Inspiron 6400 Locks Up

micwilli · 06-22-2009, 11:58 AM

About a week ago I accidentally dropped my laptop, luckily it landed perfectly on its bottom. The video went out, however I was able to run it fine using an external monitor. Took it home and took it apart, the video connection came loose, plugged it back in, put it back together and it was running fine, no big deal right?

Then unexpectedly the screen would freeze, no keyboard/mouse or any sounds, whatever was on the screen would still be visible. I would have to hold down the power button and then reboot. Everything would run fine then it would freeze again. Sometime it would freeze during boot-up or an hour later.

I'm suspecting its a heat issue as when I direct a desk fan to cool it down, it runs fine and never freezes. I've monitored the temperature with Speed Fan and with I8KfanGUI. All the readings seem to be within normal limits, however when the GPU temp get around 127°F/52°C it would freeze up. I recheck all the connections inside and removed any dust. The internal fan runs around 4200RPM. I ran Memtest and passed but froze up later on when I opted to run the extended scan

I'm thinking about removing the CPU and cleaning out the thermal-grease and replacing it. Anyone here have any suggestions of what I might of missed?

SteveHomoki · 06-22-2009, 05:07 PM

To Micwilli, what will you accomplish by taking the cpu out and putting back on? I'd recommend changing out the fan for a better one. Worked fine for me, in the mean time I was using a laptop cooling base with additional fans. Not exactly your mobile solution but it got the job done in the mean time.
As for John, go make your own post so we can solve your problem without jacking this forum. Post your topic, and post details.

micwilli · 06-22-2009, 07:41 PM

Sorry, I meant taking off the heat-sink, not the CPU. Thought maybe the two separated after the fall reducing the heat transfer. Using I8KFanGUI, I set the fans to max, didn't seem to help. I tried a cooling base too, didn't seem to make a bit of difference. I was looking at changing the fan.

06-22-2009, 11:58 AM	#1 (permalink)
micwilli Registered User Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Bakersfield, CA Posts: 3 OS: XP Professional	Inspiron 6400 Locks Up About a week ago I accidentally dropped my laptop, luckily it landed perfectly on its bottom. The video went out, however I was able to run it fine using an external monitor. Took it home and took it apart, the video connection came loose, plugged it back in, put it back together and it was running fine, no big deal right? Then unexpectedly the screen would freeze, no keyboard/mouse or any sounds, whatever was on the screen would still be visible. I would have to hold down the power button and then reboot. Everything would run fine then it would freeze again. Sometime it would freeze during boot-up or an hour later. I'm suspecting its a heat issue as when I direct a desk fan to cool it down, it runs fine and never freezes. I've monitored the temperature with Speed Fan and with I8KfanGUI. All the readings seem to be within normal limits, however when the GPU temp get around 127°F/52°C it would freeze up. I recheck all the connections inside and removed any dust. The internal fan runs around 4200RPM. I ran Memtest and passed but froze up later on when I opted to run the extended scan I'm thinking about removing the CPU and cleaning out the thermal-grease and replacing it. Anyone here have any suggestions of what I might of missed? Last edited by micwilli; 06-22-2009 at 11:59 AM.

06-22-2009, 05:07 PM	#2 (permalink)
SteveHomoki Junior Tech, Games Team Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Southern California Posts: 108 OS: xp pro sp3, vista basic, linux 10.0,	Re: Inspiron 6400 Locks Up To Micwilli, what will you accomplish by taking the cpu out and putting back on? I'd recommend changing out the fan for a better one. Worked fine for me, in the mean time I was using a laptop cooling base with additional fans. Not exactly your mobile solution but it got the job done in the mean time. As for John, go make your own post so we can solve your problem without jacking this forum. Post your topic, and post details.

06-22-2009, 07:41 PM	#3 (permalink)
micwilli Registered User Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Bakersfield, CA Posts: 3 OS: XP Professional	Re: Inspiron 6400 Locks Up Sorry, I meant taking off the heat-sink, not the CPU. Thought maybe the two separated after the fall reducing the heat transfer. Using I8KFanGUI, I set the fans to max, didn't seem to help. I tried a cooling base too, didn't seem to make a bit of difference. I was looking at changing the fan.