Laptop Randomly Freezes

[gamehead200]

Hi... I haven't had a problem in a long time, but I just got my dad's new laptop, installed XP on it last Monday, and or the last week or so, it just randomly freezes...

For example, I'm surfing the web or talking on MSN Messenger or AIM, or ANYTHING, then I move my mouse and the computer just freezes... Can't end any process or wait, NOTHING WORKS! So I have to restart my laptop to fix it...

Specs for this laptop are:

P4 1.6GHz

256MB of RAM

30GB Hard Drive

I know there is a topic similar to this one (http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?act=ST&f=34&t=22256), but I believe this has nothing to do with my video drivers.

Any help would be appreciated...

[gamehead200]

Strange thing just happened now... I was just surfing on some page and then all of a sudden, my computer shuts off...

I actually think it may be the video drivers now, because I got a BSoD yesterday...

Help me?

[XtremeMaC]

it might be over heating?

also a friend of mine was experiencing problem like this few months later his ram died.

I experience a similar thing. but that happens when I resume from standby, I think this happened after sp2 but i cannot say for sure.

wait did u say it shuts off? that's f'ed up a little. is your graphics card ati?

and what brand is the laptop?

:offtopic: my computer works like "a telnet screen on a slow connection"(which I open the lid of my laptop. mouse moves nicely but if I click somewhere it takes 1-2min to process, also goes for startmenu..etc..) after resuming from stand by..

[gamehead200]

it might be over heating?

also a friend of mine was experiencing problem like this few months later his ram died.

I experience a similar thing. but that happens when I resume from standby, I think this happened after sp2 but i cannot say for sure.

wait did u say it shuts off? that's f'ed up a little. is your graphics card ati?

and what brand is the laptop?

:offtopic: my computer works like "a telnet screen on a slow connection"(which I open the lid of my laptop. mouse moves nicely but if I click somewhere it takes 1-2min to process, also goes for startmenu..etc..) after resuming from stand by..

I don't if its over-heating... My old 7 year old laptop didn't have a problem...

Yes, it just shut off on its own while I was browsing, like someone had pressed the power button and held it 'till it shut off...

My graphics card is an ATI Mobility M6. The brand of laptop is Toshiba... It is the Satellite 1900 series and it is about 2 or 3 years old now...

[kmf]

My Toshiba did the same thing. It had a bad systems board which is a very common problem on Toshibas.

After owning a Toshiba laptop I will never buy anything made buy Toshiba again.

[gamehead200]

Thing is, it never happened to my dad before...

[hansen_dk]

For example, I'm surfing the web or talking on MSN Messenger or AIM, or ANYTHING, then I move my mouse and the computer just freezes... Can't end any process or wait, NOTHING WORKS! So I have to restart my laptop to fix it...

It definately sounds like a RAM problem. If it's possible for you, then try changing the RAM.

[gamehead200]

Don't understand how it could be a RAM problem... This laptop was working fine for my dad (unless he didn't tell me something)...

Oh well, I just reinstalled the driver for my video card and I'm letting that ATI program run in the background... So far, no freezing!

[LiquidSage]

I found that uninstalling the ACPI in Device Manager worked for a client's toshiba lappy. Also, there was a nic issue that caused a BSOD problem as well.

Uninstalling Windows XP ACPI:

-->Device Manager -->r.click on "ACPI Computer"--> "Update Driver..."

-->replace the driver with "Standard PC".

XP will rebuild the HAL registry tree by reinstalling all your devices upon reboot.

You cannot go back to ACPI afterwards w/o a very long and tedious process...unless you make a image (system restore may not save you.)

Windows 2000, will die if you try this.

[gamehead200]

I don't quite understand what this will do... I reinstalled XP a week and a half ago... So far, I haven't had any problems with my laptop since I left the ATI program run in the background...

[jdoe]

I would go for what XtremeMac said about over heating. I had the same behavior with a Compaq Laptop at work. Make sure theres a good distance under the laptop for a good air flow. For testing purpose you could open the CD or DVD's door (that can make a better air flow between the inside and outside of the laptop).