DELL Inspiron 5100 Problems

[rdines]

Hi

I have been experiencing problems with my DELL Inspiron 5100 that have
left me infuriated with the laptop. I am going to list the problems
below and would appreciate any help or suggestions in fixing the
following:

1.Laptop often fails to start up. I press the power button, the laptop
turns on, fan kicks in at full speed (sounds like a jumbo on takeoff)
the monitor then seems to fail to start so the laptop just shuts down

2. Now and again the laptop screen will freeze and the only way to
resolve it is to restart the system manually as Ctrl-Alt-Del will not
work

3. I have installed two banks of 512MB memory but it only ever
recognizes one bank of 512MB RAM. I have even switched them around but
it still only ever recognizes one bank, why?

4. If I am lucky enough to have the laptop on for any period, it must
be on a tabletop because if I have it on my lap it literally burns my
legs. This is related to the fan being at full speed for most of the
time.

5. If using the laptop I have to put the laptop on the edge of a table
or place it on an improvised stand to give the fan a reasonable air
stream. If the laptop is sat directly on the tabletop it overheats in
minutes and turns itself off automatically

6. The laptop often fails to start, as mentioned in problem 1, but
sometimes it beeps 3 times, pauses, then beeps again. I have read
elsewhere this may be the beep pattern for a failing memory module, is
that correct. If not, can anyone tell me what it does mean and NO I do
not want to talk to DELL support. If their service is anything like
the laptop...

I have looked into updating the BIOS as this may solve some of the
problems but even the BIOS update software says the laptop is
incompatible. The BIOS version I have is A0.

Any help with fixing any of the above issues will be greatly
appreciated.

 

[Jim Macklin]

Dell service department, 1-800-624-9896





| Hi
|
| I have been experiencing problems with my DELL Inspiron
5100 that have
| left me infuriated with the laptop. I am going to list
the problems
| below and would appreciate any help or suggestions in
fixing the
| following:
|
| 1.Laptop often fails to start up. I press the power
button, the laptop
| turns on, fan kicks in at full speed (sounds like a jumbo
on takeoff)
| the monitor then seems to fail to start so the laptop just
shuts down
|
| 2. Now and again the laptop screen will freeze and the
only way to
| resolve it is to restart the system manually as
Ctrl-Alt-Del will not
| work
|
| 3. I have installed two banks of 512MB memory but it only
ever
| recognizes one bank of 512MB RAM. I have even switched
them around but
| it still only ever recognizes one bank, why?
|
| 4. If I am lucky enough to have the laptop on for any
period, it must
| be on a tabletop because if I have it on my lap it
literally burns my
| legs. This is related to the fan being at full speed for
most of the
| time.
|
| 5. If using the laptop I have to put the laptop on the
edge of a table
| or place it on an improvised stand to give the fan a
reasonable air
| stream. If the laptop is sat directly on the tabletop it
overheats in
| minutes and turns itself off automatically
|
| 6. The laptop often fails to start, as mentioned in
problem 1, but
| sometimes it beeps 3 times, pauses, then beeps again. I
have read
| elsewhere this may be the beep pattern for a failing
memory module, is
| that correct. If not, can anyone tell me what it does
mean and NO I do
| not want to talk to DELL support. If their service is
anything like
| the laptop...
|
| I have looked into updating the BIOS as this may solve
some of the
| problems but even the BIOS update software says the laptop
is
| incompatible. The BIOS version I have is A0.
|
| Any help with fixing any of the above issues will be
greatly
| appreciated.
|

 

[rdines]

Thanks Jim but and I quote:

"...NO I do not want to talk to DELL support. If their service is
anything like the laptop."

I know you mean well but this laptop has been nothing but problems
since i have had it and DELL have not been able to help. I ended up
replacing the DVD/CDRW by buying a unit off eBay due to the fact DELL
would/could not help.

Thanks

 

[Trevor Hirst]

Other than the overheating issue, all the other problems scream bad RAM. Or
(even worse) a bad DIMM slot. I would try testing the RAM by DL'ing memtest
and burning it to cd, then boot to that cd and run memtest. Let us know the
results

 

[rdines]

Can you tell me how I would go about performing a test of the RAM. I
also think a bad DIMM slot is the most likely cause of all the
problems.

Thanks

 

[rdines]

In addition to the above problems I am now frequently getting the
dreaded blue screen of death.

 

[Bob I]

www.memtest86.com

Can you tell me how I would go about performing a test of the RAM. I
also think a bad DIMM slot is the most likely cause of all the
problems.

Thanks