# Dell Latitude D630



## Helpdesk65 (Dec 6, 2007)

Anyone hear of any known issues with the Latitude D630 and problems with it locking up ? Several users have complained about this issue. Nothing responds and have to do a hard reset. BIOS up to date, 2 GB of memory, no viruses, brand new out of the box. I've looked at Dell forums, no luck.

Anyone have any experiences like this ?


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## digipolly (Jan 24, 2008)

We've been having a similar issue with the D630s in our company. After logging in, explorer.exe does not load, and you must log off (Ctrl+Alt+Del) and back on. This problem is intermittent, but affects all laptops out of the box. A new BIOS update came out on 1/18, and I'm hoping this fixes the issue.


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## Helpdesk65 (Dec 6, 2007)

Thanks for the heads up for the BIOS update. This model seems to be fighting with the docking station quite a bit. I'll run the update see if it helps.....


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## Tech_1 (Mar 22, 2008)

In my organization I maintain about 85 Dell D-620’s and 50 Dell D-630’s. I have been experiencing the same issues with the computers locking up when using an air card in the PCMCIA slot. The lock ups are hard and require the power to be cycled. The original Aircard that I was using was the Sprint Pantech PX-500. I moved all users to the Novatell Merlin S720 from Sprint and that did not help. I still experience lock ups with the new cards. I recently purchased two Verizon Sierra wireless cards and they also cause lock ups. The computers run fine when the cards are not inserted and as far as I know no one has experienced any lock up when the cards are not installed. Other areas of my organization use similar laptops but they are not using any type of PCMCIA card and they are not seeing the lockups that I am seeing. So I have pretty much narrowed it down to the PCMCIA interface. I recently put a Dell D-510 and a D-600 in service to test the air cards with these units and after a few days we have not had any issues. But it is still a little early to tell.

I have tried many different approaches without success. The problem I have is that the computers may boot up fine 3, 4 or 5 times without a problem, sometimes even more. Then there are those times that the computer locks up as soon as the PCMCIA slot is powered. I have had computers that lock up 20 or more times at boot up and then suddenly it boots fine. I also have had computers that boot fine most of the time and then lock up when in use. There is no pattern so it is very difficult to determine the cause. I have updated the BIOS and applied many of the Dell updates and it makes no difference.

There is also another issue that appears to be involving both the D620 and 630. The PCMCIA interface dies. This has occurred with about 16 of these laptops within the last few months. With Dell on site we have opened these computers and have found that the ribbon cable that connects the PCMCIA cage to the motherboard is coming loose. On 3 of these occasions the PCMCIA cage was defective and had to be replaced. The others only needed to have the cable re-seated. I don’t think that this has any impact on the frequency of the lock ups. After the cable is re-seated or the cage replaced the lock ups continue.

As a last note, I have spoken with other agencies that use other brand laptops in a similar fashion with identical air cards and they have not had any trouble.


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## Helpdesk65 (Dec 6, 2007)

We are not using the PCMCIA slot at all. We've had Dell on the phone several times...even changed the mobo. Still ng.Another BIOS update released 2 weeks ago. 
I agree, it's very intermittent.


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## Tech_1 (Mar 22, 2008)

Are yours locking up as frequently as what I have described? Also, are you using any type of USB wireless?


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## Helpdesk65 (Dec 6, 2007)

No USB wireless. It seems to lock up at least once a day, sometimes more.No rhyme or reason to when it happens.


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## TriggerFinger (Jan 30, 2008)

Helpdesk65 said:


> No USB wireless. It seems to lock up at least once a day, sometimes more.No rhyme or reason to when it happens.


heard of this problem and Dell has no solution.. only solution they have is for another wireless PCMCIA card which Dell said is an old version of PCMCIA hardware. 

my IBM thinkpad suffered the same but on an internal WiFI 2200bg Intel. It freezes intermittently on XP on a bad day. But sometimes I can surf the internet for hours. I tried linux but still the same. So driver is not an issue but more likely hardware compatibility which only BIOS can fix. unfortunately I also have the latest BIOS... since it loves to play dead on me for no reason, i got fed up and threw it out one day :grin:


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## Tech_1 (Mar 22, 2008)

I just re-imaged two of the D630's. There is no software installed other than XP. I inserted the PCMCIA card and the computer locked up during the boot process. There were no drivers loaded for the air card on either machine. As soon as the system detected the presence of a PCMCIA card it locked up. One machine had all the OS updates and the second machine had no updates at all. Both performed the same way.


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## klp-ky (May 28, 2009)

I don't think it is the wireless that is causing the problem. I have a Latitude D630 that locks up and has video problems. The problems (at least the video ones) even occur during diagnostics in the Pre-boot system assessment.


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