Hanging laptop

[chanchan05]

My haptop hangs at random times, when I'm using it. Its not a frequent event but sometimes it does when I'm in the middle of typing a paper and it gets real annoying and frustrating. I am not sure as to what could be the cause. Help?

 

[bmxfreakrider]

Which OS are you running? XP, Vista (if so what version), win7, or perhaps mac?

also, what are the specs of your laptop? (cpu, ram, hdd size)

If above is unattainable then what is the make and model?

if windows, can you open up task manager (ctrl+shift+esc, its faster than ctrl+alt+delete) and how many running processes do you have? is it running hot?

It could also be your power options. A laptop will typically hang when in power saver mode when it needs to access something from the hdd, essentially making the laptop useless while it spins the HDD up and gets what it needs.

 

[chanchan05]

Ok, to answer the questions:

1. Vista Home Premium
2. 2.1Ghz T8100 Intel Core 2 Duo 3mb L2 cache, 2gb ram, 250gb HDD
3. HP Pavilion dv2855ee
4. There are 93 processes running (I don't know how to reduce this though, as I'm not sure how to turn the ones not needed off and keep them from running again on startup)
5. I'm usually on High performance as the laptop's batter is worn out already so I'm usually plugged in without the battery.

 

[bmxfreakrider]

did you ever do a fresh install after you bought the laptop to remove any of the bloatware?

 

[chanchan05]

Err. No. I don't know anything about what you are saying. ^_^. Please explain. ^_^. The laptop is a year old, and it only started happening recently. About 2 weeks ago.

 

[Lexluethar]

He is saying that a lot of laptops bought from retail stores come with software that isn't necessary for you to run your computer, things like HP media store, or Acer Computer Health Center. Stupid applications that come on laptops that are generally geared towards you purchasing more products.

What I would do if I were you is do a little 'tuneup' of your laptop. Do these things in order to just clean up shop so to speak
1. Disk Cleanup
2. Disk Defrag (yes vista does this automatically but do it anyways)
3. Disk Check
4. Virus Check
5. Spyware / Malware Check (Spybot Search & Destroy)
6. Turn laptop off and clean all vents with a can of air, you'll be amazed at what stuff will come out

After all of this if it is still occuring, go into administrator tools, then Reliability and Performance Monitor. Then go to the Reliability Monitor to see what is freezing or causing the issue. This graph and diagram may show you what is causing the shutdowns (if hardware or application/OS oriented). If it doesn't you can use the monitoring software to monitor your laptop to see what is causing the shutdown.

 

[chanchan05]

Where do I get Spybot? I do run Malwarebytes every week or so is that ok as a replacement for Spybot?, as well as Windows Defender (Once a week), BitDefender deep system scan (3x a week), Bitdefender PC Cleaner (1 a month), BitDefender Registry Cleaner(1 a month), as well as CCleaner(1 a month). I'll try to run them in a few days.

It hasn't frozen up on me this past few days (thank heavens as I am writing four term papers), but still since I haven't seen the problem it may act up again. However I have a question on defragging. I have never defragged my system before, and someone once told me to never defrag since all errors are lumped together during the process and you may never be able to remove the lump again? Is that true?

Also how do I run disk check on C:? everytime I do so it gives me a "disk is in use" message.

 

[Lexluethar]

Yes Malwarebytes can be a replacement for Spybot.
No defrag won't cause issues. If errors are there, they are there, it doesn't matter what part of the platter they are on. It doesn't make it 'worse' by putting those errors in one spot either. Its not like 'well one error is okay, but when you lump two or three together they cause major issues.'

To get to check disk and disk defrag go to computer, right click on the drive, go to properties then tools. Press the check disk button THEN check the 'scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors.' Then on the popup you'll want to schedule this for the next bootup. THen when you start your computer you will have a screen that will start up which will scan your computer.

Oh - and clean out your computer with a can of air.

 

[chanchan05]

But will the lumped errors still be removable from the computer so that they will not take up space?

Also, how do I clean up with a can of air? just shoot it through the vent? Wont it push the dirt deeper inside?

 

[TheMajor]

Check your Event Viewer for errors.
How to view and manage event logs in Event Viewer in Windows XP