"betrina" <> wrote in message
news:194D2CE9-7AED-4B9A-8433-...
> The Dell guy based his comment on the fact that I ran all the dell
> diagnostics on the laptop before restoring to factory image and no
> problems
> were found. Added software: Google Earth; Turbo Tax 2007, 2004, 2003; Word
> 2000; Excel 2000. No added hardware, except a basic usb mouse plugged in.
> I
> downloaded Microsoft diagnostic tools (dell guy tried but could not. I
> don't
> think he is very experienced), but when I try to read the mini dump file,
> I
> get "debugger is not using the correct symbols" error.
> There is a dumpchk.exe for XP to read minidump files. Is there a dump
> check
> utility for Vista?
> The Vista reliability report for the times of unexpected shutdown just
> says
> "OS stopped working". Not much help there.
>
I don't know if there's a dumpchk for Vista. I can only assume you're trying
to use the XP dumpchk and thusly are getting the error you've listed above.
Found this link:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en
Only Vista version listed is Ultimate... so don't know if it would work on
other flavors. Kinda odd, but worth looking into, maybe.
Unfortunately, I think you might need to do a factory restore and run your
box without installing any additional software to validate that it's a Dell
problem or not. Do factory restore. Run system. (Download something like one
of PC Mag's benchmarking tests, which you can set to run and hammer the
system.) Install one app. Rerun tests. Install second app, rerun tests...
etc. Hard to determine the best order in which to install the apps... (The
best order being the order which most quickly discovers the problem app, if
there is one...)
I know that sounds like a lot of work, and indeed it is. But if Dell is
telling you it's not their problem, you have to prove otherwise.
Sorry to hear you're having such problems. I have Vista running on two Dell
Latitude D620's here without issue. And I've run it on quite a few other
Dell model types without issue. Not a big help, I know... very frustrating
what you're going through.
Lang