I have a sony laptop which is a few years old. It recently developed a problem where the hard drive access light goes to a solid on and then anything after that which involves the hard drive (opening a file, etc.) causes the computer to freeze up. The light will stay on for a few minutes with the computer barely operable, then the light will shut off. At this point, the computer becomes completely frozen. It'll stay like this for a few minutes, then laptop will reboot on its own.
This is starting to happen more frequently. Sometimes I can use the computer for hours before it freezes up, and other times it'll happen multiple times in a row during the boot process. While the light goes to a solid on, there are no strange noises from the hard drive, such as grinding, scratching, etc. In fact, when the light stays on the hard drive seems to be completely silent.
Is this most likely the hard drive? This would be my first guess, but I read somewhere that bad memory could cause freeze-ups like this. Any ideas?
This is starting to happen more frequently. Sometimes I can use the computer for hours before it freezes up, and other times it'll happen multiple times in a row during the boot process. While the light goes to a solid on, there are no strange noises from the hard drive, such as grinding, scratching, etc. In fact, when the light stays on the hard drive seems to be completely silent.
Is this most likely the hard drive? This would be my first guess, but I read somewhere that bad memory could cause freeze-ups like this. Any ideas?