Hi,
My Dell Inspiron 6400 laptop was working just fine few days ago. But from yesterday it started hanging randomly. I will have to restart the computer and then again in about 15 minutes the computer freezes and the clock stops and displays the time when it went wrong. The mouse does not move at all. The light for the hard-drive stops blinking and just goes off. Then if I tried to press an keys, the computer beeps and I will have to manually restart it.
I have run virus scan on safe mode and it did not pick up anything suspecious.
Can someone please help me out here?
Thank You in advance.
Hurray

Maybe your battery is going bad. Watch the plus sign so as to replace a new battery correct.
For other reasons go to Microsoft Knowledge Base and type in clock, a list will come up.
Select one. You can also type in clock stops and click search. The list won't come up but
you can look at the reasons for a clock stopping. Click Search.
If you think your battery is OK try Error Checking or sfc /scannow.

Windows XP
1. Error Checking- CD not needed
Start - my computer - right click local disk © - properties - Tools Tab -
Error checking section - Check now - check mark both boxes - Start -
This requires a restart to begin.

2. Start - Run - type - sfc /scannow - OK
Don't forget the space between c and /
You will need the Recovery CD if any thing is found wrong.
Don't insert unless asked for.

Microsoft has a Tool
http://www.microsoft.com/security/malwareremove/default.mspx

Hi haycg,

Thank you very much for your suggestions. Right now I am running an error check on my drives.

At the beginning I thought that something was wrong with the battery as I got an error message while starting-up the laptop. The error message said something about my AC adapter not found. I hit enter without paying much attention to the error message so I do not know what it said exactly. But I thought it was related to the battery as the battery was starting to die quickly.
So I took the battery off the laptop and plugged the laptop to the electricity and restarted it. I got the same result. The clock stopped and the computer froze.

Hurray

I have run error check on my hard drive and it found no error.

By the way, when you said the battery might be going bad, did you mean the CMOS battery that is on the mother board, or the big battery that is used when the laptop is unplugged from the electricity line?

Hurray

I believe haycg is referring to the CMOS battery.

Hi,
I changed the CMOS battery and restarted the laptop. Everything worked fine for about 10 minutes, then the clock stopped and the computer froze. I could move the cursor for a while before it also froze.
I do not hear any strange noise from the hard drive, but the hard drive light is not blinking (at the same time the computer is hung).

And when I restart the laptop manually, it does not show the screen which usually says that the computer was shut down improperly and that it may need to do check disk for errors.
So what should I do next. It has been 3 days the problem persists and I have all my work on the laptop and I need it to start my work.

Please help.

This post has been edited by Hurray: Mar 10 2010, 12:53 PM

As Shingo said the CMOS battery.
You mentioned something about an AC adapter not being found.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Check in - Start - Control Panel - System Icon - Hardware Tab - Device manager -
At the bottom - Click the plus sign for - System Device - Right click - System CMOS/real time clock.
Properties. See if it says this device is working properly.
It has a trouble shooter. Maybe it will offer something.
cg

I checked the System CMOS/real time clock under device manager. It says it is working properly.

I went to the Dell website and searched for Dell Inspiron 6400 laptop AC Adapter

http://search.dell.com/results.aspx?s=dhs&...amp;x=7&y=6

One way to help capture on screen information without having to write it down is
by using ScreenHunter 5.0 or something like it. Not sure if it will capture an error message.
http://www.wisdom-soft.com/downloads/downloadfiles.htm
I use the Free version. I have it set for the pictures to be sent to My Pictures - called - Screen Shots.

But when I take the battery off the laptop and just use the AC adapter, the laptop boots. If there was something wrong with the AC adapter, the computer would not boot (given that the battery is taken out).

There is something strange to why the clock of the laptop just stops. Before I changed the CMOS battery, it would stop after about 5-7 minutes of restart, but now after the new CMOS battery, it stops after 20 minutes.

I have used a digital camera to take a picture of BIOS and Error messages and put them
back on my computer. These pictures can be posted to a Forum.
If you receive any more error messages you might try that. Their easy to read by
clicking Preview.
Dell recommends that you only use their batterys. I can't say if that matters.
You can try a repair shop. Their getting real expensive. $65.00 just to check out what's
wrong with one were I live.

Hi Friends,
I would recommend a fresh install of windows and if that doesn't solve your problem then check that your processor isn't loose and while you check inside the laptop give it a good hoovering to get rid of any dust. I think maybe it freezes because it gets too hot.

Thanks,
James

I managed to open my laptop to see if there was anything wrong with the fan. Strangely when I turn the laptop on, the fan does not spin. Should not it spin just like in a desktop?

I touched the hard-drive and I could feel and hear it working. So I guess everything is fine with the harddrive.

Now I guess the problem was with overheating, so I need to change the fan.

What do you guys think?

To check the temperature of my eMachine. When I power the computer on I start tapping the F2 Key
to get into the Bios. Mine is listed in PC Health if I remember right.
Your Dell will probably have a different name listing. My 2 fans run all the time.
If the CPU fan doesn't run PC will over heat. Long story but my first computer was cooked when
the CPU fan stopped working. Their suppose to cut off when they get to hot.

I'll give you the temperature of my eMachine and fan speed.
Check the temperature in the Bios. By tapping
F2 Key when you start of.
I'm giving my temperature as an example.
CPU 38c degrees
Current System Temp. 35c degrees
----------------------------------------------------------------------
CPU Fan Speed 2483 RPM
System Fan Speed 1332 RPM

When replacing the fan that set on the CPU.
Their a paste that has to be applied under the CPU.
I haven't done this, so ask for help. That's the reason my first computer was toast.
I removed the fan to clean it but I didn't remove the CPU. Somehow contact was lost
and the the fan didn't run and the computer didn't cut off while I was out of the room.