My computer keeps freezing after I installed new bios

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JohnRevka

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For nearly a week my laptop has been freezing randomly. When it freezes all I can do is move the mouse or shut down the laptop by holding the power button. I cannot even open windows task manager. Sometimes while the computer is freezing, it will make a beeping sound. It can freeze at any time, I don't even have to be running a program; I could even be away from the computer and it could freeze.

I tried running windows diagnostics, running a virus scan, literally cleaning the fan, monitoring the temperature, deleting a bunch of programs I don't need, maintenance like defragmenting, updating all my drivers, reformatting the hard drive but all of these things didn't work.

This freezing has been going for weeks. On the day my laptop started freezing I remember installing a new bios after downloading it on dell at this link:
http://support.dell.com/support/dow...mID=INS_PNT_E1405&os=WW1&osl=en&catid=&impid=
My OS is windows XP.

I also remember downloading and installing a lot of other drivers on that site, could it be because I installed them in the wrong order? Here is some information about that on dell:
http://support.dell.com/support/top...river_install_order?c=us&l=en&s=gen&~lt=print

Or could it be because the WAN miniport IPX (#2) is not working?

What can I do to stop the freezing?
 
Reformatting the hard drive while you are running windows on it is not possible.

Try opening task manager, select the "processes" tab , resize height of the task manager so that you can see all the entries and move it one side of your desktop, then select "Always on top" from the options menu.

work normally and when it next freezes observe the items under "CPU" column and note the name of any processes that are at 100% or verry high. also note any items under "mem usage" that have high memory usage (like 100,000k) or more then get back to us.
 
To reformat the hard drive while you have windows enter the OS disc and reinstall from boot process. From msconfig set it up so that your computer runs the cd drive and then proceed to reinstall.

I have tried monitoring the programs, in fact this was one of the first things I did. When the computer crashes, most of the programs use a normal amount of memory. But maybe this is because task manager freezes and does not update while the crashing occurs.
 
Ok i understand, (thought you tried to format while you were using windows and not the XP Disc).

This sounds like a hard drive or memory problem. does the hard drive click a lot?

Try this HDD Scan: http://hddguru.com/download/software/HDDScan/HDDScan_v31.zip.
If the SMART Info is availabe check for any failed attributes.

Was going to suggest that you reflasshed your Bios to previous version but noticed that dell only has the latest one on their site.
If you are going to try a Clean install you should Delete the Partition and recreate it then format it before reinstalling.
 
I did the scan, the following had warning signs

194 HDA Temperature 119 119 46 C 000

196 Reallocation Event Count 100 100 00000000-000F 000
 
Computer crashed soon after I posted the last reply.

I did another scan after the computer restarted and now only this is accompanied with a warning sign

196 Reallocation Event Count 100 100 00000000-000F 000


HDA temperature is no longer accompanied by a warning sign also it has changed from
194 HDA Temperature 119 119 46 C 000
to
194 HDA Temperature 122 122 45 C 000

Could it be a temperature issue?
 
Ran another test

Computer crashed again

196 Reallocation Event Count 100 100 00000000-000F 000

194 HDA Temperature 119 119 46 C 000

196 Reallocation Event Count 100 100 00000000-000F 000

I think the test identifies a warning if temp above 45 C, so don't think it is a temperature issue. But I agree, it might be a hard drive issue. When the computer crashes, I sometimes hear a clicking sound.
 
Did you run the verify and read scan top right?

select "Map" in the lower view to see scan results, the Legend is on the right.

This is a better tool: http://www.hdtune.com/download.html
you get a 15 day trial on full version but the free version should show you all you need to know.

Some Laptop Hdd do click a little and is normal, but it is a sign of damage when its excessive.
I suspect that you need a new Hard drive but try the "Error scan" using the tool i just recommended and see if any bad blocks flagged, If so then i can safely say that you need a new hard drive.
 
Oh yeah something I should note is that ever since the computer started crashing, the audio has deteriorated drastically. During the first few days of crashing, when I boot the computer the windows welcome sound is crackled. Now the audio doesn't even work, even though device manager says the driver is working fine. Could I have an audio issue?

I also downloaded and installed windows xp service pack 3 a few days ago because I thought it would alleviate the crashing, however, after installing sp3, the freezing occurs more frequently (approx every 10-15 min). But for some reason I cannot uninstall sp3, it says the files could not be found.
 
The failure of you audio and the beeping sound you mentioned, indicates you have hardware problems.

Download this Bootable Disc:http://soft-best.net/software/utilities_tools/97-utility-cd-8cm-1920-bootable-iso.html


Read the "Utility CD.pdf" file in the "Manuals" directory on the disk before you use the disc.

When you Boot from the disc, Select the "Main Dos Menu" then " 3" (Testing and system information) on the menu and then "PC-Check"

Then run the Eurosoft Hardware tests, this will test everything. (Run the "Non Distructive tests")
 
I will run the test as soon as I get my laptop back. I asked my friend, who is knowledgeable about computers, to take a look. I will probably get it back in a few days.
 
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