COMPUTER CRASHED FOR THE 3RD TIME!!

FettDad

Active Hunter
ok guys, i am turning to any computer gurus here...i have a Dell, got it in August/Sept and it has crashed 3 times since Christmas Eve...i have done the whole Tech Support at Dell, and tested the hard drive like 5 times, and all tests pass...we also have done a complete Restore of the system, 3 times, reinstalled all the drivers, and the operating system, which is Vista...

i am so freakin' tired of spending 2-3 hours on the phone with someone that doesnt speak very good english, and that you cant understand very well...i appreciate they are trying to help me, but it just gets frustrating...:facepalm

since the hard drive is fine, is it the Vista operating system? it has to be the software somewhere, yes? thanks guys, appreciate any input on this issue i am having....:cheers

by the way, i am posting this thread from my computer at work...shh..dont tell anyone...
 
Sorry to hear that Fett dad. I don't want to bite my tongue. But I have a Mac because I have used this for work and home. And I am not rubbing this in, but I never had any sort of virus. Perhaps in the PC world - - - there is a computer with an operating system that does not have any problems. I wish you the best of luck. I know it is a pain in the rear when you have to deal with tech support for hours.
 
Sorry to hear that Fett dad. I don't want to bite my tongue. But I have a Mac because I have used this for work and home. And I am not rubbing this in, but I never had any sort of virus. Perhaps in the PC world - - - there is a computer with an operating system that does not have any problems. I wish you the best of luck. I know it is a pain in the rear when you have to deal with tech support for hours.

so those Mac commercials ARE true!! :lol:
 
Well, I was about to say the same thing...buy a mac and you'll have little to no problems. I run 3 mac labs at a community college and I don't have to worry about viruses nor de-fragmenting my machines at all. I will say though, as companies get bigger they tend to lose their values to their customers. As much as I still stand behind Apple's products, their popularity has changed their focus. They give more of a **** about their iPods and iPhones then they do their expensive products. You would think they'd want to keep up with great support for the people who are purchasing their towers and laptops but I think they are progressively falling short in that area.

That's my rant about the negatives but it's still not enough for me to buy a PC over a Mac. My fiance' hates Mac's though but I know that's because she's so used to PC's and their interface. I switched my folks over to Mac and they love it. They've had a Mac mini for 3 years now with no issues.
 
well, just bought this sucka, so i am stuck with it...i think i will go to Windows XP, that is what i have at work, and had no problems with that op system...
 
While some might argue for Vista, I have found XP to be extremely stable and have seen no reason to move up. While the Mac-lovers will always say "go to Mac" there is nothing wrong with a PC as long as you have a stable platform for it. For me, that platform is currently XP.
 
I'm not sure, but honestly it may be something with Dell. I have a friend that works in a store that carries Dell and they see a lot of them that freeze up right out of the box.

My best friend here where I live now just got a Dell XPS 630i and has had nothing but problems with it from day one. 1st one of the 2 500gb hard drives was bad. Then the disk drive was bad. Then it would freeze up. Then it would not load WoW. He was on with their "award winning tech support" more times than I can count at his house and the sad part is they obviously go from a script because each tech he talked to when I was around kept telling him to do the exact same things that didn't work before. When he finally came to the decision that he didn't want to deal with this anymore and asked them about their return/exchange poolicy they told him they would be glad to but he has to foot the bill for freight! This is after paying $1700+ for the piece of garbage.

After this I just have to go with the new opinion that Dell is a joke to me. I will never buy another Dell and will steer anybody I can away from them.
 
What sort of crash are you seeing?

Are we talking application crashes or full on BSOD's?

If BSOD, what is the error code? Is it referencing any files?

Application crash logs would also be helpful.

In many cases, crashes like this can be as simple as one bad driver, especially in the case of a pre-fab computer where frequently you start the game with already out-dated drivers. (Which re-installing will benefit you nothing.)

Hope it improves!

If you have more information on the nature of the crashes, post it up and we'll see what we can do.
 
I'm not sure, but honestly it may be something with Dell. I have a friend that works in a store that carries Dell and they see a lot of them that freeze up right out of the box.

My best friend here where I live now just got a Dell XPS 630i and has had nothing but problems with it from day one. 1st one of the 2 500gb hard drives was bad. Then the disk drive was bad. Then it would freeze up. Then it would not load WoW. He was on with their "award winning tech support" more times than I can count at his house and the sad part is they obviously go from a script because each tech he talked to when I was around kept telling him to do the exact same things that didn't work before. When he finally came to the decision that he didn't want to deal with this anymore and asked them about their return/exchange poolicy they told him they would be glad to but he has to foot the bill for freight! This is after paying $1700+ for the piece of garbage.

