Ok, I am having gagle of issues suddenly happening to my 8500...let me list...

1. Touchpad and Stick have ceased to work
2. Keyboard works for about 10 minutes then ceases to work and must reboot.
3. System freezes and will only unfreeze when you physically move the computer.
4. White Screen of Death Error appears and sometimes says that there is something attached to my port replicator (which I dont have) causing and issue and to remove it, or I get nothing at all, just a white screen with "Dell Computer Systems Inc."
5. The laptop just shuts itself off and will not allow me to turn it back on for 20 - 30 min. (Sounds like an overheat)

Im almost sure that I will be needing a new motherboard because of this, but I just wanted to bounce it off some others before I go to a tech shop and get a**-forked to repair it.

Thanks to all who respond.

alright, some things to check.

Flashed the bios anytime as of late?

Take off the keyboard and palmrest and check the connectors to make sure they're on properly.

Guides are available on Dells support site. http://support.dell.com

how do things work after that?

before you go diving into getting it repaired you might want to give what pebkac suggested a shot. On top of this find out if these problems occur outside of windows like leaving the system on in the BIOS screen to eliminate any software conflicts or issues. Just to let you know that at this point considering how dated the hardware is (now 4 generations old) you may want to scrap the notebook and put the money towards a new model because the motherboard is usually one of the 2 top priced items in a notebook repair next to the LCD screen.