New Dell PC is locking up ??

[ellisz]

Hi all,

I purchased a Refurb'd Dell Inspirion 580. Deal was pretty good and I thought it was better than anything I could build. It is an Win7, I5, 6gb of ram, separate video card and a 1tb HD. I got it on Friday and added some software ... DVDfab, Filezilla, skype, Firefox 4.0, Epson print drivers and playon. I transferred some .doc and .xls files also. After trying to convert some video, I noticed the system freeze. Lights/fans were on, DVD would open but the screen/mouse etc. was froze. Had to re-boot to bring it back. It started doing it more frequently and I even got a BSOD. Some of the errors pointed to a registry issue so I just reloaded the OS with the disk Dell provides. Thought that would be easy enough. Reloaded everything minus some bloat that Dell must not put on the disk - Mcfee AV, etc and left off Firefox.

It is still hanging! Thought it could be a CPU temp issue but after loading Core Temp, each core was in the mid 20's C. I am dreading calling them but am PO'd that a PC I just bought to avoid some headache is causing some headache.

Anyone have any ideas?

 

[mfenn]

Anything can be DOA, but at least by going prebuilt you only have one number to call. You can try running Memtest and the HDD manufacturer's diagnostic utilities. Also, most Dell systems have a diagnostic suite that can be accessed by pressing a certain key while the system is booting (F2 maybe?).

 

[ellisz]

Any chance a program could be doing it? I removed Playon and it has not locked up but this machine was supposed to run playon and some IP cam capture software. I guess I just worry they will blame something else. My Acer Athlon X2 running vista did it just fine so I figured I would be set with this machine. Never had much experience with warranties.

Thanks

**Nevermind** Locked up again while playing a movie on netflix. Looks like I get to make a phone call tomorrow.

 

[ellisz]

Well, I pulled the Ram sticks out last night and re-seated them and the PC has not locked up since. I have been pushing it with streaming and such and seems to not have any more problems anymore.

Wish I would have tried that first ...

 

[mfenn]

Well, I pulled the Ram sticks out last night and re-seated them and the PC has not locked up since. I have been pushing it with streaming and such and seems to not have any more problems anymore.

Wish I would have tried that first ...

Good idea! It's very possible that they could have become dislodged in shipping. I'm going to add that to my standard "prebuilt machine acting strange" questionnaire.