laptop locking up

VortecJeep

VortecJeep

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Aug 24, 2005
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Concord, NC
Our laptop runs XP and just yesterday it started locking up. My wife said before it started locking up, it had said it was doing an automatic update when she shut it down. When it locks up, you can't even ctrl-alt-delete. You have to use the power button just to turn it off. I have ran virus scan, and it didn't catch anything. Any ideas what to look for or check? To my knowledge, we have not loaded any new software lately.

The laptop is just over a year old Gateway refurbished model, running Windows XP Media Center Edition Version 2002 Service Pack 3.
 
I updated mine a few days ago and it slowed it waaaay down.

First, IF it can do it easily ( like my Dell ) do a system restore to a point before the trouble.

Second ......turn off auto update.

This is what I done and everything is gRoOvY,

Matt
 
Make sure your not doing either of the 2 bad things you can do with a laptop. 1) lift it by the front corner with 1 hand or 2) lift it buy the top corner of the monitor. Either can flex the system/internal boards. IE use 2 hands to handle an laptop..

Also, may not be related. SP3 may have just installed or is trying to.. It's huge and takes a while to download and the install (via automagic update) renders an older laptop useless during the install. My wifes tring to do this last week. I installed the SP3 blocker so it will not install it.
 
Thanks guys.
I set auto update to tell me there is an update but not to download or install.
I will blow out the fan. Is there a preferred method? Do I take the bottom off the laptop to do that?
If the problem persists, then I will try to revert back to how it was previous to the update.
 
GubNi said:
Just blow it...
Click to expand...


WITHOUT prolonged air spinning the fan... it's made to spin at speeds MUCH slower than your blowpipe will push it! I generally use a a paperclip or wire to hold the fan from spinning... then blow them out.

Not that I've seen a couple dozen fan stop working after "I just blew it out (with 90psi directed at the fan for 5 minutes)":rolleyes:
 
VortecJeep said:
Our laptop runs XP and just yesterday it started locking up. My wife said before it started locking up, it had said it was doing an automatic update when she shut it down. When it locks up, you can't even ctrl-alt-delete. You have to use the power button just to turn it off. I have ran virus scan, and it didn't catch anything. Any ideas what to look for or check? To my knowledge, we have not loaded any new software lately.
The laptop is just over a year old Gateway refurbished model, running Windows XP Media Center Edition Version 2002 Service Pack 3.
Click to expand...

I wanted to say if its a refurbished gateway, is the OS authentic? because most companies who refurbish laptops can either put in an OS that's a failure, like i bought my dell from usanotebook, the battery dies fast and i cant ever go no where without getting to the charger quickly, before i bought my first HP PC from a small computer store, a few months later it tells me i have low virtual memory, then to find the OS was a bootleg, so i had to order an entire OS system for 89 dollars... I wasn't happy about it.

The OS on your laptop could be corrupted or just the entire system, low RAM, everything, try doing a disk clean and defrag it, it that doesnt help, then you should trade it in or get a new laptop :) I really lost my trust with gateway, I would go with a Dell, compaq, etc
 
safe mode

at boot up press f8 and try to go into safe mode. If its a driver/software issue it will boot up, as safe mode only loads minimum amount of drivers to allow boot. if you can get into safe mode you can run "msconfig" see what attempting to run at startup and uncheck anything you think is unnessasary.
 
It is a refurbished laptop straight from Gateway, so the OS is the real deal. I think it may be an overheating issue because it does get hot. I am also trying to figure out what the update that ran was.
 
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