XPS L502x no operating system, stuttering/lagging

[oldpcguy]

Hello everybody.

I recently got an xpsl503x i7 2670q with a gt 525m bios revision A07
Win7 64 bit 4 GB ram.

The machine keeps failing to boot with error message "no operation
system" operation not operating lol.

Removing the mains power,then the battery for a second seems to solve this problem, it then boots into win7 as normal.

Peformance is very laggy e.g with delays before your typing appears into a browser search, and using the scroll bar, in everything else as well, and and any other program operations also.

I managed to solve the browser typing problem by setting nvidia tools
to use the nvidia card only for that browser.

3Dmark 06 on default setting seems to give a decent score of about 8500,
but the online score page says 32MB video ram, Sandra confirms 1GB.

SC2 starts, but stuttering badly, and unplayable.

I would be very grateful id any one here has any experience of these
problems or any ideas to try please.

Kind regards.

[Risco]

Rather than trying to figure out an issue with something so new, get it replaced. Assuming it is still inside 30 days, then they will give you a brand new replacement rather than a refurb.

All the time you have the choice of a brand new replacement, take it. As later on you would be forced either to get it patched together, or the lottery of a refurb.

As to what I believe is the issue, it sounds like a faulty hdd. Also the memory could be duff. Anyway, don't worry yourself and get it replaced ASAP!

[oldpcguy]

Hi Risco. Thank you for the fast reply, and sorry for the delay in aknowleging it, i should have said in my post that it is a refurbished machine.

I've already done a chkdsk, memcheck (kubuntu disk), sfc /viewonly system file check etc, reduced the sound settings from studio quality etc.

It hasn't done the no operating system problem today yet, firefox delay
seems intermittent, but the main thing the sc2 stuttering persists, i might
try re-installing it.

[dave-p]

If you can run the dell diagnostics on the laptop.

Even a refurb has a return / exchange period I thought

but it does have warranty and you may have to use it.

I would consider a clean install of the OS to start though,

[daryld1988]

sounds to me like a faulty hard drive or a problem with your sata controller on the laptop, if you have any spare hard drives try them or even try a full format of your current hard drive, and reinstall all the latest updated drivers from dell i also see that you state you are on the a07 bios try updating to the new a09 bios as it may ease some of your problems

[Risco]

Originally Posted by daryld1988

sounds to me like a faulty hard drive or a problem with your sata controller on the laptop, if you have any spare hard drives try them or even try a full format of your current hard drive, and reinstall all the latest updated drivers from dell i also see that you state you are on the a07 bios try updating to the new a09 bios as it may ease some of your problems

Never update the bios on a system that is running flaky. You could end up with an doormat.

[daryld1988]

yea sorry kinda forgot that as risco states skip the bios update until you atleast have things running stable, but i world bet money on it being the hard drive as the slowness could be down 2 the failing of ur hard drive n therefore your seek times and read and write speeds to the hard drive being affected

[oldpcguy]

Hi. Than you everybody for taking the time to reply, i think i agree about the
hard drive, or controller, i've done some more testing and set windows to
performance first, and disabled anything that may slow it down, reduced audio quality, still the same.

A strange thing i found is that the boot error message only seems to come
on when it is running on mains, and then :

Press F12 at startup and select HD and it boots immediately, into windows.

Set boot order to HD first and boots immediately, otherwise there seems to be quite a delay before the windows splash screen.

I'm beginning to wonder about the sata controller now, or one of the other
bootable device controllers, or dvd drive even.
Perhaps a corrupt or infected bios (but did a scan), the MBR seems to be ok.

Perhaps there is more than one fault.

[daryld1988]

hi again sorry to hear you are still having problems try this link http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Deta...&DownloadType= click download on the 1 at the top and let it install this is the latest controller driver for your system install it and restart your system to see if it makes any changes to your system

[LoYaL_RUS]

Try to use this HDDScan – free HDD test utility with USB flash and RAID support and check RD-read opt. , check HDD SMART.
I also have such problem w l502x WD500, there was a lot of 500ms sectors and many CAN errors in SMART.
I did HDD replace w dell support - now all OK