Problems with Zepto 6625WD

Hi guys

About 2 months ago I bought a Zepto 6625WD and I'm running 64Bit Vista Ultimate - an OEM copy I installed. I have been having a number of problems with my machine...nothing majorly disruptive but something is definitely wrong and it is annoying me. I would appreciate your thoughts!

Firstly, and least importantly, towards the bottom left of the screen near the edge is a bright patch - about 2cm by 1cm - where it seems like the screen panel is being compressed. This slight imperfection is only really a problem when the pixels around the edge are dark but it is frustrating.

The main problems are unexpected shutdowns and hardware malfunctions/failures. If I leave the laptop on sleep mode, often - but not always - when I wake it up a message pops up saying that windows has recovered from an unexpected shutdown. This is frustrating as I have lost work this way and sleep mode is a way of avoiding a long boot up process.

Secondly and possibly more alarming is the fact that when I am watching a film/movie after an hour or more of use the system crashes, the screen goes blue and a message telling me that a hardware malfunction has occurred and i should contact my hardware vendor pops up...other that when the system actually crashes I have had no issues with the performance I'm getting...sure it is a bit loud/hot and it makes funny "trickling" noises sometimes (I think it may be the hard-drive thrashing - i'm not really sure what that is meant to sound like though)

What should I do? Avoid sleep mode and movies? Send it to Zepto? Is it likely to be fixable? Can I get a replacement/refund? If I do get a replacement will I be able to install the Vista from the same OEM disc I have?

Sorry about all the questions...I'm just typing what is going through my mind! I am soon to start university so it is a bad time to blow £900 on a dud laptop!

 

Hi Steve

painful as it is, it sound like it should come back in for us to look at. You say the laptop is around 2 months old? send your details to me and we will look at it, We should be able to fix the problem quickly and can send it back to another address if needed

I would recommend one of our support guys calling you on monday to diagnose the problem over the phone as well maybe, what do you think?

 

I think it sounds very much like a RAM-problem.
I recommend that you download a memtest program from our FTP-server and run that on the machine to check the RAM for errors.
You can find the test program here: ftp://ftp.zepto.dk/TestingTools/Memtest

 

Hi

Thanks for the replies.

I have downloaded the memtest thingy but am not entirely sure as to how I should run it...the instructions are in danish! I think i need to burn it to the disc but I am unsure as to how to boot from the CD.

ONe other problem I should mention is one occasion on which the laptop failed to start up; it froze repeatedly on the screen with the "ZEPTO" logo, with the blue bar stuck at two thirds. I tried several times turning it off and restarting to no avail. In the end I removed the battery and unplugged it and left it for a few hours after which it started with no problems! Wierd eh?

 

Put CD in drive.
While Zepto logo is displayed press F10 a few times.
A boot menu will show up.
Choose CD/DVD drive and press <Enter>.

The Memtest will boot up and run continously until you stop it yourself.
We recommend running it for 3-4 hours until stopping it by pressing ESC.

 

I ran the memtest for 5 hours+ this morning and after 10 passes no errors came up.

Could it be a software problem? It seems to crash most frequently when I use DivX player...I'll not go so far so far as to say it hasn't ever crashed with another media player but Its rare...

I will give the you guys a ring sometime.

 

Hey notebook people,

I found this topic while searching google for solutions to my problem and I thought it would be a good idea to register and post and see if you have any tips because I am having almost the same problems as stevey5127.

I have a Zepto Znote 3415W. Although I have no problems with bright patches on the screen I have the same issues as stevey5127 with malfunctions and unexpected shutdowns. Sometimes after sleep mode I also get the message that "Windows has recovered from a serious error", and sometimes when I play games (so far it has happened with Civ4, Oblivion and Assassins Creed but not with older games like Oni or Deus Ex) the computer unexpectedly and instantly shuts down for no apparent reason. Before the instant shutdown problems the computer would instead (both when I was playing games and just using the computer to listen to music or surf the web) display a blue screen really quick, so quick I could never see what it said, and then restart itself. Also instantly and for no apparent reason.

I ran the memtest mentioned here yesterday and it came up with several (I think it was 10) errors. I ran it overnight to ensure accuracy as suggested. So if it is then probably a problem with the RAM memory, what should I do? And could it be something else?

 

On a related note, what temperature is too hot for CPU's and GPU's? My 8600m GT reaches about a 100 degrees after only 15min of play, with the CPU cores reaching ~80 degrees.

Maybe my RAM melted lol...

 

the 8600M GT shuts down to provent damage @ 110C so 100C is no problem. My CPU is around 85C so I dont think thats a problem either.

If your laptop is still under warranty I would suggest giving Zepto a call to ask about getting a new pair of ram sticks (or just 1 if you know that only either is defect)

 

I just downloaded the newest set of drivers from this laptopvideo2go website and it today I was able to play Civ4 for like 4 hours straight without a single shutdown of any kind. I monitored the temperature constantly and it never went above 100 degrees.

But yeah if the memory is broken in some way I should probably ask them to replace it and figure out why it got damaged in the first place.

 

THe cause is most likely just failure of electronics, probably bcos the RAM sticks they use are low-budget (= low quality) to save money

 

I had a problem with Kingston RAM modules with my notebook only. They work fine in my wife's Compaq, passing all memory tests I could throw at them, but strangely they failed all the time in my Znote. So now I have her memory and some extra crucial ram and she has my Kingston and Zepto RAM.

 

When on battery, I ocassionally get FREEZES about after 30 minutes, almost regulary that force me to power-down the notebook and restart.

I mean...

WHAT THE ƑƲƇƘ?! This is a Notebook, not a desktop PC! It should work on BATTERY ALSO!!
Hell... what an instable computer THIS is... wow. Stunned. Stunned by the high performance and the high instability.
Haven'T had such a non-stable system since back in the early 90ies... when progam crashes tended to crash the whole computer.