Packard Bell laptop

[Hodsocks]

Not sure if this is the correct forum but is as good as any.
I have a Packard Bell Easynote H5315 laptop that constantly freezes, I have yet to get it to boot into windows after I reloaded the software. I may freeze any where, it has even frozen in the bios. I did manage to check the memory once and it seemed to be OK. I assume it is not a hard drive problem because it will often freeze before accessing the drive. Which makes me wonder if its the processor or motherboard.
Once it is on and freezes, everytime I reboot it it seems to stop at a earlier point in the bootup. This made me think it may be heat related, but I removed the botom panel off the laptop to allow plenty of air around the memory, graphics and processor but it made no difference.
Have any of you guys any suggestions as to where to go next?

 

[vegasgmc]

It sounds like a bad hard drive. The drive manufacturer may have a diagnostic utility.

 

[Hodsocks]

I would love to check out the hard drive but it won't stay on for long enough. It has also taken to not turning off also.

 

[Hodsocks]

I finally managed to get it to stay on long enough for me to check out the hard drive and it seems to be OK, I also removed the drive and reseated it incase it may be a poor connection, still no improvement though.

 

[Hodsocks]

As a further update, my brother recently bought an identical laptop to this and I have borrowed it to check out some things. I swapped the hard drive and his made no difference to the one I am working on and the suspect one works fine in his machine.
I also swapped over the memory but had the same result as above ie made no difference.
This makes me think it may be processor or motherboard, in which case its gonna be expensive to fix.

 

[TylerBello]

Try going into the bios with no hard drive.


You only need a motherboard,processor,and ram to access the bios.

If it still freezes,than you know it is either the processor or motherboard.(Ram wouldnt cause something like that.)

See if you can get a friend to loan you a processor (of the same socket of course) or find one laying around the house (as I do). If it still happens when you try the new processor...than you have eliminated all cuases except for the motherboard...its the culprit.

 

[timchay]

HI Tim Here

it Sound like it is the Chip

if it was your RAM it may keep restareding it slef but that is not the case :knock:

 

[Hodsocks]

Having checked out the forums on the Packard Bell website it appears that there are all too many other people having exactly the same problem as we are, figures as high as 50% failure rate have been quoted for this particular laptop.
Unfortunately noone has said exactly what the cause of the problem was.

 

[Phantasm66]

That's a shame. Its a complete sham when the consumer is sold kit that does not work well. It goes on a lot.

I would certainly contact the manufacturer and ask if this is a reported issue, if as many people as you are having this problem. That's the best thing I can tell you. You are right, its probably the CPU or the motherboard, and if so then yes it is going to be hard to fix.

 

[tartanchick]

My friend has recently purchased the same laptop. turns out it's a BIOS bug. Only happens when you have the power lead plugged in! I'm searching for a bios update. if you find one can you let me know on cheryl_wallace@Hotmail.com. cheers

 

[Hodsocks]

I thought the same for a while but this particular machine exhibited the symptoms whether powered by mains or battery, to be fair it was worse when mains powered.

 

[steviemnm]

fixed

hi i had exact same prob its the motherboard had to send it back to PB to have motherboard replaced.

 

[RipVanWinkle]

Is it under warranty? Like everybody else said, report that pronto. They may do a recall if enough people complain

 

[toffeapple]

i was able to diagnose your problem just by using the words "packard bell"