Hi there folks. I had a look around the forums, but couldn't find the answer to this one, so thought I'd put up a message to see if any one's got any bright ideas.

My girlfriend's got an 18-month old Dell Inspiron 1000 with standard specs, though the RAM reported in 'System' is 448MB but I'm guessing that's got something to do with the onboard graphics...?

Anyway, recently she's been having problems with it being unable to complete the Win XP boot as it can't find a config file in the system32 folder. Though if she unplugs it, takes the battery out, puts the battery back in and plugs it back into the mains and then boots, it finds it.

Also, she's been having problems with Open Office randomly quitting on her, without reporting an error, and if she restarts the laptop after this, it reports that the system has recovered from a serious error (in that oh so vague way that XP does).

So, any ideas?

My initial thought (as the laptop did similar nonsense to this before XP was reinstalled after a format) is that maybe the HDD is on the way out. Though others have said that they think the RAM is a problem.

The trouble is, using a RAM checker and leaving it to run overnight produces no errors in the morning, even after a few thousand cycles. Using chkdsk has no errors either. I have yet to physically inspect the HDD, but from what she's told me there's no random clicking noises at start up.

Also, when the laptop is up and running, it is incredibly slow at doing anything. Having WMP10, Open Office Writer and Firefox open at the same time generally reduces everything to a snail's pace. It also did similar tricks under Ubuntu, when that was on the laptop (don't ask).

So, I'm open to all ideas or suggested remedies for the problems.

Thanks,

Tim

The first the would be to replace the CMOS battery. I would also run memtest 86 over night, it will be worth the potential errors that you mentioned just to know for sure.

Try these and let us know what is happening now. It sound like you have at least a couple of problem at the moment. Ya gotta love dell.

Will try replacing the cmos battery when I have a chance to get one.

I ran memtest 86 last time and it reported no errors. So, I don't think it's the RAM, but it does seem like it's connected to it.

I'll try again though, just in case something's happened. Going to make sure all the fans are still moving first.

Thanks,

Tim

Well, things have progressed somewhat. The laptop now refuses to POST.

It starts up, the visible fan (i.e. the one on the underside) whirrs into life, but nothing else happens. No screen life or anything. Prior to this, the laptop did boot a couple of times, but it took multiple attempts to do so.

So, any ideas as to what might be dead? If so, does anyone know where I can get replacements?

Thanks,

Tim

If you can get into the BIOS see if you can find the SMART, and see if it is enabled. If it is and the hdd is bad it should show SMART is bad in the POST.

There is another option using the diagnostic tool provided by the hdd manufacturer, but it involves using a fdd and as I recall that computer doesn't have one.

I have the same problem, but I cant even get to the bios. The psu fan is whirring away happily, but it seems no power is going to anything else, I cant eject the cdrom drive, there is no display and I cant hear any activity from the HD. Does anybody have any ideas?

Many thanks J.

The same thing is happening to me. Did you open it latley? if so, this might be why. WHen i turn it on, the pwr light and hdd light are on, and when i remove the CD drive, even when it is running, the hdd light goes away. What might be wrong? thanks so much,

King John.

Sounds to me like it overheated and the CPU died.

its happend once before, and it worked after that. Idk whats wrong

OK finally fixed it, it is something to do with the power on the motherboard. Mine was nothing to do with over heating as all fans were working correctly. This apparently is a common problem with Dells especially Inspirons, replacing components on a Motherboard is beyond me, so I just swapped out the whole board, its fiddly but take your time and you should be ok. Since I swapped it out I've had no more problems, the board cost me about £80 which is expensive, but it is a hell of a lot cheaper than buying a new one.