Laptop Crashing ...

[z4kir]

Hi people need a hand! I have a Packard Bell Easynote laptop with a p4 ht 3.2ghz processor and 512mb ram. Received it as a warranty replacement (warranty now ended) and this problem has been persistent, have even rebooted and it made no change.

Basically laptop crashes, whilst using the laptop it will eventually freeze on the screen and you can hear the fan wind down to a halt. Thought it is still possible to eject the dvd drive and if i put a disc it it will begin to whur as is if it is playing it as normal.

Initially thought it was due to usb products (doesnt help by removing them) I have tried msconfig (again no change) Sometimes I can leave the laptop on for over 14 hrs and it will crash after a couple of minutes of using it again.

Went to a computer repair shop to see what they thought, wihtout looking at the laptop the guy said it was either the fan not working (which I know does cos I can hear it!) or the processor itself is not working properly (approx £150 to replace!!!)

anyone have any ideas?

 

[jay]

It maybe over-heating, try entering the BIOS and slow down the processor, while in there check the hardware monitor, if it's over 40deg in idle, then it's probably that.


p.s. i've only ever taken a laptop apart once, it took me over 2 hours: shocked2

 

[zhinkler]

yep as jay said, sounds like a overheating problem, alot like my car!

 

[capdan]

Have you had a look in the event log to see if there are any suggestions to what is happening?
When the laptop crashes does is just basically power off or is it still running?
to eliminate software problems, viruses, trojans ect . . you could boot in safe mode leave the laptop on for a couple of days and see if it stays up

Capdan
ps just saying £150 with out diagnosing the problem is a little silly. . if all else fails try another repair shop

 

[z4kir]

I've entered BIOS and cant make sense as to how to slow down the processor or how to check the temp ... any tips would be handy!

capdan the laptop works fine in safemode (forgot to mention that earlier).

When it crashes the laptop is not powered off, the screen is frozen (as if it is paused), any audio stops and I can hear the fan wind down, though as mentioned it is still possible to open/close the dvd drive and if I pop in a cd whilst it is crashed, you can hear the cd spinning inside as it would normally.

The guy at the repair shop basically said he'd charge £40 just to look at it (which is way too much for my pocket!)

 

[jay]

Update all your drivers, vga, chipset....ect

bios aswel if that don't work

 

[capdan]

If it works in safe mode it is not a hardware problem. worst case you will have to back up your data and reinstall the opperating system, drivers and applications. If I was you I would byte the bullet and spend a couple ofg hours doing that!

 

[z4kir]

Thanks for the suggestion guys, havnt actually had the free time to attempt them yet. Though massive problem! Was on virgin trains today and plugged in my laptop to the power supply they provide and was happily doing some work, got a little bored and decided i'd watch some films i had on the harddrive, plugged in my headphones into the headphones port...

and laptop fully crashed and powered off, never happened before, no freeze frame like beofre it now no longer starts up. If I leave the power cord in, there are no lights on indicating charging/power on, have now tried it at home and again no reaction atall. As I have no warranty I am truely shitting it!

 

[smirnoff_rules]

blow out

Thanks for the suggestion guys, havnt actually had the free time to attempt them yet. Though massive problem! Was on virgin trains today and plugged in my laptop to the power supply they provide and was happily doing some work, got a little bored and decided i'd watch some films i had on the harddrive, plugged in my headphones into the headphones port...

and laptop fully crashed and powered off, never happened before, no freeze frame like beofre it now no longer starts up. If I leave the power cord in, there are no lights on indicating charging/power on, have now tried it at home and again no reaction atall. As I have no warranty I am truely shitting it!

l had the same problem as u . started after 2 hours then less and less, take to a garage not petrol pump one ,little back street one and get them to blow out with air blower/not air tyre gauge around the fan, the amount of dust that same out was was like three years of belly button dust lol ,,,hand on heart try this before waste money and time like l did..lol