Dodgy laptop, no receipt, still in Warranty.

cormie

Hi,
I bought this laptop back in December and I thought there was something wrong with it so I brought it back to Aldi and got a replacement, I had to bring my receipt and I think I must have left it with them. Anyway, the one I got back had the same problem and it turns out it was a game I was trying to install and not the laptop.

Now the laptop randomly turns off and I also had a problem with my internal included wirless card but I think a software update fixed that. However I have no idea what the random turning off is about. It has also done the Blue Screen of Death restart a few times too. I have also noticed sometimes the screen flickers (tiny flickering, but still) going lighter and darker.

Now I haven't got off my backside to do anything about it because I don't really want to be left without my laptop for a week or however long it will take plus I don't have the receipt.

Is it essential to have the receipt for this situation? The laptop has become rather slow too with general tasks. I bought a laptop for my Uncle for €150 and it boots up and turns off much quicker than mine. It's also quite slow sometimes if I leave it on for a few hours. But I generally don't have many tasks running and my pc is kept very clean, up to date virus software, very little clutter, I only install what I need etc.

Is it suggested I wipe my HD before giving it to them for repair?

Any tips or suggestions appreciated:)

KdjaCL

Sounds like a power issue flickering, Bsods, random shut downs.

Go to Start/Control Panel/Addministrative Tools / Event Viewer and open the "events " that relate top the times it shut down.

Info will be contained in there about it shutting down.

Make sure power settings are set for a laptop.


Wipe it only if you have illegal stuff on it.



/Father hasnt got pc yet still waiting


kdjac

Vikings

Overheating would probably be the cause of the random switching off. If the laptop is on a flat surface the airflow leaving it is not always great and it heats up a lot. Try using the "book technique" - raising the back with a book or 2 to increase the air coming from it.

If you get the drak/bright flickering - im assuming you have it on mains, it could be the power lead coming out and in. You should notice if you take the power lead out it reduces all power settings to max battery life. Test it and see.

cormie

The power lead is in fine, it's not the kind of flickering I get when I unplug the power lead, it's not as obvious, you'd hardly notice the brightness changing even, but still it happens, and only the odd time. Like it's perfect most of the time, it's only happened about 3 times for a few seconds at a time.

I have the power settings set to "always on" as it's constantly hooked to the mains except for the very odd time. So all these problems happen when it's hooked up to the mains and set to always on. Would it make a difference if I set it to laptop/portable even if it's connected to the mains?

I'll try raising it up as it's on my desk, but when I lift it up and feel where it was, it isn't really hot at all. It does get hot some times though.

I'll try checking the EVENTS thing after it happens again because I forget the exact time it happened today.

That's cool about the PC! Really appreciate it:)

cormie

It just happened again, turned off for no reason and last night it did the BSOD again

I checked the events but I'm not too sure what exactly I should be looking for or what kind of message I should be looking for.

KdjaCL

Anything from just before or exat time it crashed.


red x is bad,greenie yellow warning isnt too bad but could be the problem. Double click on them one of them will say "the system was shutdown see www.msft.com/events for more details" click the link and it should tell you what caused the shutdown.

kdjac

snappieT

What error do you get on the BSOD?

dub45

Agggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Cormie's laptop should be in the Guinnesss book of records for generating threads!!!! :eek:

seamus

You're not required to have the receipt to return the goods.

axer

seamus wrote:

You're not required to have the receipt to return the goods.

You do have to have proof of purchase - otherwise how does the shop know if it was bought there or not. If the laptop was bought on CC then you are fine - just show the transaction on your CC statement (BTW you should ALWAYS buy expensive items using your CC - insures your purchase, gives you fraud protection and gives you a record of the transaction). If it was bought with cash and you have no proof of the transaction then you may have a problem, but you could still contact the manufacturer - they would probably sort you out.

Chalk

they would have given you a copy of the warranty in the shop.

when i got my lidl laptop they opend the box in my presence, me and two managers inspected everything and then i signed the warranty.

that was my expereince anyway.

cormie

Hi,
Thanks for all the help.

The laptop was bought with cash unfortunately, however, I do think I may have signed something in the shop. Yes, I did actually, I definitely filled something out.

