I've been using this windows just fine for almost 3 years on a Inspiron 1501 but few months ago I began to have some problems. At first it suddenly started to type very slow but this seem to be fixed by the ATI video card driver (as I hear is a common Dell problem). Now it's freezing, the internet bowser runs very very slow (IE or Chrome doesn't make a difference) and sometimes is a great challenge even to access some folders. If I restart is ok for an hour or so. Today I got a blue screen.No virus or malware were found and I formatted it and reinstalled windows a week ago.oh.. once, at windows startup asked me for password even though I dont have one. It just wouldn't want to log in without any so I had to hard shut down (must say this one amused me).any ideas what could cause all this? and why so sudden after all that time?1 person needs an answerI do too

If it runs fine for an hour or so it could be sufferring heat problems.What does Event Viewer say for any erors?

Temperature is ok. I found some ATI errors ("I2c return failed" and "Not an EDID device") even if the driver is up to date and hardware acceleration is set to none.Thanks for your replay!

Have you updated drivers from places other than Dell?

you might want to boot up to the diagnostic boot menu.the first thing i would try is the option boot to "last known good configuration"if the option above fails then you might want to execute a restore point via safe mode.incidentally, make a restore point for today so that if an older point still doesn't improve windows performance, then you can bring your system back to today.if the option above fails then you might want to go back into safe mode and execute a "clean boot"if the option above fails as well, then you might want to execute a check disk.my suggestion for a thorough check disk would be to boot up with a xp cd.then at the setup screen click on repair to launch the recovery console.then at the disk prompt run the following command>:chkdsk /rthen remove cd, exit and reboot the system.db`...> DatabaseBen, Retired Professional - Systems Analyst - Database Developer - Accountancy - Veteran of the Armed Forces - @Hotmail.com "share the nirvana mann" - dbZen ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > >

thanks guys but i've decided to upgrade to windows 7.

If the computer is not working properly, installing an OS is the last thing I would do right now. If you have a hardware problem then find it first.Likely problems are memory contacts (try removing and reseating each DIMM) or overheating due to a stuck or dust-clogged fan.Also do not overlook the possibility of a bad PSU.

i had it cleaned after it started to give me troubles. was also checked for hardware problems and found a bad adapter but i was told this only will affect the battery (which is not recharging anymore and which, again, is a common dell problem).shifting to win 7 is the last thing i want to do but i'm running out of options.after installing xp it works perfect for one week at most and after that all sorts of problems begin without me doing any changes. is like the system is overloading but i can't understand how is that possible since i'm using the same programs or applications. last thing i want to try now is not to update windows. i've just reinstalled it. could it be some compatibility problem with sp3 or other updates? does it even make sense?