(I hope this is the right sub-group! Apologies, if it's not)

I am running a Dell INSPIRION N5010, Win 7 Ultimate, RAM 4GB, 64bit; Intel(R) Core (™) i3 CPU, M350 2,27GHz 2.26GHZ

I’ve been experiencing a wide range of issues with it over the past year and have lost all hope to IT-services I’ve turned to so I’m hoping to somehow prolongue its life myself until I can afford a new laptop.

The lead-up to my CURRENT problems:

First, I started getting quite slow and had graphic glitches and soon after blue screen errors and beeping instead of turning on (this happened straight after I had it checked just in case before my WARRANTY ends at the warranty place)

Eventually, I took it back to the warranty (that was still valid) and they said it was a hard drive problem and said they’ll change it. They ordered the drive while I was still under warranty, but the fixing itself happened after

While being fixed, I got a call saying that my motherboard had crashed (which I figure was the initial problem anyway), but as ‘they broke it’, they’ll replace it for free (I am worried I got a faulty motherboard maybe?)

Had a friend’s IT guy install a new OS (to my knowledge its genuine) and everything was working fine for about 2 months ‘til problems started again

What is happening with it now:
It’s still quite slow and freezes/doesn’t respond often

Cuts power without a warning and takes half an hour to agree to turn on again. The cuts appear to be random - sometimes it handles hours of Photoshop, other times it cuts in the middle of only using Word; with and without being plugged in)

When it does, it always offers a CHKDSK which I can’t complete as it always cuts power after a few minutes. The only way to get the laptop to turn on is to cancel it and after it gets to the Windows 7 screen, it will stay turned on

Recently, the sound has started to randomly turn robotic and the cut altogether.

Around the same time, I also stopped being able to ‘check for updates’ on Windows Update.

When the battery drains, instead of resuming windows, I have to start it up again.

What have I done:
I am not too good with computers so this bit is fairly limited.

Tried to complete CHKDSK, but NEVER get past 5%

I downloaded HWMonitor, but not sure what the right levels are supposed to be. I imagine the power cuts are to do with overheating, though the laptop, though warm, doesn’t, actually get hot. The fans do make quite a lot of noise though.

I have tried to check the drivers etc and they seem to fine/not in need to be updated.
I did a disk clean up, but disk defragmenter doesn’t start.

I know the best option here is probably to buy a new laptop, which I currently can’t afford. I currently have no familiar IT-guys in my disposal and I’d rather not pay £50 for diagnostics somewhere else, as it’s already like 20% of the price of a low-rate new laptop.

Thanks for any suggestions what to try!


I have no IDEA what to look out for. I currently only had one window open, normally the temperatures are slightly higher.

Do these problems happen while the laptop is plugged into wall power or just when on battery power?


Dell has a support site that has diagnostics that might help if it is able to run long enough to run them without shutting down: http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/product-support/product/inspiron-15-intel-n5010/diagnose
Sounds like the power brick or battery to me...or both...