I have given it a few days and it's happened again a few times, I kept the times and these are the errors I have gotten around the time of shutdown.

20 June: 14.35:
The Creative Service for CDROM Access service failed to start due to the following error:
The system cannot find the file specified.

18 June: 11.36:
The Creative Service for CDROM Access service failed to start due to the following error:
The system cannot find the file specified.

17 June: 9.32
The Creative Service for CDROM Access service failed to start due to the following error:
The system cannot find the file specified.

15 June: 01.34
The Creative Service for CDROM Access service failed to start due to the following error:
The system cannot find the file specified.

Here is an example of my EVENTS log:

Type Date Time Source Category Event User Computer
Warning 15/06/2005 01:35:42 Dhcp None 1007 N/A -
Information 15/06/2005 01:34:57 RemoteAccess None 20158 N/A -
Information 15/06/2005 01:34:56 Service Control Manager None 7036 N/A -
Information 15/06/2005 01:34:50 Service Control Manager None 7036 N/A -
Information 15/06/2005 01:34:50 Service Control Manager None 7035 SYSTEM -
Information 15/06/2005 01:34:46 Service Control Manager None 7036 N/A -
Information 15/06/2005 01:34:45 Service Control Manager None 7035 SYSTEM -
Information 15/06/2005 01:34:43 Service Control Manager None 7036 N/A -
Information 15/06/2005 01:34:43 Service Control Manager None 7035 SYSTEM -
Information 15/06/2005 01:34:40 Service Control Manager None 7036 N/A -
Information 15/06/2005 01:34:40 Tcpip None 4201 N/A -
Information 15/06/2005 01:34:40 Service Control Manager None 7036 N/A -
Information 15/06/2005 01:34:39 Service Control Manager None 7035 SYSTEM -
Information 15/06/2005 01:34:39 Service Control Manager None 7036 N/A -
Information 15/06/2005 01:34:39 Service Control Manager None 7036 N/A -
Information 15/06/2005 01:34:39 Service Control Manager None 7035 SYSTEM -
Information 15/06/2005 01:34:39 Service Control Manager None 7036 N/A -
Information 15/06/2005 01:34:39 Service Control Manager None 7035 SYSTEM -
Information 15/06/2005 01:34:39 Service Control Manager None 7036 N/A -
Information 15/06/2005 01:34:39 Service Control Manager None 7035 SYSTEM -
Information 15/06/2005 01:34:39 Service Control Manager None 7036 N/A -
Error 15/06/2005 01:34:38 Service Control Manager None 7000 N/A -
Information 15/06/2005 01:34:31 eventlog None 6005 N/A -
Information 15/06/2005 01:34:31 eventlog None 6009 N/A -
Information 15/06/2005 01:13:32 Service Control Manager None 7036 N/A -
Information 15/06/2005 01:13:32 Service Control Manager None 7035 SYSTEM -
Information 15/06/2005 01:13:28 Service Control Manager None 7035 SYSTEM -
Information 15/06/2005 01:13:27 Service Control Manager None 7035 SYSTEM -
Information 15/06/2005 01:13:24 Service Control Manager None 7036 N/A -
Information 15/06/2005 01:13:22 Service Control Manager None 7035 SYSTEM -
Warning 14/06/2005 18:19:06 Tcpip None 4226 N/A -
Information 14/06/2005 17:57:10 RemoteAccess None 20158 N/A -
Information 14/06/2005 17:54:29 Service Control Manager None 7036 N/A -
Information 14/06/2005 17:54:23 Service Control Manager None 7036 N/A -
Information 14/06/2005 17:54:23 Service Control Manager None 7035 SYSTEM -
Information 14/06/2005 17:54:20 Service Control Manager None 7036 N/A -

Ok, This doesn't really say much as I just turned the laptop off and on again to see if these errors just happen when it's booting up. And they do. So I don't think the CDROM error is the problem. How would I find out what the problem is if there is nothing in the event viewer? Infact, there seems to be nothing in the event log at all about the actual shutdown, just the boot-up after the shutdown.

