[real77]

since i don't know the problem, i'm not sure if this is the best forum, but anyways
dell vostro 1500 windows xp working fine yesterday. i'm gone a few hours and come back and trouble starting up ever since. sometimes, just the power light comes on, but not screen (usually, this'll happen many times in a row).
sometimes, it starts up, but either freezes sometime during the startup, or after startup when i try to open something.
yesterday, it stayed on long enough that i did some virus searching, cleaning, defragmenting, etc. before it froze finally. i could be imagining it, but seems that maybe it'll freeze when i move the laptop (but clearly has not worked without moving it too).
other hints are the following messages i got yesterday (but these aren't happening today, after my cleanups)...

blue screen saying "check adequate disk space. if a driver is identified in the stop message, disable the driver or check with the manufacturer for driver updates.
try changing the video adapters
check with the hardware vendor for BIOS updates.
disable BIOS memory options (caching or shadowing)
for safe mode, to remove or disable components, restart the computer. F8 for advanced startup, then select safe mode

memory address line failure at .....(numbers here)
to resolve this issue, try to reseat memory
decreasing available memory
the amount of system memory has changed
if you didn't change your memory...
to resolve this issue, try to reseat memory
F5, onboard diagnostics (i chose this option, and as a result got a blue screen saying no user memory available)

sorry if that's way too much info, but not knowing much about computers, i figure i better give alot of info. thanks for any help.

[ChrisLeah]

have you recently chagned the RAM? or HDD?

[real77]

nope. nothing changed lately.
one addition since that post...
it came on long enough to do a symptom tree diagnostics test.
it passed all but the following sections of what i tested-
primary battery bay- battery charger test
primary battery bay- AC adapter info test

also, today i got the message "your battery is able to charge normally, however it is nearing the end of it's life". didn't think it was a battery problem, cause i didn't think a battery could cause computer to freeze or shutdown. can it? a pet chewed on the cable and may have messed up the wires a little, but i didn't think that'd affect the computer.

[real77]

just realized i was confusing ac adapter with battery. the ac adapter is what got chewed on a little. the battery was not chewed on. so could the battery being at the end of its life be the problem here? could that cause freezing, unable to startup, etc? battery is 1.5 years old, like laptop, but i admit, i rarely turn the computer off.

[rwc1969]

YES!

I would remove the battery completely and run off AC power only. See if that takes care of it. If so, replace the battery. If not and the AC cord is chewed and you keep getting problems, I'd replace it. You can get all kinds of problems from an old laptop battery or defective cord.

If after doing the above two things you still have problems, try reseating the memory and HDD cable. Hold the memory by the edges only, don't touch any circuits or board components. You mentioned moving the computer may cause the problem so it's possible something is just loose.

After that, if problem still persists run a memory diagnostics tool like Memtest86+ or WinDiag. Windows memory diagnostics. Both are free dowloads. You should run the memory test for a minimum of 8-24 hours.

[real77]

thanks for your help. after buying a new battery, things seemed a little better. it definitely only was freezing up when moved. i didn't buy a new ac cord yet, but computer problem is unchanged when i am only using the new battery, so i figure the chewed cord isn't causing problems. i was surviving with the annoyance of the computer only crashing when moved, but 2 days ago things started getting worse. freezing when i hadn't touched it. so finally decided i'd try to reseat the memory. did that. no improvement at all.

i always get the bios revision A04 message on powerup btw, not sure if that matters.
unlike before, i don't get error messages when it freezes. no sound either. it just freezes. then i start it up again. usually its fine for starting up again, but sometimes it powers on but the screen is black. i just turn it off and on until the screen finally comes on (usually about 5 times on and off).

so i'm guessing still its the memory. should i reseat the hdd now? i found a video on reseating the memory and was fine, but this one seems more complicated.

[real77]

one more bit of info i'll add to my posting an hour ago.
i did biosagentplus and driver detective (only to the point that they are free)
and driver detective says i have 13 out of date drivers

biosagentplus says i'm 76% good (bad includes the bios).
should i pay for either of these to fix? thanks

[real77]

today it wasn't starting up at all without crashing, so i reseated the harddrive again. after that, for the first time, it wasn't turning on at all. no lights, nothing. kept trying, then gave up for a couple hours. just tried again, and got lights but no screen (like i've had before many times), and then finally the last time i pressed power it started coming on, screen and all. but what came on is completely new. i now have a screen blue horizontal stripes. in between the stripes are red symbols (spade, smiley face, rectangles, double sided arrows) on a white background. the top of the screen has some black background mixed in. what is going on here? please help! not sure if i should shut it off again. thanks

[Fordy]

Disconnect all external hardware and try to boot up with and without the power lead.

Certain devices can often cause freezes in boot up, most commonly in my experience are iPod USB leads and networking peripherals.

[real77]

back to it starting again, but still freezing when i touch it. i rarely have external hardware anyways though. any other ideas? thanks