After this I just have to go with the new opinion that Dell is a joke to me. I will never buy another Dell and will steer anybody I can away from them.

yep, me too!! they say the same dang thing every time, and i go thru the same steps every time...sheesh!!
 
What sort of crash are you seeing?

Are we talking application crashes or full on BSOD's?

If BSOD, what is the error code? Is it referencing any files?

Application crash logs would also be helpful.

In many cases, crashes like this can be as simple as one bad driver, especially in the case of a pre-fab computer where frequently you start the game with already out-dated drivers. (Which re-installing will benefit you nothing.)

Hope it improves!

If you have more information on the nature of the crashes, post it up and we'll see what we can do.

ok, all it does is takes forever to bring up Vista, then it comes up with a message in the top left corner, "no boot device available", and then some other stuff...no files, is does say something about SATA numbers and such, so...i dont know...i dont have my home computer here, obviously, so no real way to go about this other than to have someone on the phone i could speak to while going thru the process...and i REALLY dont want to call Dell schmuck's again...:lol:

anyone know how much XP costs ? i guess i could find out via Staples or something...:wacko
 
FD,

What is the service tag# on the sticker? PM me if you want.

One thing you need to be careful of when it comes to downgrading to XP, many of these newer Dell machines are using hardware that does not support XP. I've downgraded 3 machines lately and finding all the drivers I need has taken forever.

If you really want XP, call Dell and demand a copy. You bought Vista so you are legally licensed to run a prior version of Windows.
 
Well, for one thing...you bought a Dell.

I spend 50% of my time in the field fixing dell computers. They buy parts by the train-car load from China...so what do you expect? Those parts barely recieve a QA test before hitting the wrapper.

My advice: Go to your local mom and pop computer place (that is reputable!!) and have them build a system for you. It will cost more, but in the long run you will get a much better system. I tell all my customers that, even if they don't go through me for the system they want. I'm not cheap, I don't build **** and my cheapest system runs around $1300. So go find your local computer shop and tell them what you want, I bet you'll get the system of your dreams. =)

Most people go with the Dell/HP solution because they don't have an idea in hell what they are getting or want. You'll listen to the salesperson give you some pitch about what this system does, and how good it is, that it has Vista etc. Well, to those that don't know...let me enlighten you: 90% of those salesmen have no idea what they are selling nor do they even have one in their own home. They have sold you convenience for a price.

Get something with some meat and potatoes in it...not the salad bar.
 
Any pre-fab computer is always going to be inferior to home-built job for about 1001 reasons, including those listed above.

However, for some people, the "convenience at a price" is a very real convenience.
Yes it is true that the most sales reps are utter morons and don't know a thing about what they're selling, but the vast majority of the consumer market doesn't WANT to know either.

I can't say I blame them. I've spent the last 15 years in technology of a sort or another and it can be one of the most maddening things in the world.

So, rather than tell the poor guy with a busted machine to "buy a mac" or "build a new one," I would hope we could focus more on directing him on how to get help for his current problem.

We all have our opinions on works best and how we like our machines, but none of that is going to help at the moment. He has a machine, and unless he's made of money, which no one is right now, he's probably not going to run out and replace it.

I'm not trying to sound like a jerk, just trying to keep this on-topic and focused on helping him fix his current problem.

Thanks.
 
This sounds like something that hopefully could be fixed in the bios as the machine boots - its not finding your main operating system to boot into...

Any half competent local computer guy should be able to get you past this stage for little cost, sounds lie just directing the machine to the OS - unless there is something up with the HD the OS is on...

HTH

Dave
 
This sounds like something that hopefully could be fixed in the bios as the machine boots - its not finding your main operating system to boot into...

Any half competent local computer guy should be able to get you past this stage for little cost, sounds lie just directing the machine to the OS - unless there is something up with the HD the OS is on...

HTH

Dave

yes Dave, that is what they have been telling me...you are right on! here's what has been happening...

ok, i have an Inspirion 530...tag # 7W55YG1

i turned on the computer this morning, it was working just fine last night, and the Dell screen came on, then the screen with the "loading" thing that has vertical green bars, i think 4 together, that run horizontally across the rectangular field, and says microsoft underneath it...well, nothing happened, so i turned it off, and then back on, and got the screen that tells me that windows wasnt shut down properly, and to either insert the OS disc and restart, or i have 4 options to try and start the computer from there...either safe mode, one with networking, one with boot from settings in a successful previous boot, and then start as normal...i did the safe mode, hoping to get into the Vista, then do a restore back a week...well, i didnt even get into Vista, so now, we have the message in the top left corner saying "no boot device available" or something to that effect, and then the SATA 1, SATA 2, which says installed, then SATA 4 and SATA 5 have done nothing...or no option, i am not sure exactly what 4 and 5 say...

hope all that makes sense...
 
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