[PatBranch]

It's an Inspiron 1150.

The screen saver went on, and I came back an hour later. I couldn't get the screen saver off then realized that it had shutdown. This is the second (it said it overheated) or third time it's happened in the last few days.

The battery was fully charged when it started up, so it's not that the cord fell out with 0% battery. Also, there was nothing in the way of that fan that could cause it to over heat either of the times. Any ideas?

 

[binary visions]

Download a monitoring program like Motherboard Monitor and keep an eye on your temperatures. It could be that the fan isn't working right, or that a heatsink has become separated from the chip. If MBM tells you that your temperatures are getting high, shut it off and get it serviced.

Whatever you do, take it seriously. Don't keep leaving it on except when you're monitoring it for testing purposes. Even though you're frustrated and think it's just a glitch, there's a high probability that it really is overheating and you'll cook it if you let it do that too many times.

 

[PatBranch]

Thanks. I'll download that and see.

 

[PatBranch]

When choosing which motherboard I have, it only has Inspiron 4150 and 5100. What should I do?

 

[binary visions]

I'm not sure how sensitive it is to motherboard settings since you can select the on-board sensors after the fact. Give one of them a shot and see what happens.

After setup, you will need to go into the configuration and go through the different sensors until you find the CPU temperature sensor. In the configuration, just select a sensor, then run a CPU-intensive program of some kind and see if the temperature goes up quickly, then back down when you shut it off.

 

[$tinkle]

starting to understand why all the cheap laptops on bensbargains are inspirons...

 

[binary visions]

starting to understand why all the cheap laptops on bensbargains are inspirons...

Laptop failure rates aren't that disparate. Dell sells a lot of laptops. Thus, there are a lot of failures. There are a lot of failures across the board, though.

 

[$tinkle]

HP's been pwning dell for the last 9 qtrs running.

just sayin'...

disclaimer: might be a little obvious who my employer is

 

[binary visions]

Stock price isn't the final measure of any product, look at the iPod

 

[$tinkle]

and M$...

 

[PatBranch]

After I cilick apply, a window comes up that says "Invalid Floating Point Operation". What does that mean?

 

[PatBranch]

How do I know which sensor is the CPU temperature sensor? It says 32* for the three sensors.

 

[binary visions]

I told you, up above

 

[PatBranch]

Any sensor then? Photoshop was really slowing this down, and they were at 32.

edit: did you notice my aim messages?

 

[PatBranch]

When I turned it on this time, it said "The AC power adapter cannot be determined. This will prevent optimal system performance".

Now, it's just on battery power... Time to call dell. They should just give me a whole new computer for all the problems i've had.

 

[InsideMan]

pour water on it duh. Dont hate on Dells though, last time i checked all computer makers have problems. My inspiron 1705 has been amazing me for the past year now, not a single problem.

 

[$tinkle]

my wife's daily use laptop is a compaq armada m700 (my old work computer).
it's 8 yrs old, same battery, no upgrades (except for OS).

that's my standard.

 

[binary visions]

My daily laptop was a Dell Inspiron 1100, 5 years old, same battery, no upgrades. It still works fine, I just wanted something smaller and lighter.

I have personally seen 3 different old Compaq Armadas with significant hardware problems.

Just sayin'. Good reliability standard, of course, but all brands have failures.

 

[Kornphlake]

My dad had a nissan pickup with over 300k miles that never had any problems except a short in the ground wire from the battery and a banged up fender when someone backed into it in a parking lot. As best as we can remember it still had the original brakes and clutch when he sold it (it was driven mostly on the freeway).

Following some of the logic expressed here Honda and Toyota suck.

 

[PatBranch]

I never said all Dells suck. I know people with Dells that work well. Mine must be a lemon or something though. I've had the motherboard replaced 2 or 3 times now, because the power thing (where the power cord plugs into) has loosened. Keys fall off. My battery doesn't work too well. I've had it charge all night, then have about 10%, 10hrs later. It can sometimes last only 30min. . The previous wireless card was messed up.

 

[binary visions]

You're not being assertive enough. If you really have had your motherboard replaced 2 or 3 times (um, you have to know this, how many times have you really had it replaced? I think I'd remember boxing up my computer and sending it back), your keys fall off, your wireless card was a problem, etc. then you have a lemon.

Call them, explain to them the problems you've been having, and firmly state that you will accept nothing less than a replacement machine. I've helped people buy and set up a lot of Dell laptops and the problems I've seen with them have been chiefly software (i.e. not Dell's fault).