Hardware lockup - need suggestions for diagnosing

[Ric Werme]

Subject: Hardware lockup - need suggestions for diagnosing

> I'm trying to diagnose my friends Dell Latitude C600 P3 @ 800MHz.  It 
> just locks up w/o rhyme or reason.  Ctl-Alt-Del won't work when it locks 
> up, so that, along with the fact that it happens with two version of 
> Windows and four different Linux Live CDs makes me think it's a h/w 
> problem.

My first guess is a bad connection that worse when cold.  We used to run
the back of a screwdriver over the racks of "Flip Chips", but that's
ancient history.

For a laptop, the most likely places for a bad connection are at connectors,
e.g to disk, keyboard, screen, etc.  Reseat everthing.  Next most likely is
a cracked trace on the main board.  You may be able to isolate the problem
while running something and pressing on various points around the circuit
board.  Broken etches are nearly impossible to see, bad solder joints are
easier, at least on components amenable to a soldering iron.

It would be a good time to look on Ebay for a similar system with a
broken display....

       -Ric Werme