly freezing? Mine freezes like every other day or every couple days and I have to push in the power button to turn it off. Is this because of Vista or my computer? Should I just do a fresh vista install?

    edit: I just saw on dell's website that they are offering Ubuntu 8.04 on Studio 15's now and I am thinking about just switching to that...
     
    eesh72, Aug 23, 2008
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  2. DDGuy

    DDGuy Notebook Geek

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    Well...mine does that too....not so often though....twice in past month...last one just 2 mins ago....the Eject LED on the panel will be on and nothing will respond....screen would be off (happens if the laptop is left on for long)..need to force shut it....it will complain during the next boot but I override to start normally and all is good again......but yes, very irritating
     
    DDGuy, Aug 24, 2008
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  3. lotta221211

    lotta221211 Notebook Evangelist

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    If you have only been using Windows your whole life, Ubuntu will be a hard transfer which I can't recommend.
     
    lotta221211, Aug 24, 2008
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  4. Clutch

    Clutch cute and cuddly boys

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    the best thing to do is ckeck for updates on dells web site and for microsofts web site. And also scan all of the hardware and so on.
     
    Clutch, Aug 24, 2008
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  5. rezendevous

    rezendevous Notebook Evangelist

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    we are talking about a microsoft os here..... :D
     
    rezendevous, Aug 24, 2008
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  6. bmwrob

    bmwrob Notebook Virtuoso

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    Not sure switching to Linux is a good idea until you figure out what is causing the freezes. You might want to try a LiveCD version of Ubuntu and see whether you like it, and whether it also freezes as does Windows. Might help narrow down the problem, though I doubt it, really.

    Is your installed version of Windows clean, or full of bloatware? If it's loaded with junk a clean install, or at least a cleanup of the system might help. If you want to chase down the issue further before reinstalling Vista or trying Ubuntu, you should probably start by disconnecting any peripherals you may have connected, and run scans for malware. Uninstall any new programs you might have recently installed. Update drivers and firmware, and check your Event Viewer (I don't have a Vista machine and am assuming Event Viewer is still part of Windows) for any hints as to what may be happening.
     
    bmwrob, Aug 24, 2008
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  7. eesh72

    eesh72 Notebook Consultant

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    Wellll last night I went a little overboard and installed Ubuntu even though I had no idea how to use it...I couldn't figure out how to get my wireless to work so then I did a clean install of Vista...so I guess I'll see how this goes for a little while....
     
    eesh72, Aug 24, 2008
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  8. ashwin

    ashwin Newbie

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    a very similar thig happened to me on my desktop.The whole comp would freeze.The only way to really pin point the solution is to do a fresh install, and slowly install programs( as in install them only when u REALLY need to use them).My issue was with graphics card driver.i downloaded the latest ones from the nvidia website and tht solved it.Considering tht yr laptop drivers arnt an issue it may be a problem with some windows update.
     
    ashwin, Aug 25, 2008
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  9. DDGuy

    DDGuy Notebook Geek

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    Mine has been freezing more frequently lately....("the Eject Multimedia lit up and nothing else works"). Today Dell has scheduled a mother board and wi-fi card replacement due to the much documented sound problem, let's see if that does anything to the freezing issue
     
    DDGuy, Aug 26, 2008
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  10. ashwin

    ashwin Newbie

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    any idea if this is an international thing?
     
    ashwin, Aug 26, 2008
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  11. eesh72

    eesh72 Notebook Consultant

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    I'm pretty sure its due to vista. Linux is working flawlessly. I wish someone would write a guide to installing XP pro.
     
    eesh72, Aug 26, 2008
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  12. purplegreendave

    purplegreendave Has a notebook.

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    Did you try a clean Vista install?
    It could be a bad driver, badly copied file etc, which (obviously) wouldn't manifest in Linux and would be fixed by a clean install
     
    purplegreendave, Aug 26, 2008
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  13. eesh72

    eesh72 Notebook Consultant

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    I am dual booting a clean install of vista and linux but I haven't really been using Vista much since then so I guess I should give it another try for a few days.
     
    eesh72, Aug 26, 2008
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  14. BigSquadoosh

    BigSquadoosh Notebook Enthusiast

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    I'm having the same problem. I've frozen up just going on the web using Firefox or running iTunes. I'm trying to go backwards and uninstall as much Dell bloatware as possible.

    For a while, I thought it was Google Desktop slowing me down (turned it off, and it stopped freezing so much for a little bit). I also dedicated a 2GB SD card to ReadyBoost, and saw a little improvement after that. However, the computer still freezes unpredictably, at least once a day since I've gotten it (received it 8/14). Anyone have any other ideas? If I can avoid doing a clean install, I'll do it--but if that's the only way, then I'll do it, too.

    eesh72, please update with your progress! :)
     
    BigSquadoosh, Aug 26, 2008
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  15. eesh72

    eesh72 Notebook Consultant

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    I did a clean install and so far so good. Only one day though.
     
    eesh72, Aug 26, 2008
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  16. eesh72

    eesh72 Notebook Consultant

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    Still no freezing...I highly recommend a clean install of vista.
     
    eesh72, Sep 3, 2008
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  17. naichu

    naichu Newbie

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    Oh, I am using Vista, and mine has a similar problem. It usually happens when the laptop tries to get awaken from sleep. but it will eventually turn on after two or three minutes.
     
    naichu, Sep 3, 2008
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  18. steb

    steb Notebook Geek

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    running under Vista 32, I've never had a problem. I have Vista 64 loaded on another partition and it functions well aside from a ACHI DVD eject issue... but that is driver related.

    But I must say that I did a format and fresh install of Vista 32 to remove all the pre-installed stuff...
     
    steb, Sep 3, 2008
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  19. rafucho

    rafucho Notebook Consultant

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    So far, I've had my studio for a little bit more than a month. I have done like 4-5 installations. I had an image of my ex-Vostro 1500, Vista Business x64, it ran for a few days, but the WLAN driver wasn't that good. Did a Dell Restore and worked, but I still wanted to have Vista x64, so I installed Home Premium x64, but again, it kept freezing and tssss, hated it. I had to try Vista Business x64 again, and it was ok, with a WLAN driver of the new Latitude series, but I installed the Audio driver for Vista 64-bit of Dell's website and it kept crashing.
    So here I am, with a fresh installation of Vista Home Premium (Dell's DVD), and it's running very good, but I hate to loose my entire 4GB of RAM....
    So that's my opinion... hihi

    PS: Hey eesh72 how did you get the wireless working on Ubuntu?
     
    rafucho, Sep 3, 2008
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  20. eesh72

    eesh72 Notebook Consultant

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    eesh72, Sep 4, 2008
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  21. Deadmon

    Deadmon Newbie

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    Same thing happens to me, glad I'm not the only one with this problem..
     
    Deadmon, Sep 7, 2008
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  22. ran007

    ran007 Newbie

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    I'm running an E6500 with xp64, and it randomly freezes too. Drives me nuts. Get this, it froze using Dell's load of Vista Business too - which prompted me to install xp64. Still freezes. So I have a feeling it's hardware.

    Dell's coming out tomorrow to replace the MB, HD, NVidia, and all 8GB RAM. I'll report back...
     
    ran007, Jan 17, 2009
    #22