Below message was sent to me over e-mail that I decided to share with everyone on the forum in the hope that the solution may help others.

hello. i purchased my Inspiron 530,Intel Core2 Duo processor E4400 (2.00GHz 800FSB) w/Dual Core Technologyand 2MB cache.. in sept 2007 brand new. im currently having probles like: it keeps freezing and unable to restart or restore at all times. i would like to do whatever it takes to get it fix. would i have to buy a new computer? i would glady give a donation if you could help me in anyway.

There are a few possible reasons why your computer is doing what it is doing. At first, based on what you posted I would say that it sounds like your operating system is corrupt. I'm not sure if you are running Windows XP, or Vista, but you should try to do a reinstall of the OS. If you have recovery CDs that may have came with the computer, try running those which should restore your computer to manufacturer default settings. If you do not, then your computer may have a separate hard drive or partition for doing a recovery without the CDs. Normally you just keep smashing the 'F10' key when the computer first boots up (as soon as you see white text on the screen) until you are provided with a menu option. One of these options should allow you to restore your computer to default settings restoring the computer back the way it was when you got it from the manufacturer. The only bad thing about doing this is that all you data will be gone, so hopefully you have a backup of all your important data.

If for some reason your computer is unable to do recover, or keeps crashing during the recovery process, this may indicate that your hard drive is bad. Hard drives are easily replaced and are fairly affordable if this is the problem. A good way I like to test whether the computer is broke, or if it's just the hard drive or Windows is to download and burn a copy of Linux Ubuntu to a CD. Linux is a free operating system that will run and work right off the CD so it doesn't have to be installed. If this works, then this will mean that your computer is good, and that either your hard drive is bad or the Windows OS is corrupt. If it doesn't run, then it could mean that you have another issue, like bad or flaky memory, hot processor, or some other issue that would require someone to look at the computer.

I hope this info helps and if you would like me to look at it please let me know. Due to the holidays, I won't have time to check it out until next Wednesday.

Quote from user:

thank you for your quick reply,
Im using windows vista and i have the original disc that come with the computer. if i could bring it to you on wed. that'll be great. This has happened before (a month ago) therefore i saved everything on a external harddrive. Im giving you permission do whatever needs to do to it in order to get it fixed. (would you think i need a new driver?)

You may not need to bring me the computer. Just put in the restore CD that came with the computer. When you boot up the computer, it may ask if you to press any key to boot from the cd. Do that and then you should be presented with a wizard that will guide you through the reinstall process. If you need help over the phone on how to do this, call me at 015122980396. I'm available today over the phone. Its a fairly easy process that I think you can do yourself, but maybe you just need a little guidance to make sure you are doing it right. I can provide that to you. Now if you can't get it restored this way, then you are more than welcome to bring it to me or I can meet you somewhere to pick it up.