Computer freezing after factory reset

[Flyder]

Background. I had hard drive problem, lost information and my user profile set to temporary. After mucking about trying to rescue files etc for a few weeks I did a factory restore.

 

Things appeared normal for a couple of hours while I downloaded AVG, recuva and a couple of other things, I shut the computer down properly and the next day it booted without anything untoward BUT when I clicked to open the intenet the screen whited out, froze and after an hour of letting it sort itself out nothing had happened so I had to pull the plug to even try rebooting.

 

Has anybody any suggestions as to what may be happening?

 

Thanks for reading

[Plastic Nev]

Hi Flyder,

Having done a factory reset I think we can rule out the operating system being at fault so that leaves us with possible hardware faults, this could be the RAM memory or the hard drive itself.

Is this computer a laptop or desktop? Can you please tell us that and the make and model will be useful to know.

 

If you know how to get to it, the RAM sticks or modules can be looked at first, if only one, take it out, clean the contacts on the edge, preferably using a pencil eraser first, then wipe off with a soft cloth and then replace it or them, if more than one stick just put one in and try it, if no change take that one out and try another.

Any problem with knowing what to look for, let us know, and whether a laptop or desktop.

 

Nev.

[Flyder]

Thank you for your quick answer to the distress call. Hard drive was top of my list but I have nowt to base it on, also I looked up replacement drive costs and it looks like it wont be worth it for a 4.5 year old lap top with dodgy mouse keys that has been used 12 hours a day for all that time. However I dont want to give up on it if it is an easy fix either. While I think about plucking up courage to look at the ram. Info is as follows.

Dell 1750 Inspiron Laptop

[Flyder]

PlasticNev, further to your suggestion,just wondering if this video on utube shows first thing removed is the hard drive, second the ram?

Do I have to remove one to get at the other?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIEO5DLsyb0

[Plastic Nev]

Hi, no the RAM is separate, however do as he did and remove the battery and power/charging plug. He only took out the hard drive as it is part of a full strip down, you only need the cover off for the RAM at the moment. The clips for the RAM just ease out sideways as he showed. Give the contacts a clean and replace just one if you have two, put the battery back and power plug and try it, if no change try the other RAM stick.

Let us know if anything at all is improved.

 

Nev.

[Flyder]

OK...did that.

Removed both Ram cards and cleaned as instructed. Replaced 1 only in bottom slot, booted up ok and got access to net. Turn off. Removed the only installed card and put the second one in the bottom slot. Rebooted and again got access to the net.

Undid back again and put the second card into the empty top slot. Restarted and got to the desktop without problems, then clicked to access net. Nothing. Clicked on start menu at left to see if I could access anything else..open an old program or similar. At this point both the desktop icons and the bottom icons disappeared, so again I cant shut down without pulling the batt and power out.

 

So possibly the answer is to remove the top memory card and see if the machine really works properly with just the one ram slot loaded?

 

hanks for helping, much appreciated.

[Plastic Nev]

It certainly looks like the RAM, and possibly either a mismatch, or one is slightly faulty. Sorry to ask you to take them both out again but can you check all the numbers and names on both sticks, see if they match each other, there will of course be differences in serial numbers, but that should be all unless one is a different size than the other. Let us know what the numbers and make are on each please.

 

If they are the same make and number, run for a while with just one, try and take note of speed of operation. If one is a smaller size in GB, then there will be a great difference in operation speeds but I am hoping they are both the same size.

 

Nev.

[Flyder]

Both kingston 2gb and look identical but one marked dimm1 another dimm2 on what appears to be a second bar code label on top of the kingstons own label. Might I have inadvertently swapped them when they should be in reverse order?

 

I am not sure how to "take note of speed of operation" of ram ? in system tools?

[Plastic Nev]

Dimm1 and dimm2 are the designation of which port they were originally in, Dimm 1 should be the one underneath with Dimm 2 on the top. However if both are identical and the same size it shouldn't really matter.

What I meant by taking note of speed, sorry I should have said just through normal running, for instance how long it takes to open a program, what sort of playback when running a video and that sort of thing, though 2GB on its own, possibly won't show much of a difference to the full 4GB when they were both in before it went wrong.

However if one stick is definitely faulty, you will see problems when that one is in.

Also try one at a time again but in the top port, not the bottom one and see if it will run then, it may just be a faulty port.

 

However, if no obvious problem with them one at a time, in either port as well, the next thing will be a Memory check, which is a download, but we will look at that after you have tried things first.

 

Nev.

