Hello Everyone.

Firstly, thank you for taking the time to read this post.

I have somewhat of a strange problem that I just cant figure out. I have a Dell Inspiron 9300 (4 years old). Few weeks ago my 256mb NVIDIA GeForce 6800 graphics card failed on me and so replaced it with a compatible used 128mb ATI X300 graphics card. I replaced it myself and was very careful during the card switch (atleast I think I was!).

After the switch, i booted it up and worked fine once I installed the correct drivers through DriverMax. I went ahead and updated all the other drivers that DriverMax said were outdated in my pc as well. Everything installed and seemed fine.

However, a day or so later, the pc started acting up. All of a sudden, at random times, the pc would freeze up and the little green hard disk light would remain lit up green. The pc would be completely unresponsive to mouse or keyboard and had no option but to power down using the power button held down. There are no strange noises or any noise for that matter from the hard disk I thought this was just a small glitch like one every now and then, but it kept occuring at random times after then anywhere from 5 minutes to 2 hours of general use (surfing, ms word etc ). I never had too many programs running at the same time and there was no indication of an impending freeze. Just randomly and instantly.


What have I done so far? ;

I thought it was the operating system acting up on me because after googling, many people with windows 7 had this issue of random freezes. My PC being an inspiron 9300 (an older pc), I thought it would be incompatible and so decided to revert back to Windows XP that came with the PC. After doing a clean format and XP installation, this issue permits.


My thoughts on this :

1) Maybe i messed something up while switching out the graphics card since I had to unplug many components and take apart the pc quite a bit.

2) In the BIOS I ran diagnostics and it gave out an error 1000-0146 which turns out to be a hard drive failing error. However, I dont think this is the cause since that error has been there for a long while now and dont see any issues with hard drive data being inaccesible or lost...

3) I did notice yesterday that as soon as I plugged in a USB memory stick, the pc instantly froze like before. I thought it was the USB port so i tried to reproduce the freeze after restarting but did not happen again. After 20 minutes though, the PC froze again (USB memory stick was not plugged in at the time of this crash).

4) After this clean install on Windows XP, all the drivers are not up to date as per DriverMax. They are all the current drivers from the Dell Website for the Inspiron 9300. I can only download and install 2 drivers a day using the DriverMax free edition. However, even when the drivers were uptodate as per DriverMax (when I was still on Windows 7), this issue was present.



Please help as I am now baffled and need this pc fixed!. Cant afford a new one right now!

In the BIOS I ran diagnostics and it gave out an error 1000-0146 which turns out to be a hard drive failing error. However, I dont think this is the cause since that error has been there for a long while now and dont see any issues with hard drive data being inaccesible or lost...

This may be a key element of what you're seeing here. A failing hard disk may appear to work for some time after initial errors have started appearing, but it's always best to take note of it and take corrective action before it dies completely. I know there are other tools out there to check your hard disk status, but the Acronis Drive Monitor (http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/drive-monitor/) is an easy one to use and can interrogate your system with easy-to-follow instructions.

I would avoid using DriverMax completely since it's flaky with updates. You're better off going to the Dell site, inputting your laptop's tag number, and then it'll show you all the correct drivers to download.

I cannot say for sure the hard disk is the root cause of all your problems, since it's likely something else is co-occurring with your system. However, we can get to that in due course.

Hello everyone,

Thanks for the replies and the help! I apologize for posting the same issue on two forums.

So the pc is currently running the chkdsk /r. Will updathe you on the results. Currently on Stage 5 of 5.

Regarding the Acronis Drive Monitor - I ran it and it gave a few errors which I saved as .jpeg imaged but I dont see any options to attach them to this post. Please advise. It basically showed my hard drive was at 11% health and a lot of other things as well.


There is also another update. When I saved these .jpg images onto my USB flash drive from the inspiron 9300 so I could post them up using this another PC, all of a sudden I got a blue screen which said the below:


*** Hardware Malfunction

Call your hardware vendor for support

NMI: Parity Check / Memory Parity Error

*** The system has halted ***



I then shut down and restarted the PC and it booted up normally again. Is currently running the chkdsk /r as Im writing this from my other PC. I will post results as soon as its done.


Once the chkdsk is completed, I will open the PC up again and check the connections to make sure I did not mess up while switching the graphics card. However, I never touched the Hard Disk while doing so, so I doubt it has a loose connection. I will recheck anyway

Read more: I am baffled ! Please help - Tech Support Forum http://www.techsupportforum.com/forums/f217/i-am-baffled-please-help-553820.html#ixzz1EvAgXGaD

Ok....the chkdsk /r has completed.

It did not detect any errors and said it was ok. I can't post the exact words since the screen changed really quick and the PC booted into win xp.

The Acronis Drive Monitor continues to show the errors on startup right now though.

It has been around 5 minutes since reboot and has not frozen yet, but the freeze is very random in time so cannot say much.

I will now ground myself and take apart the laptop to check if all connections are secure.


Please post if you can think of anything else. I'm at a brick wall!

Read more: I am baffled ! Please help - Tech Support Forum http://www.techsupportforum.com/forums/f10/i-am-baffled-please-help-553820.html#ixzz1EvMppDWX

1. To check whether there's a hardware problem or not...
Conversely: Is it your operating system environment that at fault or not?

