I just purchased two laptops without hardrives An older gateway dual core 17" PA6 meant to run Vista, and a nice Dell 1545 In

[kellygx1]

Laptop (OS?) freezes up at different intervals after install.. Tried Both Vista and Windows 7

 

[COLGeek]

Typically, laptops with these symptoms have heat and/or power issues. Are both systems doing the same thing?

Also, are all drivers fully up to date (assuming a fully successful install of Windows)?

Where did you get your Win 7 installation media from (download or OEM/Retail DVD)?

 

[kellygx1]

Typically, laptops with these symptoms have heat and/or power issues. Are both systems doing the same thing?

Also, are all drivers fully up to date (assuming a fully successful install of Windows)?

Where did you get your Win 7 installation media from (download or OEM/Retail DVD)?

 

[kellygx1]

Hey, thanks for your speedy reply...
I had considered the heat and/or power issue, but discarded it since the laptop runs for 2 hours straight with diagnostic software running in it's own DOS environment.. I figured that during the CPU and Mem tests the heat and power are pushed well past the points where they were freezing during normal OS conditions.

I have both downloaded, and OEM DVDs, and even tried installing 7 Home Premium from a flash-drive.

The drivers were initially updated with Driver Genius and then Windows Updates... But last time I went to the Gateway Driver/Support site and downloaded the drivers from there, then did windows update.. and since the error codes were mostly "netbt 4321" I disabled netbios in the adavnced settings under WINS.

Also, It seems that it freezes less the warmer it gets...

Example: freezes during installation.
then freezes after re-installation during driver installation.
then makes it past OS install and driver installation, but freezes during updates.
then after re install, driver installation, and updates, laptop runs for 10 minutes and freezes.
????

Only the Gateway is doing this by the way

 

[COLGeek]

When you ran the memory test, were any errors indicated? This could also be a heat issue associated with the on-board GPU (a DOS application would only use the basic VGA functions and not the full functionality of the GPU). Under Windows, with the proper driver installed, the GPU will operate at its full capacity and will generate more heat.

You may need to disassemble the Gateway and re-apply thermal compound on the GPU and clean the innards while you are in there.

 

[kellygx1]

When you ran the memory test, were any errors indicated? This could also be a heat issue associated with the on-board GPU (a DOS application would only use the basic VGA functions and not the full functionality of the GPU). Under Windows, with the proper driver installed, the GPU will operate at its full capacity and will generate more heat.

You may need to disassemble the Gateway and re-apply thermal compound on the GPU and clean the innards while you are in there.

 

[kellygx1]

the diagnostic check was done with a DVD of Eurosofts MRI that I found laying around.. all memory test, in fact ALL tests passed fine.

I'll shut it down now and try your suggestion take it apart, re thermal paste and clean.. re assemble and try again.

I'll let you know how it goes.. Thanks

 

[COLGeek]

Good luck!

 

[kellygx1]

When you ran the memory test, were any errors indicated? This could also be a heat issue associated with the on-board GPU (a DOS application would only use the basic VGA functions and not the full functionality of the GPU). Under Windows, with the proper driver installed, the GPU will operate at its full capacity and will generate more heat.

You may need to disassemble the Gateway and re-apply thermal compound on the GPU and clean the innards while you are in there.

OK... took your advice.. when I took off the fan/heatsink, it sure looked like the CPU needed to be repasted more than the GPU, So I repasted the CPU and threw the heat pad off the GPU and pasted it too. (made a bootable usb win 7 while I was doing it)
Put it all back together, installed Win7 from the USB, activated it, used driver genius to install drivers, then downloaded and installed all windows updates... didn't shut down for this whole process, so as far as I'm concerned... consider it FIXED!!.. Thanks a lot for your advice!

 

[COLGeek]

You did good! WOO HOO!!!