Any help appreciated,
thanks

cormie

Ok, I just had some BSOD instances. First error I got was:

Stop 0x0000007f (0x00000008, 0x80042000, 0x00000000, 0x00000000)

and then when I turned the laptop back on it promted me asking did I want to start in safe mode or boot normally etc (this has NEVER happened before with the BSOD problems I've been having)

and then I booted normally and after the XP splash screen I got another BSOD (never happened at this point before either) and it gave me this code:

Stop 0x0000000A (0x00000008, 0x00000002, 0x00000001, 0x804e2eb9)


Anyone have any ideas?

Mac daddy

could be anything really if you want upload the minidump its only 64kb i will run it through my debugger for you,
can you even boot to safe mode?
If yes check the following right click my computer select advanced - select start up and recovery verify minidump is on.

Should save it in c:\windows\ minidump \ xxxxx.dump this is it.

If you can't boot to safe mode [URL=http://]check here[/URL]

what type of anti virus software do you have running?

almost forgot and here

cormie

thanks for the reply

Well I'm using the laptop now as it is, I managed to boot it up eventually, after about 3 goes. So would that still be a problem about booting in safe mode?

Also, I don't think I have got the 0x...A error before but I have got other errors. Do you think this has the same thing to do with the random shut downs?

I'm using AVG Free, always updated.

Mac daddy

i would check the event system viewer systemlogs for what exactly happend.

are there any unexpected shutdowns in it?

what type of critcal/warning messages are being displayed?

Wertz

Just my 2 cents going on a past experience with random shutdowns/BSODs/lock ups....it was all down to a bad stick of RAM.
I doubt your power issues are associated with a memory fault but your BSODs could be. Try using a memory checker program (assuming you can get the machine to boot) and verify the RAM is not bad.

cormie

I've posted the only warning logs that seem to be relevant to the time etc above, doesn't seem to be much about anything in them though..

the machine is a laptop and if I go to try anything I will void the warranty.

I'm guessing if I give this back to Gericom there is a big chance they will just say, we had a look but it never happened to us and I'll be left with the laptop with the same problem and have to be without it for about 3 weeks.

Do you guys think I should just ring support and get them to collect/replace it?

cormie

bump

shoegirl

After 5 years of supporting laptops I'd guess this is either one of two things:

1. fan problem (overheating)
2. problem with cable connecting to the LCD display

There should be some kind of telephone hotline for the manufacturer. These are ok if you go along with whoever answers the phone and walk through what happens. There is probably some kind of serial number on the laptop itself.

Best way to test a problem lcd is to try using a normal monitor instead - if its ok then I'd look at the fan.

cormie

Hi thanks for that, but I don't realise why it would shut down because the LCD display? And about the fan/overheating, there are rubber pads on the bottom of the laptop and it is raised about 7mm off my desk and it never really gets hot anyway

Wandering Dazed

Stop 7f:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;137539

Though there are numerous refs on ms's support site to software causing this as well. In my experience the proc causes a lot of these.

Stop 0a

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;130802

Almost always caused by drivers/software, try disabling av if running make sure all drivers are the latest. If you go to control panel -> system - advanced - startup and recovery and uncheck automatic restart. Then when the system bsod's it won't reboot and you can check what file is causing it. Then do a search for any related probs in google. Depending on the os you may get a bugcheck in the system event log which may help....

If you move the lcd does the flicker happen? If so then its probably the lcd cable, if not then it could be the invertor (backlight) on its way out or indeed power also.

To be honest, I'd throw it back to the vendor if its under a year old it will still be under warranty.

rancheros

A likely cause of can be faulty memory. I had similar problems with my pc and a similar log turned out it was a faulty dimms chip

check out http://www.memtest86.com/

cormie

Hi, thanks for the above, I'll have a gander later.

I just got another BSOD now :mad:

Stop: 0x000000D1 (0x54cc7fl7, 0x000000ff, 0x00000000, 0x823559e6)

rancheros

the sounds like memory alright

L1011

I've -never- need a receipt for a warranty repair. Phone the makers support line direct...

cormie

Ok thanks for the help.

So it looks like I'm going to have to give it to Gericom for a few weeks:(

What is the suggested procedure if I don't want them snooping in my private files? Should I just back up everything and format it since there may be a chance I wont even get the laptop back? Should I password protect my XP account or would that not do much?

Thanks for any feedback!