Serious Laptop Issue. ER help needed.


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marcwang

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Jan 9, 2003
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East Singapore
www.pbase.com
Hello Guys,

I've recently encountered a problem with my laptop, which I hope someone out here would lend a hand with. I'm quite a computer idiot, so... please bear with me.

Recently, my laptop has become occasionally unresponsive. On these occasions, the mouse would be jerky, typed words become jerky (laggy), and I can hear the processor/computer working in intervals like 1s, stop for 0.5s, work for 1 s, stop for 0.5s that sort of thing (the sound when the computer processes info). When these things occur, I would restart the computer, but the restart will take very very long. The shutting down is fine, but when it restarts, it will get stuck in the "COMPAQ" screen (the first thing u see when u on the laptop where u can press f10 to access the bios) for like 10 mins, before windows start up. This syndrom used to happen once a week , but off late, its been happening daily.

What do you think can be the cause of this problem ? Some of my friends have suggested a hardware problem, and I'm here to hear more opinions from computer experts here. If there is an issue, what could be the probable cause, and is it serviceable ?

I would appreciate no wild guesses. Many thanks in advance to those who have responded.
 

nope. I just had this a moment ago when I switched it on after 6hrs of rest. so I dont think its an overheating issue. And something to add, my harddisk sounds just fine... not loud clicking or anything. The noise I mention, is that faint noise when your computer thinks, when the green light flickers or comes on telling u that the cpu is busy.
 

good day sir,

it appears that your laptop has serious memory problems. maybe for a start you should try minimising the amount of programs running in the background during startups, etc MSN messanger etc etc. and if u're also using adobe photoshop it'll take up quite alot of memory as well.

next u can try removing some unused programs etc etc. after all has been done defrag your harddisk. this will take awhile for your case about 4hours. during this process do not launch any programs and if possible turn off the notebook's stayby mode and screensavers to aid the already slow speed. do not touch anything at all during the process...

worst come to worst u may want to consider a memory upgrade.


best regards
'Melvin
Canon 350D amateur
 

chances of a harddisk which is about to "die" is higher. Either that the mainboard is giving problems. What was the last thing you did before this happen? installed anything? upgraded RAM? what is the specs of the notebook?
 

that green light is actually connected to the harddisk. the sound are coming from the harddisk itself. the CPU has no phycial movements.

marcwang said:
nope. I just had this a moment ago when I switched it on after 6hrs of rest. so I dont think its an overheating issue. And something to add, my harddisk sounds just fine... not loud clicking or anything. The noise I mention, is that faint noise when your computer thinks, when the green light flickers or comes on telling u that the cpu is busy.
 

could it be spywares? i also no expert.
could well just post a HijackThis log here to see.
 

Seems like the motherboard might be faulty or could be the ram too. I suggest you bring it down to Compaq service centre for them to chk. If possible backup your data 1st that is the most impt thing.
 

my first bet is with spyware..
2nd is HDD/motherboard/processor/ram prob

easier to fix spyware prob first and mean while backup data.
last resort is to reinstall the OS

if still happens then pretty sure its hardware.. then go to compaq esp if you still have warranty
 

Here's the specs of my notebook, it performed flawlessly for the past 4 years. P4 1.4ghz M, 512mb DDR, 40gb fujitsu hdd. Sadly, the warranty is over.... .

I really hope I dont need a new computer. I would rather buy a D200!!!! argh

Is there a good laptop repair place anywhere ?
 

marcwang said:
Here's the specs of my notebook, it performed flawlessly for the past 4 years. P4 1.4ghz M, 512mb DDR, 40gb fujitsu hdd. Sadly, the warranty is over.... .

I really hope I dont need a new computer. I would rather buy a D200!!!! argh

Is there a good laptop repair place anywhere ?

u sure not software ah??
 

Marc, first thing to do is backup all your stuff first.
Seems like your notebook has a hardware problem. Disable your Compaq logo from showing so that you can see all the diagnostic messages. You can change this in your BIOS setting. Now when you start it up, see if the long pause occurs after the RAM test. I suspect your hard disk is going to fail. Usually, this is the first thing that dies. Notebooks can last very long if you handle them with care but hard disks usually last only 2-3 years.
 

I had a similar problem once... Do you have a lot of programs installed? Esp programs that gets loaded up on startup? They would appear as icons on the bottom right corner... Usual number is around 5. Once there are too many programs opened, your laptop will use up the 512MB DDR and start using your Hard Disk as a RAM, called Virtual Memory. So, it's trying to load Virtual Memory and load the programs at the same time, causing the stuttering and pauses. What's worst is if your remaining disk space is below that assigned to Virtual Memory.

I would suggestion removing some unused programs and games.
 

wah 4 yr old already ar?
then my money is betting on hardware prob..
esp if its been used alot.. guess ur D200 will have to wait ...
 

marcwang said:
Here's the specs of my notebook, it performed flawlessly for the past 4 years. P4 1.4ghz M, 512mb DDR, 40gb fujitsu hdd. Sadly, the warranty is over.... .

I really hope I dont need a new computer. I would rather buy a D200!!!! argh

Is there a good laptop repair place anywhere ?


I suggest you start backing up all your important data from the existing 40Gb harddisk regardless of whatever suggestion you have heard so far. The most expensive and irreplaceable item is the data on the harddisk, unless they are all trash data inside.
Once you have backup all your important data, you can start to repair your notebook or have someone repair it for you.

The failure that you have encountered sounds like a harddisk that is about to fail. Since booting up the notebook from the bios screen is not normal, it is most likely a hardware failure somewhere. It should not be a OS or software related issue.

You might want to remove the harddisk, then turn on your notebook to see if the bios delay during bootup still occur. Try borrowing a notebook harddisk from your friends to test whether your notebook is ok. If you don't have any confidence in opening up the notebook, try to get someone to help you.
 

My first bet would be spywares/trojans, especially if you are constantly hooked up on the net without firewall or spyware blockers.

Best thing to do, like the rest of the guys say -- backup your data first. Then only begin your diagnostics. If you don't have a firewall, turn on the Microsoft Firewall that comes with XP (assuming you are running XP) next. Then, get a credible spyware tool (Adaware is quite alrite) to scan through your system, if all checks out OK, then get some harddisk diagnostic tool to see if your HDD is dying.

Other possible problems could be defragmented registry, defragmented disks, etc. It is hard to help you remotely via forum like that. So, hope this helps somehow.
 

Can't really be spyware since booting up before prior to CMOS screen clearing the problem of sluggishness is already there. Looks more like hardware issue to me.
 

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