The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    1520 locks up

    Discussion in 'Dell' started by Tonyc, Aug 31, 2007.

  1. Tonyc

    Tonyc Newbie

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    2
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    I recived my 1520 3 days ago, when I first turned it on it locked up and the screen was flshing with multi colors.
    After switching off it started ok, Now every so often it locks again with multi colored screen, this is on start up some times as well as if you open photo's etc.
    the screen is a mix of colors and flashes.

    Has anyone got any ideas.
    thanks
    Tony
     
    Tonyc, Aug 31, 2007
    #1
  2. Rusho

    Rusho Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    38
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    My very unprofessional guess would be either a memory leak or something with your graphics card. Hopefully some of the more intelligent folks that linger around these forums can offer better advice. :)
     
    Rusho, Aug 31, 2007
    #2
  3. Tonyc

    Tonyc Newbie

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    2
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    I should have mentioned it has a GeForce 8600M GT graphic card.
     
    Tonyc, Aug 31, 2007
    #3
  4. robfactory

    robfactory Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    79
    Messages:
    272
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    Make sure the RAM is placed correctly.
    Sometimes (I've had it happened) it will be loose.
    If that doesn't help then it's time to return it.
     
    robfactory, Aug 31, 2007
    #4
  5. key001

    key001 Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    776
    Messages:
    657
    Likes Received:
    7
    Trophy Points:
    31
    Did you find a solution or send your laptop to be fixed/replaced?
    I have a similar problem, when it displays artifacts and sometimes crashes on cold boot... Mine has a 8600GT.
     
    key001, Sep 15, 2007
    #5
  6. MDizzle

    MDizzle Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    29
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    Its either loose hardware connections.
    A defective gfx card.
    Messed up gfx drivers.
    Or its too hot.

    That would be the top 4 things I would immediately consider.

    The easiest to test is updating your graphics drivers. And making sure its cool.

    Second is checking random connections on the machine to make sure their tight.

    Lastly is replacing the gfx card (or the entire unit).

    It’s certainly not a memory leak, that’s something entirely different regarding poorly made software.

    MD
     
    MDizzle, Sep 16, 2007
    #6
  7. sharpe-top

    sharpe-top Newbie

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    1
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    this is happening with my new inspiron 1520 as well.

    When ever it starts from a cold boot (eg if i've left it turned off over night) then on the first boot attempt it'll get to the windows vista logo and do the "ch ching" sound effect and then it'll lock up with flashing artifacts on screen.

    It did this the very first time i started it out of the box. yet once windows has started, from the 2nd boot attempt, it works flawlessly, plays all games at high settings with no problems.

    I've opened it up and checked that the ram is seated properly, and i've updated the graphics drivers, nothing has helped.

    Its an 8600M GT 256mb. Has anyone spoken to dell about it ? i sent technical support an email the other day but no reply yet.
     
    sharpe-top, Oct 21, 2007
    #7