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Miscellaneous laptop discussions : Dell 8600 randomly freezes, goes fuzzy, then black
Inspiron 8600 Freezes are a known problem with the model
by partytildawn - 2/3/07 1:04 AM In reply to: Dell 8600 randomly freezes, goes fuzzy, then black by bmogie3Actually, this is a known problem with the Dell Inspiron 8600. I own one also. Since it was released, it has had problems with random freezing multiple times per day. Dell has refused since the day it was released to recall the 8600 or offer assistance to uses who own the model. Do a Google search for Inspiron 8600 freeze on the web and newsgroups, and you will find hundreds of people who have had the same problem. It is probably the most unreliable piece of computer equipment that I have ever owned due to this freezing problem, and Dell will not help you with the problem.
doesn't seem to be heat
by bmogie3 - 2/5/07 10:21 PM In reply to: Dell 8600 randomly freezes, goes fuzzy, then black by bmogie3Here's what I've found: I cleaned a bunch of dust off the heatsink, let the computer get cold, then turned it on and immediatly did what always triggers the problem, and it froze up. Didn't have a chance to heat up. So that rules out overheating right?
So here's the consistant trigger: I've downloaded video files off of my camera into one folder on my external hard drive. When I access that folder and try to view the thumbnails, it freezes every time. -Screen goes fuzzy, then black. Other folders on the external h.d. don't have issues. BUT, at other random times, even when the h.d. isn't attached, it will do the same thing. Even if I just turned the computer on. And it happened before I bought the external h.d. Happens whether it's a big program or not. Video files sometimes, other times not. Sometimes with certain programs, other times not.
Asside from the thumbnails on the h.d. I see no consistant pattern. What in the WORLD?!! Please help me!
That's a great clue and a known problem.
by R. Proffitt
- 2/6/07 6:30 AM
In reply to: doesn't seem to be heat by bmogie3
Let's unregister the DLL that creates the thumbnails.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=unregister+shimgvw&btnG=Search
Pick the article you like and note we can undo this later. If that works then we've nailed it's a software issue.
Bob
here's what happened -
by bmogie3 - 2/7/07 12:03 AM In reply to: That's a great clue and a known problem. by R. Proffitt
I succesfully unregistered the DLL and tried to view the video thumbnails on my external h.d. - it reacted differently, but still ended up freezing. It normally will go fuzzy & freeze w/in 1-3 seconds. This time it was fine for about 5 seconds, then went fuzzy for a split second and back to normal (~3 sec.), then fuzzy for a split sec. & back to normal (~3 sec.) - did this about 5 times, then went fuzzy & froze for good, then black screen.
Throughout the day the computer did randomly freeze while my wife was using the computer - don't know what she was doing. So it still is having issues even with the DLL unregistered. I'm keeping my hopes up though - gotta be a way to fix this.
It seems that we are looking at a known Windows issue.
by R. Proffitt - 2/7/07 4:13 AM
In reply to: here's what happened - by bmogie3
Windows Explorer has an unresolved bug in that a corrupt picture or video file or "codec" will cause what you are describing. Unregistering that dll usually helps. But in this case not.
Now we get to find which file(s?) is causing Explorer to go belly up. Remember that Microsoft has not issued a fix for this one but tells us not to have such files on our machines.
Here's how I track that file down. Once I know the directory Explorer crashes on I use Gyula's Navigator (see google.com) to put 1/2 the files in another directory. Then I retest with Explorer on one then the other directory. I repeat this till I have narrowed down to the bad (according to Microsoft file.) Depending on if it's an avi or jpeg I then use what tools I have to fix that so Microsoft Explorer no longer crashes on that file.
Bob
same deal with my laptop
by lookitsdavid - 2/18/07 9:28 PM In reply to: Dell 8600 randomly freezes, goes fuzzy, then black by bmogie3Hey there I've been dealing with the same issues with my laptop Dell Inspiron 8600. Whenever I use a new hardware, sometimes with the thumbnails, and sometimes just randomly it would go fuzzy and then black and freezes. Has anyone figured out what the problem is yet?
Finally found a solution!
by bmogie3 - 4/1/07 3:50 PM In reply to: same deal with my laptop by lookitsdavidAfter almost a year with this problem, I think this thing is finally whipped! Dating back to my original post, I had downloaded the latest video driver from Dell's website. But I just found a newer upgrade and it worked! At least I hope so - the freezing was always random, but there was one consistent trigger - viewing the thumbnails of some video files from my video camera. I just viewed them after the upgrade and for the first time ever, it didn't freeze. What a glorious day!
Here's where I went for the newer video driver: http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=9175
David - hope that helps you and anyone else with this problem.
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