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TheMadDutchDude
22-01-11, 20:02
Hey everyone,

In the past two days, my laptop has frozen/BSOD'd over 15 times. It comes up with a message about failed hardware and after about 10 of them BSOD's, Windows became corrupt and I couldn't get it to boot anymore. It required a reinstall which I did today.

Now, it isn't always a BSOD as I stop it before it does. All programs just hang, then the "thinking" icon on the mouse appears for around 20 seconds before it BSOD's and restarts.

There are two likely things at fault here. My motherboard and my SSD.

I highly doubt my SSD is about to pop its clogs but you never know. My main suspicion is that it is my motherboard. When my laptop BSOD's/hangs, I have to sometimes give the laptop a hit near the HDD bay to get it to recognise the drive. If I don't, it comes up with "No bootable media found, please press F5 to continue" or something along those lines. This happens when it can't detect a HDD in the bay. It's fustrating and can't be doing it any good either.

Has anyone got any ideas what may be wrong here? The fresh install of Windows has all of the relevent drivers etc installed so I can't see that being a problem.

Thanks in advanced.
NickCPC
22-01-11, 20:35
I've had something extremely similar to this on my Studio 1735 - my SSD connects to the motherboard via a small adapter like this (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Dell-Studio-1735-Hard-Drive-Cable-Connector-K673D-/360322273920?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item53e4e19280), and it turns out a couple of the wires were frayed - when I moved the laptop, it caused a short and started doing strange things, including not detecting the drive on boot and. I haven't got round to replacing it yet (I have a second internal bay which my SSD is currently in) but it might be worth seeing if you've got a similar connector between your SSD and motherboard.

I guess it's not unfeasible that it could be dodgy RAM too with random crashes - might be worth seeing if you can run memtest.
TheMadDutchDude
22-01-11, 20:38
I've had something extremely similar to this on my Studio 1735 - my SSD connects to the motherboard via a small adapter like this (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Dell-Studio-1735-Hard-Drive-Cable-Connector-K673D-/360322273920?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item53e4e19280), and it turns out a couple of the wires were frayed - when I moved the laptop, it caused a short and started doing strange things, including not detecting the drive on boot and. I haven't got round to replacing it yet (I have a second internal bay which my SSD is currently in) but it might be worth seeing if you've got a similar connector between your SSD and motherboard.

I guess it's not unfeasible that it could be dodgy RAM too with random crashes - might be worth seeing if you can run memtest.

Oooh, similar issues! Mhmm.. Must be a dell thing.:ninja:

I've seen the motherboard, it hasn't got an adapter like you linked to at all. It's a straight connection on to the board.

I'll whack out the Windows disk and run memtest for a few hours and see what happens.

Thanks Nick! Helpful as always. :)

EDIT: no errors found after 45 minutes. I don't think the issue is with the RAM. I'm starting to think the motherboard is on its way out. Woohoo...
TheMadDutchDude
22-01-11, 21:46
Since my last post, I've checked the RAM for 45 minutes using memtest on the Windows disk, tested using the "Extended" (or extensive?) option and it has just crashed again.

I guess the only option is to try my SSD in my benching rig and see what happens. If it freezes there, the answer is obvious but if it doesn't... I think my laptop may be on its way out. I'll run memtest overnight and see if it brings any errors to the surface but I have my doubts.
Pancake
22-01-11, 21:49
I doubt its the board, Its either RAM or the SSD IMO. Run HDtune and see if you can see any errors
TheMadDutchDude
22-01-11, 21:52
I doubt its the board, Its either RAM or the SSD IMO. Run HDtune and see if you can see any errors

I wouldn't be absolutely sure on that. The build quality of this laptop is shocking.

I've only ever removed the HDD bay to replace the HDD with a SSD (twice) and it's missing three screws which I've never touched and two of the holes where the screws keep the chassis together have snapped off. I've never been rough with the laptop, they just broke. Dell.... never, ever again.
El Wayneo
22-01-11, 21:52
Does the laptop bios need updating to run with SSD?
Pancake
22-01-11, 21:53
I wouldn't be absolutely sure on that. The build quality of this laptop is shocking.

