I need some help.

[AnonymousMe]

Hey everyone, I was wondering if y'all could help me with a problem occurring with my laptop, it keeps freezing about 30-60 seconds after starting it up, I can't even do the slightest of activities. I bought it refurbished about 3 or 4 weeks ago and this issue started since yesterday. I ran the anti-virus, but nothing serious was found, but I might have an idea of why this is happening.

When I got it, it worked just fine, the only problem was that during moments when it's supposed to go to sleep, it freezes, it doesn't matter if the laptop gets closed or if it's left un-attended for a while, the same thing always happens. Here's where I think I screwed up, instead of shutting it down by holding the power button, I took out the battery and I did it quite a number of times too, I think that's what's causing the malfunction.

I don't think it's a recent model, it's a Gateway, with Windows XP and automatic updates are turned off (I'm aware XP is no longer supported, but I keep them off so a downloader I have doesn't become incompatible with my Firefox [That's how it works, right?]).

I'm currently looking for answers on other sites, but I think it's better when you're chatting with anyone that's trying to help you. If someone has an idea of how to fix this and/or has some questions, then please let me know.

 

[9006]

Yo.

You should make sure your laptop is not overheating since this can be a sign that major parts of your laptop is getting too hot, mostly your CPU. Feel underneath to make sure.

That out the way and taking out the possibility of hardware issues you can do some basic things to try and fix these problems. I posted a thread a while back that maybe able to help you here.

I suggest you do the first part first since it could be as simple as that. I written it around Windows 7 but it's the same really.

Good luck!

 

[AnonymousMe]

Hmm, OK, I'm gonna try to do some of those things, I hope the computer doesn't freeze during the process, but it didn't stop during the anti-virus scan, so it should be fine.

Just a few more things to know and consider: I don't think overheating could be an issue, because I'm still turning it on after staying off for a while and it's still freezing, didn't felt it hot and the fan's working just fine. Also, I haven't tried to boot it up in safe mode, I'm gonna try that and keep updating what's going on later.

 

[9006]

I forgot to mention about the updates. It's true that Microsoft no longer supports XP but that doesn't mean you can't still get updates. If there's any important updates that the laptop hasn't got that was available BEFORE microsoft pulled the plug then you'll still be able to download them via Windows update. Just enable it and check - but I'd leave this till last. Try a 'Disk Check' first since that can fix any corruption issues which causes freezing like you describe.

 

[AnonymousMe]

So, after testing a couple of things through trial and error, I discovered the problem, but correcting it is beyond me. Turns out that it's my Firefox what's causing the freezes. I can access all offline activities without any problems and for all the time I want, but a few moments after opening Firefox, my whole laptop freezes or crashes, whichever it is now. That's very strange, why is this happening now? It was working fine in prior weeks, now I suddenly can't get into my internet, I've never dealt with this before, so if anybody knows what's going on, then please tell me. In the meantime, I'll try to find some answers on other sites.

 

[9006]

So, after testing a couple of things through trial and error, I discovered the problem, but correcting it is beyond me. Turns out that it's my Firefox what's causing the freezes. I can access all offline activities without any problems and for all the time I want, but a few moments after opening Firefox, my whole laptop freezes or crashes, whichever it is now. That's very strange, why is this happening now? It was working fine in prior weeks, now I suddenly can't get into my internet, I've never dealt with this before, so if anybody knows what's going on, then please tell me. In the meantime, I'll try to find some answers on other sites.

If you've harrowed it down to FireFox then just uninstall it, restart, and reinstall it. As for why it's suddenly started doing it, it's impossible to determine without examining it. Do you clean your cache regularly an things? I know there's a few nasty malware infections that hook into Chrome; I've had to tend to a few instances of those. But mostly by reinstalling it simply works.

 

[AnonymousMe]

*sigh* Things got more complicated.

So, after I deleted and re-installed Firefox, it seemed to be functional again, but my laptop is now not able to go past the loading screen (the one that has the Windows logo with the moving blue bar). It rarely does manage to go to the desktop and to make things worse, I think my original problem is still there, because on one occasion, I was searching for answers regarding my new issue, then everything suddenly froze.

I looked to see how I can solve this and, apparently, it seems like the only way to solve this is by re-installing Windows again, but if that's the only way, I'm going to leave it till last, because I also read that it may be a corrupted hard drive or even the motherboard. I'm going to leave my computer alone for the moment and wait to see what's the recommended thing to do.

On another note, thanks for your time 9006, I really appreciate it.

 

[9006]

*sigh* Things got more complicated.

So, after I deleted and re-installed Firefox, it seemed to be functional again, but my laptop is now not able to go past the loading screen (the one that has the Windows logo with the moving blue bar). It rarely does manage to go to the desktop and to make things worse, I think my original problem is still there, because on one occasion, I was searching for answers regarding my new issue, then everything suddenly froze.

I looked to see how I can solve this and, apparently, it seems like the only way to solve this is by re-installing Windows again, but if that's the only way, I'm going to leave it till last, because I also read that it may be a corrupted hard drive or even the motherboard. I'm going to leave my computer alone for the moment and wait to see what's the recommended thing to do.

On another note, thanks for your time 9006, I really appreciate it.

Did you do scan your hard drive for errors like what's described in my previous post? Sound too easy but it might be simple as just corrupted files/folders and Windows does a pretty good job of fixing this issue, so no stupidly complex third party programs needed. People suggest reinstalling Windows because it's more easier than to spend time troubleshooting problems like this, personally I think it depends on how 'bad' or stubborn these problems are. Mostly it's surprisingly simple fixes.

 

[AnonymousMe]

A little update. My brother has become aware of my laptop's problems and recommended me someone he knows that fixes computers, I delivered it to this repairer this afternoon and I'm now waiting to see what he finds out. I told him that re-installing Windows could be a solution, but he said that he's going to leave that option until last, if he doesn't find what's causing the issues. I just hope it's a corrupted file or something, because re-installing the whole thing again would be very annoying. I'll tell what was the problem tomorrow or the day after.

 

[9006]

Reinstalling SHOULD be the last option really because people don't relalise how inconvenient it can be. Some people sign up to websites and emails and simply forget their user information and just let Chrome or whatever remember it all for them, then you come round to reinstall it then they complain that it no longer logs in. It's amazing how often that happens.

Hopefully it'll be something simple for you.