Ed B. wrote:
Quote:
> I apologize for the long post - I have been struggling with this problem
> for 9-months now. I continue to have a random 'freeze' problem with my
> Dell 9200 computer that I noticed soon after I bought the computer in late
> June 2007. It runs Vista Business and I loaded Norton 360 on the first
> day. I have a lot of other software (e.g. Office 2007) but the problem
> does not appear to be application based. The freezes occur intermittently
> and last 60-90 seconds during which time I am unable to use the system.
> During the freeze, the cursor will usually move and sometimes show an
> hour-glass but not always, the keyboard buffer appears to accept a few
> characters, and a print job underway will continue, but otherwise there is
> no indication that an app or something else is not responding. Also during
> the freeze, the clock will not update but
> the network (broadband) activity animation will show activity, and the
> disk
> activity light is solid (green) but without the typical sounds of disk
> drive activity - like it is doing a high priority continuous read or
> write. After the freeze, everything resumes normally without any messages.
>
> I have not been able to cause the freezes but they seem to happen more
> frequently within an hour or two of rebooting and sometimes will happen
> several times within a 5-10 minute time period. I have observed the freeze
> with just Windows Task Manager on display but cannot tell what process(s)
> may be involved. I have also tried relocating the DVD cable to different
> SATA connectors but that did not resolve the problem.
>
> Dell Tech Support was unable to diagnose the problem (including the 5-hour
> hardware tests) and recommended that I reset the system to 'factory'
> defaults and rebuild the system. I have refused to do this (so far)
> because I know it will take a minimum of 16-hours of my time. If I have to
> do that to resolve the problem, I'll probably go back to XP-Pro... any
> ideas about what's going on and a resolution?
First, let's address the 16-hour issue. Purchase an external hard drive and
an imaging program - I prefer Acronis True Image. Now image your system and
store the image on the external hard drive. This will enable you to get
back to exactly where you are in a very few minutes.
Once you've done that, restore the system to factory condition. Install a
few things you need but don't spend a huge amount of time on it. You just
want to be able to work semi-normally on it for testing purposes. If the
freezes continue then you know for sure it's hardware and even though
you've waited this long (too long, really) Dell should replace the computer
or at least give you a new motherboard/power supply, etc. To me it sounds
like one of those components is faulty.
Malke
--
MS-MVP
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
Don't Panic!