Mike_N_Ike

Here's the story,

I have a Latitude d600 with a mobile p4 1.6 processor. I've never had trouble with it crashing in the past - in fact, I can't remember it ever crashing in the last year and a half.

I recently installed a little game called bridge builder set and have been playing it a lot while at home. I noticed however, that everytime I try to play it in class, I get a blue screen and the system shuts off.

It turns out that everytime I try to run that game and the computer is running off of batteries, I get a blue screen. It says it's a page fault with a dll file which appears to be for my graphics card.

Anybody run into this before or know how I can avoid it in the future?

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-Mike

psycho-

Since it's a Dell, it's extremely hard to believe that statement. The only way to not have problems on a dell is to leave it off.

On the other hand, you might want to update your Vid card drivers.

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Victor

GracieBayb

hmm, and why are you playing games in class? BUSTED!! just kidding

DarkFury

I've NEVER had any problems with my Dell Inspirion 8100... that I've had for 2 1/2 years now... no lockups no nothing... it just works.

So pretty much, you can't write off all Dell notebooks... but you only hear about the ones that went bad I guess.


BTW... could this be a problem with a bad battery? If it doesn't lockup when under AC power, then I'd start there for the solution.

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Jeffbx

Don't be a hater!

I have about 150 Latitudes here at work & they're stable as hell - I rarely have any problems with them. However, one thing that I have noticed is that a bad battery can cause flaky behavior on a machine. It's an expensive item to troubleshoot, but that's the first thing I'd consider. If it only locks up on battery power, and it's during heavy graphic/processor use, I bet the battery isn't holding a sufficient charge to power your machine.

The Latitudes have smart processors & fans, so that the processor speed doesn't kick into high gear unless you have an app that requires it (such as a game). Once the processor kicks into high gear (requiring more power), it generates more heat which will kick in the fan (drawing even more power). Could be the old battery just can't keep up.

OR - just thought of this - could be your fan is not kicking on for some reason & the machine is overheating. You should be able to hear it come on - on mine it's pretty loud, and it ALWAYS turns on when I have a game going.

Mike_N_Ike

Ok I'm on a different battery now and it seems to be working - albeit slowly.

I also updated the video drivers so I guess it could have been either one. I'll try the other battery with these drivers when I get back.

Thanks for the help.

Because class is borrrrrrrrring

psycho-

I've done IT support for 2 companies, and my analysis of dells can be sorta split into two groups:

Desk/occasional carry people : Usually no problems.

Road Warriors : Not good enough. Problem after problem. Can't compare to IBM and HP Business laptops.

So, overall, Dells seem to do okay when sitting in one location. But, when they are in more mobile situations, they tend to have alot of problems.

My cousin's response:

DarkFury

Yet and still... mine has held up to travel and desk.

As always... YOUR MILEAGE MAY VARY.