Laptop is acting up

Hey everyone. I’ve got a bit of a situation brewing with my Dell Inspiron.

So, over the last few months, I’ve been running into this issue where macOS just completely freezes up on me, leaving the laptop totally unresponsive unless I force a shutdown using the power button. It usually starts with whatever audio or video I'm watching starting to stutter and glitch out, and then—boom—everything just grinds to a halt.

I’ve already tried running 32-bit versions of Windows 7, though I'm currently on the 64-bit version of Windows 7. I’ve run scans with various antivirus programs and malware scanners, too. I even went as far as repartitioning the drive and testing out several different sets of drivers for all the hardware, but when I check the Event Viewer, nothing stands out as suspicious. I actually took the whole thing apart to blow out the dust, cleaning the fan and the heatsinks, though the temperature readings didn't seem to indicate any overheating issues at all. I also gave the RAM a once-over—as much as you can really do visually—cleaning the contacts and clearing out any dust. The weird thing is, the problem persists whether I'm running on battery or plugged in, and it happens even with a clean install of Windows without any extra apps running.

I’m honestly running out of things to try, unless I reach out to a buddy of mine who has the exact same model and swap our RAM sticks just to rule that out once and for all. I have a nagging suspicion it might be a hardware defect, but I really don't want to drop a fortune on professional diagnostics for something I feel like I should be able to figure out myself, so I was hoping some of you experts with more experience might have a clue.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts or suggestions you might have! 🙂

To honestly sounds like a failing hard drive to me. Since you've already given the computer a good dusting and ran through all those different antivirus scans, there's really only one thing left to check... DOWNLOAD ME There's this handy little utility that shows you exactly how your drive is holding up. Once you get it downloaded and installed, you'll basically see one of three statuses—or two types of warnings, depending on how bad it is...

A blue status means your hard drive is in great shape and you've got nothing to worry about.

Yellow means the drive is starting to show some errors (it'll actually tell you what they are).

Red? That means the drive is in serious trouble. If you see red, please back everything up immediately and start looking for a replacement drive. Once you've run the tool, let me know what it says so we can figure out our next move. 🙂

Everything seems perfectly fine with this drive. 🤷

Model : Seagate ST500DM002 firmware : GC002M Serial Number
Firmware : GC002M
Serial Number : 2046S806S
Disk Size : 500,1 GB (8,4/137,4/500,1/500,1)
Buffer Size : 8192 KB
Queue Depth : 32
# of Sectors : 976773168
Rotation Rate : Unknown
Interface : Serial ATA
Major Version : ATA8-ACS
Transfer Mode : ---- | SATA/300
Power On Hours : 12723 hours
Power On count : 4095 count
Temperature : 38 C (100 F)
Health Status : Good

As far as the SMART data goes, everything is looking green.

EDIT: I just went ahead and checked it with CrystalDiskInfo, and honestly, there isn't even a single warning, let alone any actual errors. 🤷

EDIT 2: This laptop doesn't actually belong to me, so tomorrow morning I think I'll put together a bootable USB drive with Memtest86+ just so I can run some tests on the RAM.

Zachary Barrett4 said:Hey everyone. I’ve got a bit of a situation brewing with my Dell Inspiron.

So, over the last few months, I’ve been running into this issue where macOS just completely freezes up on me, leaving the laptop totally unresponsive unless I force a shutdown using the power button. It usually starts with whatever audio or video I'm watching starting to stutter and glitch out, and then—boom—everything just grinds to a halt.

I’ve already tried running 32-bit versions of Windows 7, though I'm currently on the 64-bit version of Windows 7. I’ve run scans with various antivirus programs and malware scanners, too. I even went as far as repartitioning the drive and testing out several different sets of drivers for all the hardware, but when I check the Event Viewer, nothing stands out as suspicious. I actually took the whole thing apart to blow out the dust, cleaning the fan and the heatsinks, though the temperature readings didn't seem to indicate any overheating issues at all. I also gave the RAM a once-over—as much as you can really do visually—cleaning the contacts and clearing out any dust. The weird thing is, the problem persists whether I'm running on battery or plugged in, and it happens even with a clean install of Windows without any extra apps running.