I've only ever removed the HDD bay to replace the HDD with a SSD (twice) and it's missing three screws which I've never touched and two of the holes where the screws keep the chassis together have snapped off. I've never been rough with the laptop, they just broke. Dell.... never, ever again.

Well, thats dell for you. But even so i doubt its the board
TheMadDutchDude
22-01-11, 21:58
Does the laptop bios need updating to run with SSD?

It's been running fine for a few months (since around October) before hand and has been on, off, in sleep for many, many hours every day. The problem started to develop three days ago and today was enough to break my Windows install.
El Wayneo
22-01-11, 22:00
SSD is probably failing then.


That's my best guess.


Sorry but you won't know until you test it elsewhere though.
TheMadDutchDude
22-01-11, 22:02
SSD is probably failing then.


That's my best guess.


Sorry but you won't know until you test it elsewhere though.

I'll start it up in the benching rig tomorrow and install Windows. Time will tell, I guess...
El Wayneo
22-01-11, 22:03
What SSD is it?
TheMadDutchDude
22-01-11, 22:06
What SSD is it?

It's a Mushkin Callisto 40GB updated to the latest firmware. It was updated when I got it and has been fine for months as mentioned before.
El Wayneo
22-01-11, 22:08
Isn't there a thing that you have to turn off in win 7 and vista or it like wears the drive out real quick?
TheMadDutchDude
22-01-11, 22:10
Isn't there a thing that you have to turn off in win 7 and vista or it like wears the drive out real quick?

It was all turned off. The drive is still reading/writing at the same speed as it did when it was new so I assume it's still fine in that regard.
El Wayneo
22-01-11, 22:12
Really don't know then mate.


If its dual channel ram have you tried it on one stick then on the other as it's doubtful both would go.
TheMadDutchDude
22-01-11, 22:18
Really don't know then mate.


If its dual channel ram have you tried it on one stick then on the other as it's doubtful both would go.

I haven't tried removing RAM just yet. That's next on the list. :)
TheMadDutchDude
23-01-11, 13:37
Just about had enough of this thing now. I took it apart this morning and made sure that the SSD was absolutely 100% seated. It still cuts out. Last thing to do now is to install windows on it in my benching rig and see what happens. I'll do that when I get home tonight and update the thread accordingly.
Sniperdude
23-01-11, 13:59
over heating ?


would check the cpu fan for cobs of dust also try a new install of windows or linux
also dell has its own diagnosis software

http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/kcs/document?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&docid=DSN_A9E3A15597A04AFBB02EE16785D39C5C&isLegacy=true
TheMadDutchDude
23-01-11, 23:48
over heating ?


would check the cpu fan for cobs of dust also try a new install of windows or linux
also dell has its own diagnosis software

http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/kcs/document?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&docid=DSN_A9E3A15597A04AFBB02EE16785D39C5C&isLegacy=true

Not overheating, max CPU temps are around 65c under 100% load. The rest of the laptop is cool. I'll give that software a try tomorrow. Thanks!
TheMadDutchDude
24-01-11, 02:39
The laptop just froze again. I believe the SSD is at fault here.

It's stuttering. Basically, it froze for around 15 to 20 secs, everything stopped responding. It then came back to life for 30 secs and then BSOD'd.

RMA time... :(

Just needs to be checked in my benching rig to make sure that it does or doesn't do it in there.

EDIT:

The SSD appears to be fine. It has been in my benching rig for the past hour and a bit and it's ever so fast and hasn't hung once. Looks like the laptop has seen better days. I guess I could always remove the DVD drive and stick the SSD in there instead as a last resort. Bugger, the laptops JUST out of warranty too.
TheMadDutchDude
29-01-11, 19:12
I think this will be the final update to this thread... :)

I got the hell in with my laptop today and decided to reinstall yet again. I instantly downloaded the BIOS update available and installed it as well as the chipset drivers.

Touch wood, I've yet to see a freeze! :)

I'm still not convinced it was software related as it worked fine for months before hand and all of a sudden started to play up. Anyways, I'm a happy ish chappy... one up, got a broken Rampage Extreme to get sorted out now. :(
NickCPC
29-01-11, 19:14
Excellent, fingers crossed for you mate that it's now sorted.
TheMadDutchDude
29-01-11, 23:17
Spoke too soon....
:censored: