Possible video card/motherboard/hard drive problem (finally reformatted)

[Khamsin]

Well, I finally reformatted and reinstalled Vista.

And as I was browing the Dell website to get updated drivers for my fresh install, and while Windows was downloading 73 updates in the background, I got a bluescreen. Same one, 124.

I hadn't even had a chance to install anything yet, I was even still in the crappy lo-res, low color depth video mode it had from the installation.

I called Dell, and they're finally having someone come out to replace the video cards again.

Hope this works, or we're back to square one. I don't care if this is a "common problem" with Vista and nVidia, it never happened to me before I sent my laptop in for repair, so it should be possible for them to fix it so it doesn't happen to me now.

[Kohan]

You are a technician's worst nightmare.

You're contradictory, stubborn, cast doubt, and then try to fix a problem yourself by doing a lot of things against other people's advice. Why do you even ask for help? Did you completely ignore Furoris's post, which may have been relevant to your situation?

You formatted and installed Vista again. Why didn't you even try XP? You "don't care" if this is a common problem? So documentation is meaningless? Again, why are you asking for help?

Apparently you are more interested in the help Dell will provide you with, but continue posting in this thread to frustrate the contributors. Are you interested in taking out your frustration on other people?

Seriously, this is ridiculous.

[Khamsin]

I didn't try XP because this is a laptop still on warranty and should be working fine with Vista, as it was when I first got it. If this weren't still on warranty and were an older laptop, I would be more open to other solutions.

But this is about principle, and being a new laptop, I shouldn't be having these problems. I'm putting up with Dell only because it's under warranty and they're obligated to make it work. If they can't, they can replace it for all I care. I just want it working as intended.

And I have tried the suggestions of people on here, including downloading the fan software Furoris mentioned. I'm sorry if I seem unappreciative, I'm just frustrated, is all. The only suggestion I was really being contrary over was having to back up everything and reformat, which was more effort than I was really hoping I'd have to put into it.

It just bluescreened again, by the way. Second time in the couple hours it's been since the fresh re-install, once before installing video drivers, once after.

But the bottom line is, I want this laptop working the way it was before I sent it to Dell for repairs. Which means, Vista + nVidia + everything else I had + no bluescreens.

[Kohan]

Since you've backed everything up, you might as well re-wipe and just try XP. It won't hurt. If it works, then you know it's a Vista problem, and they need to somehow restore your hardware to its true original configuration (by replacing the vid card with one identical to the original).

If it doesn't work, then you got a bad video card and any replacement will, ideally, eliminate the BSOD, unless there are other hardware problems (such as a bad motherboard).

Although it takes a lot longer than just reinstalling some drivers, trying out XP on your laptop is a perfectly valid troubleshooting measure, for the above-mentioned reasons. I understand that you want this to work, but if you can determine precisely what's wrong before Dell's monkeys start playing with it, you'll be able to approach them with a full understanding of what the problem is. That'll empower you and, hopefully, help you get what you need done.

It's a lot better than shooting around in the dark and just hoping something will fix it by chance.

[Khamsin]

Also, I have either tried or taken into account everybody's suggestion in this thread, whether or not I have acknowledged it. I know that by not acknowledging it, it can seem that I don't appreciate or am ignoring people's contributions, so I'm sorry if it offended anyone.

Other than installing XP, that is, mostly because I don't have an XP CD and don't feel like pirating one at the moment... and I have a few big pieces of software that's for Vista, not XP. It's just more hassle than I wanted to deal with at the moment. So was backing up and reformatting, before I finally broke down and did it.

Either way, Dell is sending someone out with a new video card and a new LCD display (because I mentioned this one has a ripple in it whenever I shake the laptop... another new thing that appeared when Dell got done with it).

So hopefully, if replacing the video cards (again) fixes it, I won't have to mess with XP or prove anything to Dell. Otherwise, it's got to do with when they replaced the motherboard, or some other issue and we're back to square one.

Or I can try to convince them just to take my laptop and give me a new one. I can only assume if I jump through all their hoops and the problem never gets fixed, they'll have to resort to that at some point. It can't be cost efficient to keep replacing parts and send technicians out all the time.

What confuses me is, if it is a video card problem, why my antivirus aggravated the problem. And why it bluescreened now, while Windows Update was doing it's thing (both times), and I have no antivirus (or anything else) installed.

[Kohan]

Honestly, that would tell me that it isn't specifically a video card problem, but something wrong with either the HDD or the motherboard. However, stranger things have happened. Drivers for unrelated pieces of hardware can cause conflicts with other devices which, in turn, result in BSODs.

If you don't want to try XP, then all you can do is wait for Dell to replace the component again and see what happens.

[Khamsin]

Intuitively, it seems like it could be a HDD problem, since on-access scanning by my antivirus software would give it a lot more opportunity to fail than usual. Since my two HDDs are set up as a RAID 0 array, then depending on how RAID controllers, my HDDs, my motherboard, and BIOS all interact, something could have been thrown off balance by replacing the motherboard but not adjusting the RAID setup or other HDD settings. The Dell tech did say something about how RAID settings were in the BIOS or something.

On the other hand, I've never had any file corruption or missing or bad sectors or other issues like that. I kinda figure if there were HDD problems, I'd notice the issue in other ways than just blue screens.

EDIT: I just installed SP1 for Vista, and during the "Installing Whatever Stage 1 of 3: 12%" thing it does in the pre-login screen, it bluescreened. Then it started again and at least it finished this time.

[Khamsin]

Yet another update:

A guy came out to replace the video card and LCD display, but now the laptop won't display anything. Fortunately, I can still use it on an external display. Unfortunately, I have to wait for the guy to come out again and fix the display/card/whatever the issue is.

Another oddity is that I only have a single 8700M GT now, whereas before it showed two. According to the Dell technician on the phone, I was only supposed to have one in the first place. So perhaps the erroneous two cards in my device manager/nvidia control panel were contributing to the blue screens somehow?

Oddly enough, I "had" two cards both before and after reformatting and reinstalling windows. If I physically only have one card, what would cause it to think I had two, despite a fresh format and reinstall of Windows?

[Norellicus]

Some mobile adapters register themselves in Device Manager twice for multi-display output, it's not unheard of.

[Khamsin]

Another update:

The guy came out again to replace the LCD display again, but I still get blue screens. At least I can see, again.

I called Dell, and asked about just sending the thing back and getting sent a new one. They can dink around with the old laptop all they want on their own time. The guy said they want to try replacing parts one more time, first.

So a guy will be coming out to replace the video card, mother board, and memory. If I still get bluescreens, they'll just send me a new laptop.

Personally, I think they'd save a lot of time and money just by taking my laptop back, salvaging parts from it, and sending a new one. They'll have replaced the LCD display three times, video card three times, motherboard twice, keyboard once, memory once, and god knows what else. Pretty much everything but the hard drive. It may as well be a new computer by now.

And this time, I'm getting other blue screens besides just 124 now, like 100008E and 024, complaining about NTFS.SYS. I can't even complete a chkdsk without getting stuck partway.

I just hope this all gets fixed soon so I can forget about it.

[retice]

Sounds to me that this could be a HDD problem, specially if it's happening with on access scanning, and also on the updates. Buddy of mine had a similar issue where it took forever for the windows update to download and install and also did same thing with a CHKDSK, like 4-5 hrs. May try running that or some type of software that can scan the HDD for error's. Seems to me could possibly tryin to access files on a bad part of the HDD and that may be causing the BSOD's.

[Kohan]

Another update:

The guy came out again to replace the LCD display again, but I still get blue screens. At least I can see, again.

I called Dell, and asked about just sending the thing back and getting sent a new one. They can dink around with the old laptop all they want on their own time. The guy said they want to try replacing parts one more time, first.

So a guy will be coming out to replace the video card, mother board, and memory. If I still get bluescreens, they'll just send me a new laptop.

Personally, I think they'd save a lot of time and money just by taking my laptop back, salvaging parts from it, and sending a new one. They'll have replaced the LCD display three times, video card three times, motherboard twice, keyboard once, memory once, and god knows what else. Pretty much everything but the hard drive. It may as well be a new computer by now.

And this time, I'm getting other blue screens besides just 124 now, like 100008E and 024, complaining about NTFS.SYS. I can't even complete a chkdsk without getting stuck partway.

I just hope this all gets fixed soon so I can forget about it.

I'm sure there's one lesson you've learned from this:

Never buy from Dell ever again.

You should've been more firm with them and demanded that they simply sent you a new machine. It's doubtful their changing the parts yet again will fix it. As aforementioned, they have no idea whatsoever what they are doing. That's why they don't care about wasting potentially perfectly good hardware by replacing it over and over again. Their pseudo-techs are morons.

[Khamsin]

My last laptop was a Sony Vaio. I went with Dell this time because my Sony laptop's fan went out after 5 years. Never had any other problems with it. Guess Dell was a step down.

[Kohan]

Yeah. Five years isn't too bad for a fan, really. I wouldn't necessarily recommend Sony to people, as I've generally found their stuff to be garbage. Coincidentally, the aforementioned service center that I worked at was also licensed to fix them, and I repaired Jimmie Walker's tiny VAIO. Yes, "DY-NO-MITE!" Jimmie Walker. I'd say that's crazy, but I'm in Los Angeles -- I've met a few celebrities here simply walking around town.

Anyway, I'd recommend IBM despite their being overpriced, but that's no longer an option. They sold off their laptop business to -- if I remember correctly -- some Chinese company. Alienware's no good anymore either. Usually, I just recommend people go with stuff like Acer nowadays. There aren't really any big brand names worth trusting.

[Khamsin]

Acer hasn't really been a name I've trusted, either. Unless they have a niche market they ARE good at, they've always just seemed like the budget brand to me.

As for my laptop, I reformatted and reinstalled the OS again after the motherboard, video card and memory were replaced. I installed drivers and such, and upon recommendation of the Dell support person, I did not install Windows updates. Yes, I'm using IE right now with Vista out of the box.

Oddly enough, I haven't had any blue screens yet, and I've tried. Including installing the AV software I had before that seemed to make it happen more often. So either this time, the part replacement worked, or Windows update changes something to make me blue screen all the time that coincidentally was updated around the time I got my laptop back from Dell.

But if that were the case, I wouldn't blue screen on windows update when it's installing the first 73 updates prior to doing SP1.

Either way, if it blue screens again, I'm asking for a new laptop since they said they'd send me one if this didn't fix it. Well, a refurbished laptop, anyway... as long as it's not this one.

[Kohan]

Acer hasn't really been a name I've trusted, either. Unless they have a niche market they ARE good at, they've always just seemed like the budget brand to me.

They're definitely not bottom of the barrel. They use perfectly fine parts. Although they don't have the fanciest products, they're better than the overpriced garbage from everyone with a big name. Really, most of the major vendors (e.g., HP/Compaq, Dell, etc.) don't use quality parts themselves. They get components made by people like Acer, and so on. It's like how LCDs are only actually made by a few manufacturers, and they sell them to thousands of others who relabel them. Same thing applies to practically all computer parts, except there are more to go around.

By buying one of Acer's laptops, you're basically cutting out the middleman. Most places don't manufacture their own parts, so you may as well buy a machine that comes from a source even closer to the assembly line. Just get them from a place that offers a great warranty, and you're set.

[Khamsin]

I just wish it was as easy to build your own laptop as it is to build your own desktop. Why aren't there laptop cases, laptop form factor motherboards, etc. for sale independantly (or as abundantly) so you can build your own, I wonder...

[Kohan]

There are barebones laptops and such out there designed for custom builds, actually. They may not be just empty cases, but it's close.

Build Your Own Laptop

[Khamsin]

Well, I finally got my new replacement laptop, and it does appear to be new and not refurbished. Thankfully, I've installed everything back onto it that I had on my old laptop, and have tried everything to get it to bluescreen, and it works perfectly.

So this pretty much proves it was a hardware problem after all, and it had nothing to do with compatibility issues (since the new laptop has the same hardware, software and OS, only a Western Digital HDD instead of a Hitachi one).

I still suspect it was the hard drive in my old laptop that was the problem, because everything else was replaced 2-3 times. I never had any file corruption issues, but nonetheless, what else could it have been? Even the keyboard and LCD display had been replaced, along with motherboard, memory, videocard, etc. except the HDD. And it had been reformatted three times.

So now I'm happy. Vista + nVidia + Dell, and no bluescreens.

But one thing is for sure, next time I won't be getting Dell again.