Laptop is acting real strange

[tad_92]

Alright to break it down my laptop has been acting up big time the past few days;
my buddy downloaded "google chrome" while I was sleeping, (and there is a good chance he is telling the truth) and I woke up to him telling me that he had been watching Superbad on my laptop when it started to crash, freeze up and whatnot. There was no read on my screen, it was just blank, yet the power was on and the touch pad media controller to the top right of my keyboard was lighting up when I touched it. (I own a Dell Inspiron 1525 (I know ><, it was a gift))
http://www.pclaunches.com/entry_images/1207/28/dell_inspiron-1525.jpg
- #5 is the media touchpad, and visuals always help me

well anyways, I hard shut down, rebooted, same thing,
tried one more time, turned on, whew, everything looked fine

just kidding, here's a blue screen (computer shut down to protect itself yada yada)

this process repeated randomly and sometimes I would get the blue screen almost immediately, sometimes it would take even up to past the desktop load, but anyways, random, and in between there were a lot of times where I wouldn't get a read on the screen again.

now it's at the point to where I never get a read on the screen,
I tried hooking up a different monitor to the laptop, it responded the same way so thankfully I don't think my screen has any hardware problems.

before it started bluescreening though I had managed to run a system restore that appeared successful, but didn't fix my problem. afterwards I tried diagnostics and on the third test down after 2 passes (sorry, I didn't record the whole readout) I got a fail that read this:
"WCMch Test.
Testing 00_00400000h - 00_BF66CFFFh
Fatal interrupt. Interrupted code executing in d3000000 segment!"
tried googling that, didn't get anything.
also, not sure how relevant, but within the last couple weeks I had trouble with my laptop charger (the default for this model), it wouldn't charge sometimes (yet would sustain power) and would mention something about it possibly being unrecognizable or incompatible.

I really don't know what to do, I don't have the vista disc to run a boot repair, the screen gives me nothing to work with, this is really a last resort. Any help would be tremendously appreciated


EDIT: actually, I found the OS disc and the drivers disc that dell sent to me, I insert them yet nothing is happening STILL

 

[Guest]

When it gets this bad I would reinstall Windows. But I do have the luxury of several (old and battered) desktop computers and spare hard drives so I don't really lose any data.

Laptop, slightly different maybe. If you want to risk it, set the CD/DVD drive as the boot drive (access BIOS setup screen -- go to Dell's site for help on your machine if that means nothing) and boot from the OS disc.

First run the repair option and if that doesn't work, reinstall.

 

[tad_92]

When it gets this bad I would reinstall Windows. But I do have the luxury of several (old and battered) desktop computers and spare hard drives so I don't really lose any data.

Laptop, slightly different maybe. If you want to risk it, set the CD/DVD drive as the boot drive (access BIOS setup screen -- go to Dell's site for help on your machine if that means nothing) and boot from the OS disc.

First run the repair option and if that doesn't work, reinstall.

I can't even get a read on the screen, as in I turn it on and nothing happens there. yet it's NOT the screen because I have tried hooking up an outside monitor that I know does work.

I have put the OS disc in and started the computer up, nothing changes, I mean it reads the disc and whatnot, I can hear it running, but still the same problem

 

[Guest]

Sounds more like a hardware problem. If the computer is under warranty you know what to do. If out of warranty you still have rights.

 

[tad_92]

yeah, warranty expired a couple months ago, thing is, had a problem with the hinges in the past and the guy that repaired did a half ass job with like blank screw sockets and whatnot and it broke again.

 

[Guest]

Well the bodged repair may be related to the issue you're having (or it may not) but it puts you in a weaker position as far as the original retailer is concerned.

In most jurisdictions you are entitled to expect reasonable use out of a consumer durable and that reasonable use far exceeds the length of any warranty the manufacturer may have offered to cover the retailer's responsibility. But the bodged third party repair offers an escape for the retailer, I suspect.

In your situation I would return to the guy who did the bad repair and see if he can offer any thoughts on the problems you are now having.

 

[tad_92]

haha no the guy who was doing the repair was a worker FROM dell.
puts them in an even weaker position, he even had to come back once because he didn't do it right the first time!

 

[Guest]

That's certainly true if you bought direct from Dell. Give them a call and mention that you appreciate that their warranty terms include the phrase "this does not affect your statutory rights".

 

[tad_92]

I certainly appreciate the help fihart, I'll send them an e-mail through customer support, but I would also like to hear any other suggestions for self servicing this one if anybody has them. that would be ideal, not having to wait a couple weeks for dell