[daathvader]

My friend gave me her laptop to try and work on after she got it back from Dell. They said everything worked fine and magically it started freezing on her and now it wont load past the dell screen for me. I've called them and asked what they can do(pretty much nothing) and all they told me is that its a software problem. When the laptop boots up small vertical lines appear on the screen in black and white. After it loads about 1/4 of the way on the dell screen it freezes. The laptop is an inspiron 1520.

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also, when i try to go to the boot menu or into bios it freezes as well. i cant run any kind of tests on it :-/

[daathvader]

also, when i try to go to the boot menu or into bios it freezes as well. i cant run any kind of tests on it :-/

[daathvader]

trying to bump this back up so i can hopefully get a response

[123Runner]

What was it sent to Dell for?
Did they charge her for it? because if they did they shouldn't have and it should go back to them.

Assuming that it went to tell for the same problem you are experiencing now...It is not software! (at least not yet)

also, when i try to go to the boot menu or into bios it freezes as well.

Software it not in the picture yet. This could be memory, hard drive, or possible main board.

Some tests to run. You will have to download and burn the iso files on another computer.
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Broni's Instructions:


If you have more than one RAM module installed, try starting computer with one RAM stick at a time.

NOTE Keep in mind, the manual check listed above is always superior to the software check, listed below. DO NOT proceed with memtest, if you can go with option A

B. If you have only one RAM stick installed...
...run memtest...

1. Download - Pre-Compiled Bootable ISO (.zip)
2. Unzip downloaded memtest86+-2.11.iso.zip file.
3. Inside, you'll find memtest86+-2.11.iso file.
4. Download, and install ImgBurn: http://www.imgburn.com/
5. Insert blank CD into your CD drive.
6. Open ImgBurn, and click on Write image file to disc
7. Click on Browse for a file... icon:



8. Locate memtest86+-2.11.iso file, and click Open button.
9. Click on ImgBurn green arrow to start burning bootable memtest86 CD:



10. Once the CD is created, boot from it, and memtest will automatically start to run.

The running program will look something like this depending on the size and number of ram modules installed:




It's recommended to run 5-6 passes. Each pass contains very same 8 tests.

This will show the progress of the test. It can take a while. Be patient, or leave it running overnight.



The following image is the test results area:



The most important item here is the “errors” line. If you see ANY errors, even one, most likely, you have bad RAM.
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Run hard drive diagnostics: http://www.tacktech....ay.cfm?ttid=287
Make sure, you select tool, which is appropriate for the brand of your hard drive.
Depending on the program, it'll create bootable floppy, or bootable CD.
If downloaded file is of .iso type, use Burncdcc Link is in my signature below

NOTE...do not put a blank cd in until burncdcc opens the tray for you
1. Start BurnCDCC
2. Browse to the ISO file you want to burn on cd/dvd ....
3. Select the ISO file
4. click on Start

NOTE. If your hard drive is made by Toshiba, unfortunately, you're out of luck, because Toshiba doesn't provide any diagnostic tool. If you are unsure of the drive manufacturer then you can try seagate diagnostics It sometimes works on other manufacturers.