One of the latest examples of my Inspiron misbehaving:  the TouchPad will work for a few minutes, then completely ignores any input.

 

Anybody have any suggestions on this one?

 

Other symptoms:

* web site can't find service tag

* FanGUI can't read temps, and the fan starts and stays at high

* joystick doesn't work at all.

* Hard drive performance is MISERABLE:  changing target directory during as "SAVE AS" operation can easily take 20 seconds.

 

(I'm going to cross-post under all the symptoms in case someone can help on one of them.)