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Still under warranty, yes. That much is a relief. Looking more and more like a memory problem...possibly a heat related flaw which would make sense. The machine comes up for about ten minutes then get's "funky". That's probably enough time for the SODIMM sticks to get hot enough to malfunction.

 

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Here's the latest:

Removed one SODIMM stick. System still acting hinky. The icons are still quite large compared to the original configuration. When I tried to get to the device manager by right clicking my computer then selecting properties, Nothing happened. I went into the control panel and clicked on System. It refused to open. Control Panel then became a big white screen with no icons. I managed to get task manager open and there were two instances, both "not responding". I killed them both. Then, as I was typing this, the my computer properties box suddenly appeared...minutes after I tried to open it. Both the display and Lan NIc have yellow exclamation points by them. I right clicked to get display properties and got the message that this device cannot start (code 10). On a whim, I'm trying to update the drivers with a driver disk that came with the laptop. So farI haven't heard a fan come on. Hope that isn't a bad sign.

I put the disk in, it spun up then down. The Hardwar update wizard is still searching with a magnifying glass...seemingly endlessly. The wizard couldn't find the driver and gave up.

At least ist's correctly registering that is now only has 128 MB of RAM on board. So far it's been up for 10 or 15 minutes and hasn't locked up. I think I'll just keep it up as long as she'll go. If it stays up, at least it support that idea that this is a memory problem.

Dell's new OS reinstall disk arrived today. Too tired to deal with them right now. Want to run my memory tests tonight anyway. I'm hoping to get off work a little early tomorrow so I'll have time to deal with this. I know I'll have to go around and around with the OS disk and Dell before I can convince them it isn't an OS problem (I hope). Still reporting in.

A little later:

Well, she froze up around 15 minutes or so into operation. I restarted it, it booted into the OS but froze before the desktop came up. I restarted it, loaded the OS then froze. Then it went to a blank screen. I shut down. Switched sticks of SODIMM and booted. Got a black screen with a message saying that Windows is having problem and was shut down to protect my files and some such. Offered me a variety of boot options. I chose "Last Known Good" for the heck of it.

OS loaded and I got a message that the settings on my symantic programs have changed and it said it would change back to the original settings. Screen resolution is still lousy indicating the drivers are shot. At least this time my wireless nic detected my home network. She's running pretty slow but it's on half the RAM it's used to. Got into device manager and the same two devices are having the same problems. Uh oh. It's locked up again. I don't think I got 10 minutes out of it that time. This is the wierdest thing. I seems like changing out memory sticks makes a difference, but if just one stick was bad, I'd expect it to work on the other. I'm using each stick in DIMM Slot A since that's were it will look for the first stick. Restarting the system. I presses the button to power it on...a few indicator lights blinked then everything stopped. The screen's still blank and nothing's powering up. Pressed the button again, OS is loading this time. Froze solid on the Windows XP splash screen. Still no fan activity. Could the system be overheating, causing the memory to fail as it get's warmer? How do I check the fans (on a desktop, I wouldn't even have to ask...sorry)?

Funny...absolutely none of the previous messages about a corrupt or missing driver or any memory error messages. The mystery deepens.

 

Oh yeah, that's right. I keep forgetting everyone over there is asleep right now. Anyway, I looked up the owner's manual on the Dell Inspiron 8200 and how to get to the fan assembly. Geez! You have to disassemble the whole system board! Nothing I'm going to tackle tonight. I'm gonna need a big space and to be undisturbed if I have to take this baby completely apart just to check and see if the fan cables are loose. I wish I could convince Dell just to send a tech out here under my warranty and let them tackle this mess. Sure, I'll learn more doing it myself, but I'd also save myself the aggrevation.

 

Trip, as long as you're still in warranty, it's Dell's prob - not yours. I wouldn't spend a minute longer on the machine - have it replaced.

You have to bite the bullet some point, I'd say. (IMHO)

 

Yup, you risk Dell turing round and saying you invalidated your warranty if you pull it apart too much. As Gav says, get them to replace it.

 

Here's the update. I finally made the call to Dell. I've been dreading this all day. Anyway, I tell the tech on the other end what I think it is. He has me put the drivers and utilities disk in the CD drive and boot from the CD. I get to "tap, tap tap" the F12 key.

I finally found that Dell Diagnostic Utility and we test both the CPU and Motherboard fan. Sadly, they both test fine.

The tech has be get online with the laptop and go to the downloads section. I never find out why because the laptop suddenly goes wacko (it's been the usual 10 to 15 minutes) and I get all kinds of memory errors. I shut the thing down and he has me wait five minutes or so for it to cool down (he probably goes outside to smoke a cigarette at this point).

He has me power up the machine again and wants to get back to the diagnostic menu. We never get that far. Get the usual two beeps and all kinds of memory errors including a decreasing amount of memory. He has me take out the hard drive, the CD drive, and the battery then try to boot (good thing I'm not one of those customers who's scared to death to touch my computer with a screwdriver). Still a slew of memory errors. Then, I put the drives and battery back and try switching memory sticks around. As near as he can figure, the motherboard is bad and needs to be replaced. They're going to send me a box so I can send them the laptop. They'll replace the motherboard and double check the memory. I can send it in without the hard drive and battery.

Not once did this tech suspect an operating system problem. Boy, it feels good to finally get somewhere...even if it means having to send my laptop away for who knows how long...that's right, I forgot to ask how I'll know when I'll get it back.

Just thought you all would like to know how this thing is going. I hope someday to be able to report that it has returned to full and vital health and is working like a champ. We'll see.

 

At least you've got them to do something about it Trip, which is good news. Thanks for the update, hopefully it won't be too long before they return it.