Laptop Freeze/Crash! help, please?

Question

my laptop has just crashed...the time in the bottom right hand corner is still stuck on a time about half an hour ago, and the cursor is indicating that it's in the middle of a process or something...one of the windows i was trying to close just says 'not responding' and i can't click on anything to shut it down etc

tried cnt+alt+del and nothing happens...i don't want to just turn it off at the off switch as it crashed the other day and i did that and i had the entire drive wiped and the default settings re-applied

what do i do?! i can't afford for my laptop to break right before i go to university! shall i just let it run out of power??

help?!

Update:

it's windows vista btw!

Update 2:

it's a brand new laptop u see, i hardly have any programs installed on it, so the memory is fiiine, and it's not even connected to the net or anything yet...so slim chance of a virus...i think the laptop might just be a bit rubbish

but i was just wondering wether it was wiser to just leave it to turn off when the power depletes by itself or turn it off manually?...

Answer 1

Favorite Answer

Is this a recurring problem? How much RAM does the laptop have? Also are you having a lot of programs starting up with the machine i.e. AOL/AIM, limewire, MSN messenger etc....? Might be a good idea to stop (or close them if they are already open) some of the programs from starting up with Windows which is usually done in the settings of those programs. Basically it sounds to me like something is running up your RAM usage which cripples the system. This could be too many open programs or even a virus/spyware of some sort. Like I said, if possible, make sure you stop a lot of the programs that are starting up with the machine and make sure you don't run too many things at once.

The other part of it could be the laptop is over heating inside which will cause the system to gradually run slower and slower. Make sure you're not keeping it on a bed or a surface which kind of covers the bottom of it that doesn't let the heat dissipate. If it's less than 1 yr since you've purchased the machine, you should consider taking advantage of your manufacturers 1 yr limited warranty and sending it to them.

Don't downgrade to XP people think thats the easy way out of everything when it is not. If your PC is pretty new the hardware inside the machine could be difficult to even find drivers for XP. Vista requires a bare minimum of 1 GB/1024 MB of RAM to run, but problem is all the PC's you buy nowadays don't give you the bare minimum. They all come with a bunch of crap from the manufacturers (i.e. Dell, HP, Toshiba, Compaq, Sony, etc...) that either come in the form of trial software and extra "help tools" that over-ride/conflict with what Windows already does. Vista crashes/freezes MUCH LESS than XP.

Answer 2

Put some more memory in it. I advise 1 gig of memory. You cannot upgrade the processor since it is welded into the motherboard.

Or, send the laptop back for a new processor under warranty.

Vista sucks, i don't care how you look at it. Downgrade to XP and you should be ok. I have done trials and errors on Vista and it is garbage against games and other utilities.

Answer 3

Hmmm...hold down the power key for a few seconds, and it should turn off completely. Give the laptop a break, and see if it turns on alright later on in the night.

Answer 4

you could have a virus or something, or maybe conflicting programs,

if its totally frozen then there's not much you can do other than restart it.

Try downloading the program spybot, download all the updates and run the check, and make sure your antivirus is working, I use Avast since its free

Answer 5

Put the cursor in the Task Bar, right click and go to Task Manager that way.

-MM

Answer 6

whenever you start the laptop leave it ....don't press anything just wait for 5minutes to let it completely start ....then u play careefully ...don't open unnecessary windows... do u have anti virus protection in ur laptop???