Dell Inspiron - BSOD Issue

[Tomza]

Hi all,
My new (3 months old) Dell Inspiron laptop is having a pretty bad time. Until Sunday, I'd never had any problems with it, not one crash, freeze, not one thing. Now, everytime I start it up, give it 2-3 minutes, and it will BSOD with a stop 0x00000050 error.

I hadn't installed any new drivers, software or hardware on the Saturday, so am unsure as to the cause of the error. I can't run any checks, as the computer will BSOD, and cannot restore the computer, as again the computer will BSOD, even in safe mode.

I've backed up all my documents to CD's, but am reluctant to re-install Windows.

Here are the mini-dump files. Hoping someone can interpret them and help me out!

Any help would be fantastic!

Thanks, Tom.

 

[Tmagic650]

All 18 minidumps are the same:
PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA
Ntfs.sys
Could be a memory or hard drive problem. The laptop should ave some recovery or hard drive/ memory checks built-in

 

[Tomza]

Hi, thanks for the reply.

Are you suggesting the problem is hardware based rather than software based?

I will try and run some checks on it later today, although every time I try and run a recovery in safe mode, it BSOD's.

Many thanks.

 

[Tmagic650]

"Are you suggesting the problem is hardware based rather than software based?"

Yes, NTFS.sys can point to a hard drive issue. The is a hardware fault. It is either corrupt or going bad. You can check it by going to Computer, and right-click on the C drive. Select properties, tools, and check disk now. Put a check mark in each box to set a disk check on next startup

 

[Tomza]

Hi,

I have just run chkdsk, but to no avail.

After running I booted it up, and yet again, 2 or 3 minutes after startup, I get another BSOD.

 

[Tmagic650]

Any new minidumps to post? Did Chkdsk show that it fixed anything?

 

[Tomza]

The CHKDSK didn't seem to return any problems, or fix anything at all.

The errors are the same as they were before, so I imagine the mini dump files will be the same again

I'm getting close to reinstalling windows, hoping the computer isn't 'dead' as such.

This is strange as the computer is fairly new, has no history of problems and there is seemingly no cause of the problems.

Thanks again.

 

[Tomza]

*close to the point of reinstalling windows.

 

[mike1959]

Hi, If it was mine I would make the DVD drive as #1 boot device, put in a Linux live distro disc and see if it runs.
If all is ok, and stable, then it points to hard drive problem, if it still crashes then could be a RAM fault.
If it crashes after the same amount of time, each time, could be overheating.

 

[Tomza]

I think it's fairly safe to rule out an overheating issue. When running in safe mode, the computer doesn't BSOD until it is asked to do something major (e.g launch recovery).

I'm starting to think this could be a RAM fault.

 

[mike1959]

Hi, Yes could be RAM, but of course your pc is still under warranty so you can't really start pulling RAM out!
I had to look at a Sony Vaio for a friend, the fault was, boot pc, then message read 'no O/S found'.
So to me that meant a hard drive failure, but to test it and give them an answer, I ran Linux from the DVD drive, and all was fine apart from no C drive to be found by Linux. In fact it was the 2nd replacement hard drive in that laptop from new.
I mentioned the overheating just in case the fan had stopped, but 2 minutes is a bit soon for that.
The point of using the Linux O/S from an optical drive is that it wouldn't use the hard drive, isolating the fault.

 

[Tomza]

For those interested, the computer is now 'dead'.

I tried a part recovery, and still suffered from the same BSoD errors.

Just now I tried a factory reset, only for it to crash halfway through wiping the hard drive, killing the computer.

It is almost certainly a hard drive failure.

Tomorrow I'll phone up Dell, because it's less than a year old, they'll take it and 'fix' (replace the hard drive) it for free.

So frustrated, a broken new computer with seemingly no cause.

Tom.

 

[Tmagic650]

Okay Tom, don't be too frustrated, this happens all too often

 

[mike1959]

Hi Tomza, Yes do return it, these pc's all cost a great deal of our money and we should expect years of use, hope you get a reliable pc back from them soon.