Laptops Laptop conking off - Inspiron 640M

[zanyzaphod]

Hi,

Bought a 640M two years back and its causing problems since a month or so

A) Hangs frequently, esp when opening more than 1 app. Cant fix it unless I manually shut down.
B) The portion next to the keyboard becomes hot really fast(dunno if this is causing anything)
C) Battery life has gone down to 40 min from 2.5 hours

Have run the Dell mem/fan diagnostics which indicate that there is no heating problem. Also reinstalled Windows XP, but that didnt solve anything

The Dell chaps cant figure it out and want me to take a warranty worth 10K and visits are in themselves 2kish coz my warranty expired an year back.

If this is just a battery issue, have no interest in taking it, as that isnt covered in the first place. Any suggestions? Really hoping someone here can help out

 

[idea]

It is Difficult to guess problem in first go. However you can use trail and error method.

Possibility of batter issue is almost null as you can check it by keeping your laptop on non batter mode/power.

Now two possibilities are Software , Hardware or both.

Target software first as it is easy to go ahead.

Like any new software installed, aging of your operating system etc.

Try flushing operating system (May me other than your existing one -- XP to 98, 98 to Vista etc...) and check out.

However heading of front of keyboard is a concern to be address. It might be dead or slow fan or even accumulated dust.

 

[gforce]

Hi,

Bought a 640M two years back and its causing problems since a month or so

A) Hangs frequently, esp when opening more than 1 app. Cant fix it unless I manually shut down.
B) The portion next to the keyboard becomes hot really fast(dunno if this is causing anything)
C) Battery life has gone down to 40 min from 2.5 hours

Have run the Dell mem/fan diagnostics which indicate that there is no heating problem. Also reinstalled Windows XP, but that didnt solve anything

The Dell chaps cant figure it out and want me to take a warranty worth 10K and visits are in themselves 2kish coz my warranty expired an year back.

If this is just a battery issue, have no interest in taking it, as that isnt covered in the first place. Any suggestions? Really hoping someone here can help out

b. It's possible that dust has accumulated in that region and blocking the path of heatflow. You'll have to open it up and use an airblower to blast all that junk off.
c. Recondition the battery.

 

[superczar]

A) Hangs frequently, esp when opening more than 1 app. Cant fix it unless I manually shut down.

B) The portion next to the keyboard becomes hot really fast(dunno if this is causing anything)

Seems like a heatflow issue, should be DIY fixable

C) Battery life has gone down to 40 min from 2.5 hours

Battery is EOL, not much you can do other than getting a new battery

 

[zanyzaphod]

Opened it up (a million screws!) and blew away the dust..Working smoothly now..Thanks, guys!

Battery backup still at a measly 40 min.. A new battery costs 3-4k, right? Best place to buy in Bangalore?

 

[gforce]

^^ Did you try reconditioning it? I'm not too sure if Dell offers a battery reconditioner program like Lenovo and Samsung but it's worth a try. What it does is get your battery down to the absolute zero and then charge it back up to the limit. This apparently frees up some lost battery space.