[Flyder]

Thanks, that is all very helpful. I will trouble shoot it as you suggest and see what works best. Hopefully I can get it to work reasonably with just one of the ram sticks in one of the ports.

[Flyder]

Short answer is nothing works in any useful manner

 

Dimm 1 and 2 tried individually in the top port both booted but failed to open any programs. Froze to spinning ball when repeated the request.

Dimm 1 did exactly the same in the bottom when I resigned myself to trying with one 2mb ram card. Trying Dimm2 in bottom again I got as far as an open browser but as soon a s I called up a web page that too froze to spinning ball.

 

Is there anything else worth a try?

Many thanks again.

[Plastic Nev]

Hi, what about any ordinary programs, without trying the internet and a browser, can you open a program and actually use it, even if only Windows media player and play some music or a CD.

Let's see if we can nail this to an internet problem, or something else.

 

Nev.

[Flyder]

(Dimm 1 only lower tray)

 

AS the only way I can shut off the computer now is pulling plug I am opening to a Black and white screen and choosing option "open windows normally"".

Decided to try safe mode instead. Doing this I was able to open a works template document, alter it and save to desk top, then shut down correctly.

 

I then switched on and got to the normal desktop...the saved works doc was still there. I never use media player so not sure what normal would look like. instead opened the game solitaire and gave it a round. That seemed ok, so I went to find spider solitaire through the games tab.. Had a green bar progressing along the games screen top bar and a blank page. I have had time to type all this and it still hasnt opened. I cant close it normally.

Tried ctrl,alt , delete, after 2 mins the screen blacked out then a minute on, a pop up to say "The logon process was unable to display security and logon options when ctrl alt delete was pressed. If the operating system does not respond press escape or restart the computer using the power switch." I pressed OK. Taken back to the frozen desktop, which tells me the games programme is not responding.

(I tried solitaire in safe mode but that Windows told me it isnt accessible apparently anyway in that mode)

 

I dont suppose this gives you much to go on, if you think its too sick to do anything with do say! Thanks again

[Plastic Nev]

Hi, I now suspect that from cold, the hard drive appears to be working, however after a few minutes and once the drive starts to warm up, it is then failing.

It can be checked out if you have another computer, though it will mean having to buy either a USB adapter, USB docking station, or a full enclosure in order to connect the hard drive to another computer for checking purposes. As you saw on the video, removing the drive from the laptop is just as easy as it was to access the RAM.

If no other computer is available, the drive could be taken to a repair shop for checking, but that would mean paying a small fee perhaps.

 

The only other alternative problem could be something on the mother board, however my bet is now the hard drive.

 

Nev.

[Flyder]

Thanks nev. I think that tells me what I want to know. I can start thinking about a new computer without any guilt!

 

I have access to a diddy laptop that is struggling itself`. I think I know what you mean by a full enclosure, but to check the inspiron I need a 2.5", but would I be able to use a 3.5" for the laptop one and just give it a bit more room? The reason I ask is that I have a dodgy hard drive in an external Maxtor One touch that has also failed so I would like to learn how to unpick and check that when I have access to a better main machine.I am not sure what size hard drive is in the maxtor. Maxtor were bought out by Seagate so no manufacturer stuff to read. I do have the dvd that came with it but no dvd drive!

 

Do you know of anywhere I can look up the basics of the other methods you suggest as I am at a loss to know what you mean by a USB adapter & USB docking station,

[Plastic Nev]

Hi, if you already have an external hard drive, which I assume plugs into a USB port, the case it is in is similar to what you would buy as an enclosure.

 

When you get the hard drive out of the laptop, (as per the video) you will see there is a connector on the edge. A USB adapter has a plug that fits that edge connector with a USB plug on the other end. A docking station, is a unit that the hard drive just drops into with a socket inside that the hard drives edge connector fits into, you then plug the docking station into a USB port.

 

One important thing is the possibility of your external hard drive may be a different and older type than the laptop one, the older type is known as IDE, the one from your laptop is most likely to be SATA. However you won't know which it is until you take the external hard drive apart.

 

If the drive out of the external looks like this, it is the older IDE type, and is the 3.5 inch version, the 2.5 inch version looks similar but is smaller and a narrower connector. neither are swappable.

 

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y282/plasticpig/IDEharddrive_zps1d671289.jpg

 

However if the connections look like this, you are in luck and the laptop drive should fit as the SATA connections are the same for either a 2.5 inch laptop drive or a 3.5 inch desktop drive. This is actually a 2.5 inch laptop drive. SATA connectors are swappable.

 

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y282/plasticpig/SATAharddrive_zps2e7dd09e.jpg

 

 

Hope that helps,

 

Nev.