I’m honestly running out of things to try, unless I reach out to a buddy of mine who has the exact same model and swap our RAM sticks just to rule that out once and for all. I have a nagging suspicion it might be a hardware defect, but I really don't want to drop a fortune on professional diagnostics for something I feel like I should be able to figure out myself, so I was hoping some of you experts with more experience might have a clue.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts or suggestions you might have! 🙂

I had a similar issue with my laptop... it would just freeze out of nowhere after being in Windows for a while. Turns out the motherboard chipset was failing and there wasn't much that could be done; at least that's what the repair shop told me. Just wanted to share in case that's what happened to mine.

I guess that’s really my absolute last resort, looking at grabbing a "new" motherboard, though honestly, things aren't freezing up quite often enough right now for me to be convinced that's actually the culprit. 🤷

Alright, looks like the hard drive issue is sorted out. Maybe try running a Memtest just to be safe and see what happens..

Hi,
Everything seems fine, but it won't work.
I would go into the BIOS, select "Load default", then save and exit. Give that a shot.
If that fails, I suspect the CMOS battery. The BIOS doesn't always alert you when the CMOS is failing; it usually waits until the clock stops working correctly, and the clock doesn't require much voltage. You might have to open the laptop to reach the battery. It could be easy to access, or it might not be. You need to reset it. Measure the battery first. To perform a proper reset, pull the battery or short those two contacts on the motherboard for a few seconds, then you can use the old one if it's still good, or just swap in a new one.
The issue is that CMOS failure can be hard to pinpoint. You either need a new battery or at least to test it; if it's below 3.20V, I’d put in a new one. Some CMOS batteries hold up okay at 3.10V, but others don't—they aren't all the same. Batteries should ideally be closer to 3 volts, but if they were, computers wouldn't fail so often and companies wouldn't sell as many new ones. Once, I actually used three 1.5V batteries on a PC motherboard because I was far from a store and didn't have a CR2032 on me. I think that battery lasted maybe 8 to 12 years—like those small ones used in TV remotes.
Essentially, once the voltage hits a certain threshold, the CMOS can mess with the entire computer even when everything looks perfectly fine and functional.

Kudos to you. It was helpful of you to list everything you've already checked and tried. I hope you actually did all of that.

Otherwise, if that isn't it and you aren't running any strange software, I would say it's a motherboard issue—assuming the Akka/battery and power supply are definitely working. Is it possible it overheated at some point? That could have fried the chipset on the motherboard.
If you aren't 100% sure the software in macOS is the culprit, try this: grab a "Hiren's BootCD" if you don't have one yet.
Boot from that CD and run Windows XP Mini. Let it run for an hour or so if it stays up.
With that, you can be certain that macOS is running with the absolute bare minimum requirements for stability. Just Windows XP Mini. No extra software or anything.

Best,
Let me know what happens. I'm interested in the outcome.

Memtest 5.01 says everything passed with zero errors. I think I'll try loading default BIOS settings and then run a boot-time antivirus scan along with an MBR check. Honestly, I’m running out of extra ideas at this point 🤷
I'm not entirely sure if the issue lies within macOS itself, especially since I ran into the exact same headache when I was using both the 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows 7. I'm also still leaning towards thinking it might be some sort of conflict with a specific driver or maybe a buggy codec...

An event log? Anything useful in there?

It’s nothing out of the ordinary, really; there isn't even a single warning popping up, let alone any actual errors or critical failures.

What programs were you using to play that audio/video?

Foobar, VLC Media Player, and also just... VLC.

Did you try WMP? Checked Device Manager for any warnings yet?