(a) Try booting a Puppy_Linux "live" optical disk.
e.g. lupu-520.iso (http://www.diddywahdiddy.net/Puppy500/lupu-520.iso)
Download this on any working PC, and burn the ISO image to an optical disk type of your choice [I like CD-RW].
Before burning the iso to CD, might be wise check the download is good by using:
md5sum = 37a843833b65e8246bb08c2913b823a3 lupu-520.iso
I've never yet found a faulty download.

(b) If you prefer, you can run the Puppy from the disk without making a pupsave file.
It runs totally in ram, and because your using NO STORAGE MEDIA [like your HDD]...
Your HDD has been taken out of playing any part in the running of your operating system.
Hence, if your HDD is causing the problems, that will all disappear.

OR...[as I advise]
(c) At 1st shut-down you will be asked whether you want to make a pupsave file on some storage medium.
I suggest you have ready a Flash Drive, with at least one partition of between 0.5 & 1.3 GB, formatted ideally as ext3.
You can do all of this [prior to 1st shut-down] whilst in the Puppy session, by using "Menu->System->GParted".
This partition is the one to specify for holding the pupsave [named "lupusave" by lupu-520] during 1st shut-down [part of reboot?]
If you don't make a pupsave at 1st shut-down, you will be asked again at 2nd shut-down etc, until you make one.
At next boot...
If a pupsave exists...
It will be found and used.
Configurations and installations of additional packages will be stored in it.

(d) It's possible to run checks on your HDD from within Puppy.
e.g. Use Puppy->GParted to "check" you Windows partition filesystem.
Or install and run "Gsmartcontrol smart monitor" (http://www.pcguide.com/vb/showpost.php?p=437040&postcount=164) to study the state of health of your HDD.
See also this if missing dependencies are reported. (http://www.pcguide.com/vb/showpost.php?p=437053&postcount=165)

(e) You could install Avast antivirus on-demand scanner (http://www.pcguide.com/vb/showpost.php?p=421534&postcount=80), and scan your dormant Windows partition to see if any infection is found.

(f) Then you might use the Puppy to copy the pupsave file from the Flash Drive to the root [or at least high up the folder hierarchy] of some partition on your internal HDD.
If you copy it to the Windows partition, that would act as a check on whether the Windows partition causes problems or not.
When you boot the Puppy with the Flash Drive connected...
Both pupsaves will be found, and you will be asked to choose/specify which to use.
If the Puppy works well when you choose the pupsave on the Flash Drive...
But works badly when you choose the pupsave on the HDD...
It possibly/probably means all's not well with the HDD [e.g. the partition_file_system of the Windows partition, or the drive hardware].

Omitted to say above...
With regard to part 1(c)...
The following isn't essential, but it's the smart thing to do [if space is tight where you intend to store the pupsave].
What you are about to do, is to copy the SFS file from the optical disk to the place where you intend to store the pupsave.
That way, when [at 1st shut-down?] you specify that as the place to make the pupsave...
The SFS file will already be there...
And you will be shown the true amount of the available space, after the SFS has already used what it needs.
[You wouldn't want to use all the space for the pupsave, and then be unable to copy the SFS to that same space]
What I usually do on a Flash Drive, is make 1.3GB partitions.
About 0.3GB is used by the SFS file.
And I make the pupsave about 1GB.
This makes the files a nice neat fit in the partition, with no unused/wasted space.
If you know there is PLENTY of space available, then the following is un-necessary.

1. If you intend to make a pupsave file...
Before you make it...
i.e. Do the following during the 1st session, or in a session prior to making the pupsave:
(a) Install Xfe ["X File Explorer"]. (http://www.pcguide.com/vb/showpost.php?p=456655&postcount=284) [Follow the config advice here]
This is a GREAT file manager that will make the following easier.

(b) Mount the file system on the formatted partition on the Flash Drive, by clicking on its icon [sdc1?] on the desktop.

(c) Go to "Menu->File system->File managers->Xfe", and click on it to run it. [Make the config changes as advised in the post linked above]
Click the "tree and two panels" icon above the panes, so as to display the tree [pane-0] and two panels [pane-1, pane-2].
[If they are not already white] Click each of the black ghostly icons below the panes to make each white. [Makes hidden folders/files unhidden]
[If not already active] Click the / of the left-hand file pane [pane-1] to make it active.
Use Xfe to navigate [using the tree in pane-0] to the location where you intend to store the pupsave file.
Click on the drive/folder in the tree [pane-0], and it will be displayed in the active pane-1.
Now click on / above the right file pane [pane-2] to make it active.
Navigate [in the tree pane] to the location of the SFS file on the optical disk.
This should be located in or under /mnt/home
Click on the item [drive of folder?] holding the SFS file, and the contents of the folder [including the SFS] will be displayed in pane-2.
Right-click on the SFS file and choose "Copy to...", and accept the offer to copy it to the other pane [pane-1].
Job done!
Close Xfe.

Looks complicated when written, but it's REALLY EASY to do. :D

Poonawala,

Please advise. It basically showed my hard drive was at 11% health and a lot of other things as well.

This really concerns me, and I believe your hard disk may be close to failure. To cross-check what the Acronis application found, I would recommend - as noted on that other forum - you download and run SeaTools (http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/support/downloads/seatools/seatooldreg) on your machine.

If this corroborates what's being reported by Acronis, try to back up any data you can and purchase a new hard disk.