# Laptop screen freezes/goes black and makes buzzing noise



## Machan (Jan 5, 2012)

So, I recently bought (3 months ago) a Dell XPS 15z from the Dell Outlet store and after about a month of use, I started to experience a problem. This problem has only occurred while playing 2 specific games, Penumbra Overture and League of Legends. It's not something that happens every time I play these games either and sometimes it does not occur for weeks.

My issue is very similar to another person's problem posted on these forums.

So here's the actual problem:
- When playing these games, a loud buzzing sound (is the best way to describe it) plays through I believe the speakers. When I have speakers plugged in it seems to play through the speakers and when I have my headset on it seems to come through the headset. The sound is like a BRRRR sound that occurs for about 1-3 seconds and then it stops.
- The screen also freezes, sometimes it freezes and sometimes it turns black.
- I can alt+tab and move my cursor but doing so just makes the screen black and I can't really interact with my desktop or anything.
- I can also ctrl+alt+delete to bring up the Windows 7 menu thing that has Lock this Computer, Switch User, etc. and I can click those but upon returning to the main screen, everything is pretty much unresponsive.
- The only way I know to recover from this problem is to force restart by holding down the power button

My Computer Specs:
Windows 7
Intel Core i7-2630QM @2.00GHz processor
6GB of RAM
Nvidia Geforce GT 540M graphics card

Let me know if you need any more information. Thanks!


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## GZ (Jan 31, 2010)

Hello Machan and welcome to TSF,

The first thing you want to do is go to the Dell support site and enter your service tag. Then download the latest chipset, video and sound drivers. Then proceed to install them in that order.

Let us know if that rectified the issue.


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## Machan (Jan 5, 2012)

I'm not entirely sure which chipset driver to download. I do know which video and sound to download though.

Also, I called Dell and they ended up replacing my motherboard. It did not fix the problem though. I sent them an email like they asked me to but I haven't gotten a reply in almost a week so I'm going to call them again probably later today.


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## GZ (Jan 31, 2010)

There should only be one chipset driver available. Dell usually makes it easy with the service tag system. Only the drivers for your system's configuration will be available.


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## magicapp (Jan 22, 2012)

OP did you ever find a resolution?

I have the exact same issue when I play league of legends

it just happened to me twice during a ranked game.

I could hear that same "buzzing" happen when skype loads, but it is maybe 0.3 seconds long and goes away. but there does seem to be a momentary blip.

I have an ACER lap top, running Windows 7.
My specs are:
intel core i7 2630QM 2 ghz 
amd radeon HD 6850M
I have a SS hard drive as well.

thanks


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## Machan (Jan 5, 2012)

@gavinzach

Sorry it took so long to post back, and you might not see this, but looking at the drivers and downloads page on the dell site there is only one file for my service tag. However, there's another tab labeled "All files for XPS 15" in which there is a chipset dropdown. I've added a picture showing what's under chipset as an attachment.


@Magicapp

Hey, this is actually ModgePodge from League of Legends so if you were looking for another case to look at, sorry! We discussed a little bit about this issue and I don't know if I mentioned this, but I don't think I've heard the buzzing noise when doing anything other than League of Legends or Penumbra Overture (as of now anyway). It's not to say that it doesn't happen with any other program, but in my situation, the buzzing sound only occurs when the computer crashes. It doesn't just make a buzzing sound and then continue working normally afterwards.


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## GZ (Jan 31, 2010)

Download and install both the Intel drivers.


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