Fed up. Bluescreens.

[Praey]

Ive been getting bluescreens since I got this Alienware laptop and have posted here quite a few times in the past about them. Whenever I post they seem to go away for a few days, then they come back. Last night I got bluescreened 3 times before ever reaching my desktop, all in a row. I reformatted a month ago, got all teh newest drivers I could, upgraded to XP SP2, have the most recent updates and STILL it bluescreens. Does anyone have any suggestions? Any at all? Any good brands of sledge hammers that hold up well under stress?

*edit, forgot specs and comment*

Specs:
Alienware Area-51m
Intel P4 2.8GHz
1024 RAM
ATI Radeon Mobility 9600
Hitachi 7200RPM 60GB HDD

I did contact Alienware but they are of no help and told me I may need to flash my BIOS regarding another problem with the LCD display. Not sure how much that would do or if it would help this problem with bluescreens. My BIOS are restricted anyway because it is made by Alienware, I can only change a few things... there is no dust in this laptop, either.

*/edit*

 

[mechBgon]

Look at the Vaughn line. I like my 20-ounce ball-peen Vaughn a lot, I'm sure their sledgehammers are just as good. Or maybe contact Alienware's tech-support people? After all, you paid for the warranty (assuming you're the original owner).

 

[Praey]

I'm going to go back to Alienware and bother them soon, but they know even less than I do.. :disgust:

 

[DetroitSportsFan]

Originally posted by: Praey
I'm going to go back to Alienware and bother them soon, but they know even less than I do.. :disgust:

Unfortunately .... often the grim reality of tech support dept. thgese days. First tier support usually sux royally anyway. They are often just reading from a script. Ask to speak to the supervisor and push yourself up the chain of command. Keep pushing .... til you get to someone who actually has knowledge and has "real life" solutions beyond "reboot your system" and give us a call back.

I'd also check:

1) Event Viewer
2) Jot down error codes from your BSOD
3) Scan for viruses and malware

Frequently, troubleshooting is no more than trying to eliminate problems from the mix .... narrowing it down to a list of the fewest number of possibilities and then going from there.

P.S. I like my 15lb maul .... (grin)

 

[Praey]

Thanks for the tip about tech support. If I have trouble getting a competant answer on the phone Ill ask for a supervisor. It isn't like Ive done anything to void warranty and I am the original owner of the laptop.

Event viewer doesnt display any major errors that jump out and smack me in the face as Im scanning through. There are too many error codes to jot down and nothing that seems similar in any. Yesterday, though, I got "IRQ_NOT_LESS_THAN_OR_EQUAL". I'll scan for viruses tonight, now, but if I have any on this 56k connection with a firewall up and with not really spending much time on the 'net, Ill be very suprised.

Im having trouble pinning down any similar problems that I can eliminate at all.

Thanks.

Just to make sure I keep count, thats 1 for a Maul and 1 for Ball-Peen Hammer.