Dell Inspiron Keeps Restarting Randomly

charmedquark · Jan 3, 2014

My 1 year old Dell Inspiron has started randomly rebooting throughout the day. Sometime the interval between reboots is a few hours, other times just a few minutes. It happens at least 5-10 times per day. Any thoughts?

Thanks!

TomasD · Jan 3, 2014

Hello,

Please follow Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) Posting Instructions - Windows 8.1, 8, 7 & Vista. Once we have this additional information, we will do our best to resolve these issues you're facing.

charmedquark · Jan 3, 2014

Thanks! Will do.

charmedquark · Jan 3, 2014

Unfortunately it won't stay booted long enough -it's now restarting immediately upon startup. Any suggestions? Thanks.

TomasD · Jan 3, 2014

Does Safe Mode works or it restarts too?

charmedquark · Jan 3, 2014

Safe mode worked earlier today. I'll try again now...

charmedquark · Jan 3, 2014

It just booted into normal mode and I'm running the bsod app. If it craps out in the middle, I'll try booting into safe mode. Thanks for the help!

charmedquark · Jan 3, 2014

I was able to run the BSOD app. When I tried to run the performance monitor, it returned an error message when trying to generate a report. Shall I follow the instructions to start a new thread with the BDOS zipped output, and leave out the performance monitor report? - Thanks.

charmedquark · Jan 3, 2014

BDOS Output

Attached is my zipped output from the BSOD file collection. The performance monitor crapped out during the report generation, so I haven't included it here. My laptop has been repeatedly and randomly rebooting many times during the day.

Dell Inspiron 5520
Intel Core i3 2370M
Intel HD Graphics 3000
Windows 7 Home Edition 64 bit, pre-installed
Hardware and software ~14 months old
Never reinstalled OS

Thanks!!

TomasD · Jan 3, 2014

Thanks. You didn't need to create a new topic, though.

It looks there are no minidumps on your systems (neither C:\WINDOWS\MEMORY.DMP or C:\WINDOWS\Minidump\*.dmp files), so it's not possible to say for sure what's causing these reboots. Could you please follow this guide and make sure dumps are enabled ("Kernel Memory Dump" option should be selected). If you can, please provide a screenshot of that window.

In addition, I noticed that the date of you computer is set to 2014. Could you please enter make sure a correct date it set in BIOS and Windows? Even it is not likely a cause of the reboots, it might cause some other unexpected issues. In addition, that might be an indication you CMOS battery is dying (and that could cause the reboots).

TomasD · Jan 3, 2014

Re: BDOS Output

This topic should be merged with Dell Inspiron Keeps Restarting Randomly.

Tekno Venus · Jan 3, 2014

Re: BDOS Output

TomasD said:
This topic should be merged with Dell Inspiron Keeps Restarting Randomly.

DONE

charmedquark · Jan 3, 2014

Re: BDOS Output

Sorry - the BSOD instruction specifically stated to start a new thread...Attached is a png file of the screen capture after I changed "Kernel Memory Dump" to "Complete Memory Dump" as per the instructions you provided. Should I rerun the BSOD app and provide the new output? I'll poke around to see how to set the date in the BIOS and windows.

Also, my laptop no longer starts up after shutting down - it's simply shuts down randomly, with no attempt at starting up. I have to hit the power button to attempt a startup. I also ran a Dell app called PC Check that does a complete check of the hard disks, memory, DVD drive, etc and everything passed.

Thanks again for all the support!

TomasD · Jan 3, 2014

OK, the dump settings seems OK. Anyhow, since there are no BSODs/dumps, it really looks like a serious hardware issue.

Is your laptop running on a battery or on power adapter? Could you try removing the battery and run it with power adapter only?

charmedquark · Jan 3, 2014

Thanks - I'm re-running the BSOD app with the new dump setting. I am currently running on a battery, sometimes with wall plug power, and sometimes the battery alone. The shutdowns occur regardless of whether I'm on battery alone or wall plug power. I'll take the battery out and see if/when I get the next restart.

charmedquark · Jan 3, 2014

Unfortunately it is still powering down/rebooting even with the battery removed. The last time, it beeped 5 times, several times, and wouldn't start up....

TomasD · Jan 4, 2014

charmedquark said:
Unfortunately it is still powering down/rebooting even with the battery removed. The last time, it beeped 5 times, several times, and wouldn't start up....

As per this post, 5 beeps mean "Real Time Clock (RTC) power fail: CMOS battery failure". So, it means I probably was correct when I said the wrong date on your system might be an indication of failing CMOS battery. Please replace it and see if it solves the issue.

charmedquark · Jan 4, 2014

Ok - I'll try that. But the date and time in my BIOS and the Windows 7 time were both perfectly correct. When you mentioned that the date was set to 2014, why is that incorrect? It *is* 2014!

TomasD · Jan 4, 2014

charmedquark said:
Ok - I'll try that. But the date and time in my BIOS and the Windows 7 time were both perfectly correct. When you mentioned that the date was set to 2014, why is that incorrect? It *is* 2014!

Sorry about that, my bad. Still living in 2013 :sleep2:

charmedquark · Jan 4, 2014

Ha! :) One more thing - I've noticed that when Windows boots up now, the little Windows jingle sounds sounds fuzzy - like there's static, even though the speakers are fine. Not sure if that means anything...

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