frozen

[Ryzekiel]

Hi all, I know "frozen" is pretty vague so I'll give as much information as possible.

I finished a clean install of XP and Ubuntu on my notebook (first time using Ubuntu). In XP I get a BSOD saying "IRQL_less_than_or_equal..." every once and a while. In Ubuntu it will freeze in such a way that I can still operate within, say, firefox, but I can't use the keyboard or click on anything in the bar at the top of the screen (applications, places, system).

I haven't noticed a pattern in regards to when the event occurs. It seems random. Another forum said to run memtest86, which I did. The results said everything was working properly. I can't imagine it's a hardware problem though. This wasn't happening before I reformatted.

If anyone has any idea what is going on, please let me know!

some system info
______________________________________
Windows XP media center edition 2005
Ubuntu 8.10 (64-bit)
Dell XPS M1210

[sydbat]

Still could be hardware. Maybe your HDD is starting to crap out. Or it might be something loose inside the box.

I suggest shutting down your machine, unplug it, open it and make sure that it is clean inside (they get dusty and that can cause problems) and that all connections are tight. Plug back in, reboot and see how it goes.

I had some bad RAM a few years ago and memtest86 didn't pick it up because it ran fine during the test. It was a random problem.

[Paqman]

Definitely sounds like hardware. The trouble with laptops is it's not as straightforward to diagnose the problem by swapping parts as it is with desktops.

If it's under warranty send it back, otherwise find a reputable laptop repair shop and get them to check it out.