DELL D620 hangs when starting off line
We recently bought 8 new D620's from DELL and from the get go I'm having trouble with booting off line. The systems hangs intermittently after logon. Only desktop is visible, but no icons or taskbar. System is completely unresponsive, even ctrl alt del won't work. After a few hard reboots the system usually runs again!
The systems have been imaged and run XP pro SP2. We have loads of D600's and D610's with the same configuration and software that run without problems.
Made a new image to make sure that that wasn't the cause, but problem stays.
I find similar questions on the net, so I'm not alone, but I can't find solutions. It must be D620 specific. Current BIOS version is A06 (most recent version).
Can it have something to do with the dual core processor?
What makes it interesting (...) is that this only happens when booting off line. In the network everything runs smoothly.
Any ideas welcome! Solutions even more welcome!!!
The systems have been imaged and run XP pro SP2. We have loads of D600's and D610's with the same configuration and software that run without problems.
Made a new image to make sure that that wasn't the cause, but problem stays.
I find similar questions on the net, so I'm not alone, but I can't find solutions. It must be D620 specific. Current BIOS version is A06 (most recent version).
Can it have something to do with the dual core processor?
What makes it interesting (...) is that this only happens when booting off line. In the network everything runs smoothly.
Any ideas welcome! Solutions even more welcome!!!
ASKER
No fixed DNS, all DHCP clients!
Set a static address and try again.
Chris B
Chris B
In addition, is there any software that is trying to connect to the internet ( possibly for updates ) ?
Have you checked the event logs ?
I hope this helps !
Have you checked the event logs ?
I hope this helps !
ASKER
The only software could be the virusscanner, but that starts later!
Event logs show nothing out of the ordinairy...
Tried static addressing to no avail...also there is no reason for the system to hang if it cannot connect to a DNS or DHCP server...
This will be a long weekend... ;-)
Event logs show nothing out of the ordinairy...
Tried static addressing to no avail...also there is no reason for the system to hang if it cannot connect to a DNS or DHCP server...
This will be a long weekend... ;-)
We experienced something similar with D600 and D610 series in our office environment. After checking the event logs on several systems I discovered that the machines all had in common an application that was attempting to resolve a host name on start up. In this case the application was IBM PComm. It was able to resolve a host name when booting on the lan but not off the lan. We had to change some basic registry settings on the app. so that it did not attempt to poll the network on startup. I sugges that you look for a similar app on your systems.
This is caused by windows not your laptop, it's part of a domain yes? It's out there searching for either a domain or a particular wireless network and so on. I have a dell d610 and it does that to me all the time.. I simply hit ctrl-alt-del and select task manager and the task bar pops up and everything moves on a little faster.. You laptop isn't the problem.
Joshua
Joshua
Another thing that was brought to our attention by our ESG group is that there has been an "Urgent" driver update for a wireless driver vulnerability released by Dell last month: http://www.theregister.com/2006/11/15/broadcom_driver_flaw/ The updated driver is available for download: http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/previousversions.aspx?c=us&cs=04&l=en&s=bsd&vercnt=2&osl=en&SystemID=INS_PNT_P4_9400&deviceid=9805&libid=5&os=WXPX&releasetype=DRVR&typecnt=1
Regards,
Oleksiy G
Regards,
Oleksiy G
ASKER
@ Joshua: The system is completely unresponsive, crtl alt del doesn't work either. We have the exact same config on our D600's and 610's that run flawlessly!
I have switched off the wireless network card to make sure this wasn't the problem.
What wonders me the most is the fact that it happens intermittently. After one or two reboots the system starts again. What does it not find the first time, but does on the second/third attempt???
The dell driver update for the wlan card is unrelated to this problem, but good to know anyway! Thanks for that!
I have switched off the wireless network card to make sure this wasn't the problem.
What wonders me the most is the fact that it happens intermittently. After one or two reboots the system starts again. What does it not find the first time, but does on the second/third attempt???
The dell driver update for the wlan card is unrelated to this problem, but good to know anyway! Thanks for that!
Again, when my system does this the ctrl-alt-del can sometimes not respond for a few minutes, I have come to accept this under "Windoze" I also boot gentoo and it never does this. As a test can you start the laptop in safe mode about 10 times in a row, if it never does it then it's probably related to windows. You can always execute msconfig and uncheck all the items at startup and then restart. If that doesn't work you can try disabling wireless zero configuration ( in services ) from starting up by it's self. I have learned that if I start with my wireless nic disabled before it ever gets into windows I usally will not have that problem. I have had to have dell replace the motherboard in this thing once and I think it's about to go out again so, that could also be related but I doubt considering it has happened from day 1.
Joshua
Joshua
Since it is intermittent it is hard to tell if it is a hardware or software issue.
I would run burn in and Dell diagnostics for 24- 48 hours to see if anything fails.
I would also contact Dell since they are new.
DOes this happen with an original Dell image ?
I hope this helps !
I would run burn in and Dell diagnostics for 24- 48 hours to see if anything fails.
I would also contact Dell since they are new.
DOes this happen with an original Dell image ?
I hope this helps !
It's actually pretty easy, you see half of EE is telling him the same thing.. Just look above, the failure to listen is what is leading to frustration. Although it is possible that it is something else, it's not very likely at all. Re-Read all the posts as your answer is there.
Joshua
Joshua
ASKER
Thank God it is so easy Joshua...and stupid me for not listening...but am I really the one who isn't listening.
First you tell me to hit ctrl alt del, which I already said is not working.
Then you tell me I have to be more patient and wait a few minutes after ctrl alt del.... really good advice, hadn't thought of that. Apart from the fact this is also not working you have to be a particlarly bad system engineer to accept behaviour like that from a system!
I take all comments here seriously and try all the presented solutions before moving on, unfortunately the answer is not here yet.
Please don't try to help me anymore Joshua, since it is not really help you are offering. Luckily your arogant attitude is not representative for EE and there are others willing to help.
First you tell me to hit ctrl alt del, which I already said is not working.
Then you tell me I have to be more patient and wait a few minutes after ctrl alt del.... really good advice, hadn't thought of that. Apart from the fact this is also not working you have to be a particlarly bad system engineer to accept behaviour like that from a system!
I take all comments here seriously and try all the presented solutions before moving on, unfortunately the answer is not here yet.
Please don't try to help me anymore Joshua, since it is not really help you are offering. Luckily your arogant attitude is not representative for EE and there are others willing to help.
I am always willing to help, you just aren't listening, I will not "try" and help such an (CENSORED) in the future...
Get a new carreer cause your path is off..
Get a new carreer cause your path is off..
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ASKER
Thanks for the input Oleksiy. I'm sitting here eating donuts.
I found out it was drive mappings that were causing the problems. I never found the real problem, but somewhere in the process I decided it would be a good idea to re-join the domain and that solved the problems. I'll make a new image and hope I won't have to do this everytime with new d620 installations.
A big thank you to all for helping out, except of course our smart "ctrl alt del" Joshua!
Eddy
I found out it was drive mappings that were causing the problems. I never found the real problem, but somewhere in the process I decided it would be a good idea to re-join the domain and that solved the problems. I'll make a new image and hope I won't have to do this everytime with new d620 installations.
A big thank you to all for helping out, except of course our smart "ctrl alt del" Joshua!
Eddy
If it is only happening off line check that they are not refering to a fixed DNS that they can't find