I have an Inspiron 3800 that I recently installed WindowsXP on. The computer boots fine and works normally, except when i'm not doing anything on it. It will either completely lock up with the display still on or it will flash a blue screen for 2 seconds and reboot. It does this only when I am not running any programs or when i am using a web browser. When there is a program running that uses a lot of the processor or accesses the hard drive often there isnt a problem. For instance, when i turn on iTunes or any game this does not happen. Any ideas? I already updated my drivers and BIOS.

Recommended Answers

All 3 Replies

I have an Inspiron 3800 that I recently installed WindowsXP on. The computer boots fine and works normally, except when i'm not doing anything on it. It will either completely lock up with the display still on or it will flash a blue screen for 2 seconds and reboot. It does this only when I am not running any programs or when i am using a web browser. When there is a program running that uses a lot of the processor or accesses the hard drive often there isnt a problem. For instance, when i turn on iTunes or any game this does not happen. Any ideas? I already updated my drivers and BIOS.

This is kind of a shot in the dark, but it sounds like some kind of problem with a screen saver. If you have a screen saver, disable it and see if it still happens.

Right-click on the desktop, go to Properties, click on the Screensaver tab, under Screensaver click on the drop-down arrow and select None, and then click OK.

Thanks i'll try that and see how it works.

If that doesn't work, I had another idea. Also from the Screensaver tab, go to the Power button, and under Power schemes use the drop-down arrow, then select Always on. Then go down to the Settings for Always On power scheme and set all the options to Never.

Try these one at a time so we can, hopefully, determine where the problem lies.

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.