The Device Manager looks absolutely spotless, and honestly, I wouldn't touch Windows Media Player with a ten-foot pole if my life depended on it, so sorry about that 😁

Zachary Barrett4 said:The Device Manager looks absolutely spotless, and honestly, I wouldn't touch Windows Media Player with a ten-foot pole if my life depended on it, so sorry about that 😁

Not sure what the deal is, but maybe run a 3DMark stress test if you aren't feeling lazy. Just to make sure the card isn't actually dying...

Sandra Cook60 said:Hi,
Everything seems fine, but it won't work.
I would go into the BIOS, select "Load default", then save and exit. Give that a shot.
If that fails, I suspect the CMOS battery. The BIOS doesn't always alert you when the CMOS is failing; it usually waits until the clock stops working correctly, and the clock doesn't require much voltage. You might have to open the laptop to reach the battery. It could be easy to access, or it might not be. You need to reset it. Measure the battery first. To perform a proper reset, pull the battery or short those two contacts on the motherboard for a few seconds, then you can use the old one if it's still good, or just swap in a new one.
The issue is that CMOS failure can be hard to pinpoint. You either need a new battery or at least to test it; if it's below 3.20V, I’d put in a new one. Some CMOS batteries hold up okay at 3.10V, but others don't—they aren't all the same. Batteries should ideally be closer to 3 volts, but if they were, computers wouldn't fail so often and companies wouldn't sell as many new ones. Once, I actually used three 1.5V batteries on a PC motherboard because I was far from a store and didn't have a CR2032 on me. I think that battery lasted maybe 8 to 12 years—like those small ones used in TV remotes.
Essentially, once the voltage hits a certain threshold, the CMOS can mess with the entire computer even when everything looks perfectly fine and functional.

Kudos to you. It was helpful of you to list everything you've already checked and tried. I hope you actually did all of that.

Otherwise, if that isn't it and you aren't running any strange software, I would say it's a motherboard issue—assuming the Akka/battery and power supply are definitely working. Is it possible it overheated at some point? That could have fried the chipset on the motherboard.
If you aren't 100% sure the software in macOS is the culprit, try this: grab a "Hiren's BootCD" if you don't have one yet.
Boot from that CD and run Windows XP Mini. Let it run for an hour or so if it stays up.
With that, you can be certain that macOS is running with the absolute bare minimum requirements for stability. Just Windows XP Mini. No extra software or anything.

Best,
Let me know what happens. I'm interested in the outcome.

Is it possible the cooling system wasn't cleaned out in time?

Have you reset the CMOS?

Best,

William Richardson12 said:Not sure what the deal is, but maybe run a 3DMark stress test if you aren't feeling lazy. Just to make sure the card isn't actually dying...

Thanks for the suggestion, I think I'll give that a shot. 🙂

Sandra Cook60 said:Is it possible the cooling system wasn't cleaned out in time?

Have you reset the CMOS?

Best,

We're going to try the CMOS reset later today, though I usually stay on top of maintenance since I cleaned out the heat pipes and the vents about a month ago; the only thing I haven't done is take everything apart to apply some fresh thermal paste to the CPU.

Since you're already cleaning out your laptop anyway—might as well grab some isopropyl alcohol and wipe away that old, crusty thermal paste. Just put down a tiny bit of fresh stuff, maybe about the size of a grain of rice, right in the middle of the processor...

I’ve already tried swapping out the thermal paste, and I even went ahead and gave everything a good scrub with some rubbing alcohol and a standard eraser 😉

I let 3DMark run for about half an hour now, but so far, it hasn't really shown me anything conclusive. 🙂

EDIT: Well, it looks like 3DMark actually powered through all the stress tests without a single hitch—zero issues found.

Looks like you’re down to just one motherboard left 🤷 better take it to a repair shop so they can actually figure out what's wrong. Just hang tight and see if anyone else has a different take... 😉