Screen blacks out

[lmac393]

I have an older Dell Inspiron. I can use it for about an hour then the screen goes black while I'm using it. I've tried everything to get it to wake up but the only thing that works is to give it a hard shut-down. Then I can start it up and it runs for about an hour before going black again. Time to bury it?

 

[hillmanant]

Sounds like a memory problem is there more than one memory stick in it? Can you try one stick at a time in varying slots on the MoBo? Try one and run it see if it goes black it it does try the other, if it still does try each in a different slot.

 

[lmac393]

Are you talking about a memory stick that goes into a USB port? No, none of those are attached. Only the mouse, printer and one of those fan pads underneath.

 

[hillmanant]

No RAM Memory Modules inside the case, on the motherboard. Kinda look like this.

Edit: Shut the computer down completely and unplug it before doing anything inside the case.

 

[lmac393]

Took the cards out and turned them around as per the beginning of this video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9BL1-RiT6A

It wouldn't even turn on after that so I put the cards back in as they were originally and it won't come on at all.

 

[hillmanant]

Took the cards out and turned them around as per the beginning of this video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9BL1-RiT6A

It wouldn't even turn on after that so I put the cards back in as they were originally and it won't come on at all.

What do u mean won't come on at all does the Dell splash screen come up? Does it try to start at all, do the fans spin?


Did you turn the power off and remove the battery before removing the Ram? When you put the cards back in you have to slide them in at an angle and then push them down, the dents on the side of the cards should line up with the tabs on the board, are the contacts seated all the way back into the socket? Flipping them around is fine and dandy but it tells you nothing. Just use 1 at a time put one card in slot A and boot see if it freezes if it does this would be the problem if it doesn't odds are the other card would be the problem. just flipping the cards doesn't remove any variables it just puts them in a different order, you don't eliminate any problems. If it doesn't freeze with either card singularly, try the other one just to confirm the freeze with it. You may need to simply get new RAM sticks. Again this is a trial and error thing the memory might not be the problem at all its just a step in troubleshooting a problem.

 

[lmac393]

Yeah, I didn't have the angle correct when I put them back in. It's booting up now. I'll let it go and see how long before the screen goes black again.