Several weeks ago the power cable for my year-old Dell Studio frayed. Because it
still seemed to charge the battery and power the laptop, I was lazy about replacing
it. (Now I'm aware there is a data cable in Dell power adapters--won't make that
mistake again...)
2 weeks ago the power cord no longer charged the battery (but still powered the laptop
when it was plugged in). Later the same day, however, bigger problems emerged:
At this point I am copying another post on a slightly different problem, because
the symptoms are nearly identical.
Symptoms: Windows seems to start up with no problems. However, regardless of
users actions; (1) opening or using an application or (2) if the system sits idle,
after approximately 1 to 4 minutes the system will become Unresponsive and any
windows that were currently opened will have “Not Responding” across the menu bar.
The mouse pointer icon will get the whirling load icon, although the mouse
continues to move, any attempt to open Task Manager to shutdown processes
or log off end in failure due to non-responsiveness.
From this point, one of two things may happen:
(1) The machine will freeze and "white out" in its current state or
(2) The screen will go black except for a white cursor, which can still be
moved. There is no error message.
Any normal standard attempt to shut down the machine gracefully is not possible
and a hard shut down is required to get the machine to respond to user input.
Due to the non-graceful shut down, check disk will usually run(although not all
the time) and repair or fix any issues caused by the shut down.
At this point, attempting to logon again only repeats the above scenario above
100% of the time.
Because of the short amount of time that the system is accessible for user input,
attempts to diagnose the problem using the windows vista tools have met with no
results.
Occasionally instead of a system check, I am given the option to start in Safe Mode.
However, if I choose this option, several .sys programs are loaded, but then this
process freezes for several minutes, at which point Windows starts again, but in
NORMAL mode, and 3-5 minutes later the whole dance starts again.
My warranty expired while I wasn't looking (naturally) and while I have no knowledge
of computers, I have a friend who is attempting to help me figure out what's going
on, but has never seen anything like this. His immediate diagnosis was "fried
motherboard," but after seeing the problem in action, he is now baffled.
Any help greatly appreciated. I'd like to know whether this is fixable for a reasonable
cost, or if I should be saving for a new laptop.
Stacey in Chicago