blue screen

Got my vostro 1400 back from repair (they replaced the mobo) and it has been full of problems. I would get "blah blah has stopped working" every time I do anything in extreme yet still quite common cases i get blue screen of death. Seemed like a software problem, so i reinstalled all the drivers. didnt fix anything. reinstalled vista didnt fix anything (the problem even prevented me from installing some drivers) call dell tech support, the rep screwed around with my machine for half a hour, problem still not fixed. I'm totally out of ideas. any help or suggestions welcome

 

Was any of the things Dell support had you do testing your laptops memory?

 

Complain to Dell - it's obvious there's a problem, and they owe you a working laptop.

 

I have done enough complaining, heck if I didnt threat them with a lawsuit, they wouldnt have replaced my video card in the first place.

btw you think my problem is related with memory? and no they did not test the memory

 

Bad RAM can be a cause of blue screens. Testing it with Memtest86+ is worth a shot.

 

Run Dell Diagnostics. Press F12 at the Dell splash screen at bootup, and choose Dell Diagnostics from the menu. It should test your hardware.

I also recommend the following:
- Make sure you have the latest BIOS for your machine. (dell.com, support section, drivers & downloads)
- Make sure your OS is up-to-date (Windows Update).
- Make sure you're using an up-to-date video driver.
- Go into Device Manager and disable any device you've never used on this machine. This may include things like: modem, firewire, smartcard reader, expresscard reader. If you ever need anything you disabled, it only takes 10 seconds to re-enable it.
- Go into BIOS setup (F2 at the boot screen) and disable any hardware that's not actually present in your system. This may include things like: serial port, parallel port, WWAN.

Also, you can try following these instructions to debug the dump files created when your computer bluescreened. Follow the instructions here: http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=35246
(You will need to run WinDbg as administrator, and enter the commands from the page I linked to.)
And post the output in this thread so we can comment on it.

 

have not came to the last point yet, will come around later today. thanks for the help

edit: just ran the dignositic test, it is a ram problem in dimm_b. here is the msg

"Error code 0123
msg error code 2000-0123
msg memory integrity test failed
location = simm_b and some hex locations
etc"

 

the problem is memory. Dell will be sending in a pair of memory sticks. hopfully thats the last of my problems. thanks for all the help. mean while here is some rep for you guys