Acer TM 8104 freezes at startup

I've had a problem with my Acer Travelmate 8104 since I got it last year. It often freezes when I start it up 'from cold'. It will sometimes do this twice in a row, but once it's up and running it will shut down and restart fine and there are no other apparent problems. It sometimes freezes on or around the 'Welcome' or 'Windows is starting' screen, but often it will get to the desktop before hanging. Once it froze going into hibernation, and the power indicator was flashing green and amber (couldn't find any explanation of this - maybe an error code?)

Nothing to do with any hardware or software I've installed as it will do this even with a roll back to factory settings using e-recovery (tried this a few times, and at first it seems OK but after a while the problem recurs). I found errors in the event log linked to the smart card reader, so I disabled this which seemed to improve things at first, but the problem is back. Have also tried disabling other hardware.

Contacted service who just said send it in, but that means waiting in for the couriers and a 10 working day delay for the service (in Belgium). Also, like I said, when I recover factory settings it seems OK at first so I'm half expecting them to send it back saying there's no problem.

Any ideas what this could be, or diagnostics I could try? I already checked HDD (chkdsk) and memory (memtest-86) and updated ATI X700 drivers to latest version available from acer ftp site. Temperature is around 49C on AC power with processor on full and fan on (mobilemonitor).

Should I buy XP Home OEM and try a clean install, or send it in after all insisting they check hardware (before the warranty expires)?

Dave

Thanks a lot nanobrain, this could be it. I removed a 512 MB stick from the top slot and it then started fine from cold. Then tried the one from the top in the bottom slot and it also started fine at first, but froze up when I tried it from cold. (By 'cold' I mean the laptop's been shut down and switched off for at least an hour.) Back with the good stick now and it seems ok. I will test it some more and report back.
Dave

Thanks again.

I did some more testing and am pretty sure this is the problem. It works fine with just the 'good' chip in, but will freeze with just the 'bad' one, or with both in either order.

Remains to be seen now whether acer will replace the defective chip without me having to send the machine in.

Top forum.

Dave