Black screen on reboot..

Hey guys!

So i've had my m18 for about a month now. I've installed my crucial m4, scorpio, and ram upgraded. However, a couple of times now my computer has hung up. Once after I installed Nvidia Phsyx (i have ati cards), as soon as i rebooted the computer the screen was black and didn't complete the reboot. I had to shut it off with the power button. When i turned it back on, it didn't seem like the computer crashed. Another time, while loading world of warcraft the screen went to black with the mouse cursor, and it froze. Is there something i should check into? I tried looking into "whocrashed" but it's not giving me any logs.

any ideas?
thanks all

 

Sounds like the SSD issue I was having with my patriot. Is the HD light on as in no flicker just solid light? If so I would say its the SSD is dropping out, hard reset brings it back but then it would do it again (random). I had to RMA my drive, but the newere firmware might solve your issue.

I noticed the M4 has newer firmware 009 if IIRC. Try that and see if it helps.

 

well after a few weeks of usage, i finally had my first 5-7 second hang ups with the hard drive. How do i check the driver version on my ssd? should i update the driver on my crucial M4 or send it back to new egg for a replacement ? I'm all out of ideas..

 

I would update the firmware first as it won't void the warranty and it typically takes a few minutes. If it still happens then I would consider exchanging it or RMA the drive.

SSD life, CrystalDiskInfo and a few others display the firmware version. The firmware update utility will most likely display it as well. Not sure how it works with the m4 but patriot does the update in windows and on the detection screen displays all patriot drives with the current firmware.

There's a thread about the m4 here somewhere that will be more beneficial as I can only tell you what I've read when researching SSD's.

 

I don't know where exactly your beast was frozen. But if it was frozen right before the BIOS start up (black screen with a blinking typing cursor). You are having same problem as mine couple days ago.

I received my system last week, and quickly I found that issue constantly happen every time the system REBOOT (only). I do have Crucial M4, and Hyper X RAM as well, but I did NOT install them yet. In fact, my M4 has been working great (since I updated firmware 00002) in my old laptop.

I did try to flash BIOS with new firmware, but the problem was NOT solved at all. Then I call Dell, and after 30 mins running with Hardware Diagnostic (you can run it from BIOS youself), We found an Error with the Main Board. Then they did offer me a replacement, but since I heard the new CPU line will be available shortly on Sept, so I decided to return my system and wait for it. Hope this story could help you out.

 

Ya the motherboard is not happy with a select few ssd's. Had the motherboard replaced in mine as it wouldn't recognize the SSD on port 1. After that I narrowed it down to the SSD. As I couldn't even install windows without the SSD dropping out. Any other Sata 6 drive would work fine.

Definitely not an easy problem to narrow down between the motherboard ssd unless you have another computer to test the SSD on (which I didn't).

 

you think i should replace the crucial with a patriot? Should i run a diagnostic on the motherboard? I'm scared that something is wrong with my motherboard

 

No the m4 is a solid drive, might give the patriot to my brother and grab the m4 as the patriot has a few issues with the sandforce controller.

You can run the long Self diagnostic from the F12 (boot options menu). It will catch the major stuff, other than that I don't really know of a definite test to find a faulty sata port.

Here's what I would do:
(1) Update firmware on the m4
(2) Update the m18x bios to A03
(2) Run self diagnostic to catch anything major (run the long test)
(3) run it for a couple days and see if there's any problems.

If you still have problems I would then
(1) Exchange the drive, since it's easier than dealing with dell I would Imagine.
(2) If problems continue then get dell to replace the motherboard

Here's a thread about the m4 0009 update stuff in case you can't get it work properly.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...009-firmware-updater-freezes.html#post7864459

 

As I said above, that is NOT a M4 issue. To be more exact, the problem is from BIOS. Because your system was frozen even before BIOS's startup screen (in my case). At that time, there's no hardware detected yet. There's only BIOS by itself. So we can NOT blame it on the Hard drive.

P/s: for those who said that the mother board may have issue with some selected hard drive. You maybe right, but not for Crucial M4. Because I had it worked perfectly in my last M18x (very first 1) before I return it.

 

So i went ahead and updated the firmware on the hard drive yesterday and everything was working fine all night. I go to shut the machine down and viola.. the system had a black screen and would not completely shut off. What's the deal? Should I go ahead and replace the drive, memory, or just flat out call dell and get a replacement unit?

 

Yes, if the drive doesn't communicate it will still show bios screen and the drive will be missing from port 0/1. It won't stop the bios from loading. You just end up with a no disk found or whatever the exact wording of the message is.

Since he is talking about a black screen while rebooting. It sounds like after bios and prior to the win 7 logo. Win7 runtime going to black screen also indicates drive communication issues. Otherwise if it's motherboard issue a hard reset/BSOD is definitely more common.

Edit: OK the wording may have been wrong on the motherboard/ssd comment. There are definite incompatibilities on the sandforce drives. However, it's not unheard of to have a bad marvell controller on the m4 which would cause the same symptoms as the sandforce drives.

 

is the alienhead HD light on solid? that's a big indicator of the drive itself dropping out/timing out on communication requests.

Edit: did you run the long self test as well?

 

According to what you said. It's not about the compatibility beetwent M4 & M18x mainboard. Things gonna be easier now. Just plug the SSD into another compter to see whether or not the SSD working. Otherwise, that's the mainboard's problem then.

 

Ya I tend to use the term X is not happy with Y for compatibility issues or anything that argues/doesn't work right.

 

Quick Update:

I ran a thorough diagnostic directly from the BIOS, Reseated my Sata cable on my motherboard, replaced my ram, and from the BIOS check everything is FINE. I called newegg to RMA my Crucial M4 SSD just in case. Should I go ahead and put a new hard drive in and start from scratch anyways while i'm in the return window? Last night I had no issues with cold boots, restarts, or shut downs. What do you guys think?

I'm anal retentive, I know.

 

If it's all working I would give it a few days (game on it, run benchmarks, whatever), leave it on overnight. If it's fine in a couple of days then you should be in the clear.