[Nemonusred]

Hi,

I've had my laptop for about two years, and last week it began to freeze five minutes after startup, on average--never more than ten minutes after. No matter what programs I had open, I wouldn't be able to do anything but shut it off manually. I could restart it and it would work fine, albeit with occasional freezes during which it'd be frozen for a thirty seconds or so and then come back. It's done this every time I've started it up. I've also gotten more "not responding" messages from programs than usual, also lasting only a short time.

I do use the laptop very often, and thought there might be a problem with it overheating; the fan makes only the low whirring noise that is normal for it.

The other thing people suggested to me is more memory--I've got 1 GB right now, which I've heard isn't enough for Vista. Could that be it?

My computer stats, mostly copy-pasted from the 'My Computer' window, are it's a Dell Inspiron E1405 running Windows Vista; 1 GB of memory ; Intel core processor T2080 @ 1.73GHz. If you need any other information let me know and I'll try to find it. (I definitly checked the "beginner" box during registration. :P) Thanks

[Pohaku66]

Hi I've been having similar problems with my now 'out of waranty', two year old laptop (see specs below)

• Crashes about 4-6 minutes after start up.
• Originaly this problem started about 8 months ago but only after about 5-10 minutes of idle time

Some of the crash symptoms are:

• Any open applications stop responding and I get the blue vista 'processing' loop
• Hard drive/CPU indicator light goes dormant and does not come back on
• Sensor mouse/pointer works and I'm able to minimize any apps that have stopped responding
• Opening up the Start Menu brings up the menu but that freezes as soon as anything is selected.
• Task Manager fails to open or if already open continues to funtion untill something is selected then it crashes too.
• Usually only crashes when using AC power but has crashed on battery power occasionally.
• Has at very rate instances worked fine on AC power for extended periods (3 + hours) but then crashed.
• Has always crashed before a full system virus scan completes
• Does not crash in Safe Mode using AC power
• Will crash even when comp is cool

Things I've tried to solve the problem:

• Rolled back the display driver with no effect
• Did a Hard Reset (shut down computer, disconnected AC and removed battery then held down power button for 20 seconds.. attach battery and AC and reboot) with no effect.
• Disabled various services from System Configure, rebooted with no effect
• Did a Scan Disc -computer crashed before scan completed

Things I haven't tried yet:

• System Restore -no restore points because that service is not working right
• Re-install of Operating System -not an option until I back up my files
• Replaced the AC adapter -can't be the problem if the computer works in Safe Mode on AC power right?
• BIOS Hardware check -heard that this could make the computer non functioning if not done right? Didn't want to chance that.

Don't know if your symptoms mirror mine but any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[Pohaku66]

I guess my system specs didn't show up... here they are:

System Model: HP Pavilion dv9700 Notebook PC
System Type: X86-based PC - 32-bit Operating System
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T7500 @ 2.20GHz, 2194 Mhz
Memory (RAM): 3070MB
BIOS Version/Date: Hewlett-Packard F.59, 11/25/2008
SMBIOS: Version 2.4
Operating System: Windows Vista Home Premium
Version: 6.0.6000 Build 6000
System Board: Quanta
System ID: 30CB
Version: 79.2E
Hardware Graphics/Display: NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS
Warranty Status: Out of warranty

[Nemonusred]

Interesting. I get these symptoms "Any open applications stop responding and I get the blue vista 'processing' loop" and "Sensor mouse/pointer works and I'm able to minimize any apps that have stopped responding" also, but my indicator light remains on and I haven't noticed a correlation between the problem and whether I'm using AC or battery.

[Pohaku66]

It does sound like we have the same problem... will share any progress or findings I come accross. What type of video card are you using? Interesting that your HD indicator light remains active after the crash(s) occur...

[Nemonusred]

Same. Honestly, don't quote me on the indicator light thing, because I'm planning on really watching it next time this happens, but I wasn't paying too much attention to it before.

My video card is listed as Mobile Intel(R) 945 Express Chipset Family.

[Nemonusred]

I concentrated on keeping the laptop out of the sun--it usually sat next to a window--and the next time it froze I just waited for a few minutes, and it came back to life. It hasn't given me problems apart from general Vista slowness since, so I think that, at least in my case, it was overheating.

[joeten]

Hi Nemonsured you would benefit from a ram upgrade so look in to that you need the same type as is in there already,have you checked that all your air intake and heat output vents are free from dirt and debris, also the fan you can use canned air to clean them out use a straw or similar to stop the fan being spun the wrong way or at all,run the windows clean up tool and defrag you drive just to keep it tidy

[Nemonusred]

Thanks for the tips. Yeah, I'm planning on getting more RAM (or Windows 7, lol).

[joeten]

Pohaku66 you might want to try this also http://support.microsoft.com/kb/331796 this is related http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929135 it may help you find out if anything else is causing the issue

[Pohaku66]

Thanks for the tip and the links. I'll give that a try and see what comes of it.

[Pohaku66]

Originally Posted by joeten

Pohaku66 you might want to try this also http://support.microsoft.com/kb/331796 this is related http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929135 it may help you find out if anything else is causing the issue

followed all procedures and the problem still persists on AC power but not in Safe Mode. It has to be somthing to do with a process or service that runs with AC power and not with battery power or... perhaps it is heat related? Do things run hotter on AC power? It's kind of moot becuase it has crashed before when relativily cool so... *sighs*

[joeten]

Ok if you did things as per the info you should have stopped half your start up items and enabled one at a time then done the other half to see if anything triggered a issue,next you have not gone to the makers site for your comp and updated your drivers also see about updating your nvidia driver,check your vents are clear and your fan from dust and debris,use canned air if needed don't let the fan spin,the reason I repeated the steps is you say you can run in safe mode which means many things are off by default,same reason for the drivers only minimal drivers in safe mode

[Pohaku66]

I may have eliminated 'overheating' as the cause of the problem... I installed a temperature gauge to monitor the Hard Drive state and got some interesting results. On start up after being turned off all night the gauge read about 23 c. About eight minutes later the gauge had only gotten up to 34 c when a crash occured and subsequently all Hard Drive activity went dormant. Yesterday when I first installed the gauge the temperature was around 49c-52c before it crashed with about the same amount of up-time, roughly 6-10 minutes. I'm not sure what is the normal running temperature of a Hard Drive is but the fact that it crashed both at 34c and 51c while running for about eight minutes would have to rule out overheating as being the cause right?

The gauge also shows me separately the "read" activity and the "write" activity going on. I've noticed that when the AC is plugged in the "read" activity spikes and maintains a very high level all the way until it crashes. On battery power it also shows a lot of activity on start up but then eases off and eventually settles to nothing. This no doubt must have some significance in the problem I would assume but have no idea what if not temperature related.

What would cause the Hard Drive to work overtime (read) when using AC power but not when on battery is the question...? Might it have something to do with a hardware malfunction or perhaps some sort of minor shortage going on in the power path?

Oh yeah... it only crashes in Normal Mode, not in Safe Mode. This has to be significant to the problem I would assume...

[joeten]

Hi have you found anything in the eventviewer logs for around the time of the crashes it may help point to something, also this may help in tracking down some issues http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php