Dell Inspiron 5150

[Karanislove]

CPU Speed: 3 GHz
Memory: 256 MB
Hard drive: 60 GB
CD / DVD: CD + DVD writer


In good condition,battery life very good. Everything works. Motherboard works intermittent. has some problem sometimes it boots sometimes it doesnt. Everything else is OK.
Comes with original reinstall CD's. Running XP Pro and Office 2003 Pro.

I have bought this notebook just for $500 NZ currency. I was just wondering, why would somebody sell a laptop so cheap? I mean if we just take out few things out of this then also we can recover more money than this for eg....

Office 2003 Pro - 350$
WinXP Pro - $250
HDD - $180
CD/DVD writer - $150
and then RAM, Processor etc etc........
Even its motherboard is not working, I can sell other things for profit....

Should I consider myself lucky or there might be something wrong in here? That mobo can be fixed, I mean it works sometimes so there might be a problem with something else...........

 

[Impotence]

Intermittent with computers normally involves physical change (movement) but laptops are packed so tightly there really isnt alot that can move around...

The only other thing i can think of off the top of my head is the possibility of a faulty temp sensor... as the machine would shut down to protect itself if the temp was reported as being too high (Most laptops de-throttle themselves first, and if that doesnt make a difference they power off!)

[ot]
Sell windowsXP + Office, take a few days off work with the money, install linux

or, repair the laptop, sell it for LOTS of money :D (as you mentioned from the value of the parts) and then take alot of time off work :D
[/ot]

 

[Karanislove]

The only other thing i can think of off the top of my head is the possibility of a faulty temp sensor... as the machine would shut down to protect itself if the temp was reported as being too high (Most laptops de-throttle themselves first, and if that doesnt make a difference they power off!)

It started for two to three times in the begining but now it doesnt even pass the POST test...... Any other ideas coz I dont think so that its because of the sensers as it doesnt even boots upto that point. Its just starting up with black screen and fans running....

 

[Karanislove]

Yesterday, I searched the net and come across these couple of solutions...

1. Remove the Battery for couple of hours, it will clean all the memory or somthing! (I am not sure about the whole reason).
2. Loose RAM can be the problem.(Press the RAM while you start the laptop).
3. Loose Wires (Open the Laptop and check for the wires).
4. Tap at the bottom when you start the Laptop.
5. Leave it on for sometime, it will start automatically.


So, the first method which I did try is Pressing RAM. It worked in the first place. I tried to install windowsXPP on it but it stopped in between and restart the PC. Then I decided to run Ubuntu Live CD on it. It denied starting again. Doesnt matter how hard I pressed the RAM. But after 5-6 tries, it started and installed Live CD on it. After finishing installation, there were 3-4 errors which I get when it reaches to the desktop. I cant remember them but there were some errors.. Doesnt matter whatever I tried to run on it, it wasnt working. Then I pull out the Ubuntu cd and inserted the winXPP CD back again. It starts and load some files and end up with "stop: c0000221 unknown hard error \systemroot\system32\ntdll.dll" error...

Microsoft says that this error is due to bad/pirated (which is not in my case) copy of windows otherwise there is a Hardware Issue or network problem.

In Hardware issue, I searched on the net and come across with these results and will gona check today with my laptop....
1. It could be the bad RAM...(I will run memtest86 on it tonight)
2. Could be the bad HDD...


Any other ideas in your mind guyz?

 

[Karanislove]

Yesterday, I downloaded the memtest86 from their website.
There is no FDD available on the Laptop, so I tried with the USB HDD, which was blank except memtest program. It didnt work. Then I copied test to the CD and tried to run with that, it didnt work. Now I dont know wtf is going on with program or my laptop.
But according to the Dell Diagnostic tests, everything is good...lol..
Is there any program or website(online) which checks the Hard Disk error?