I'm actually not quite sure if it's a hardware or a software issue. Anyway, my laptop (running Win 7 64-bit, AMD A8 3500M 1.5Ghz(internet says 4 cores), 6GB RAM) runs extremely smooth. But after about 10-45 minutes (it seems to depend on what I'm doing as far as processor load), the fan starts going in overdrive and the whole computer locks up.
I've felt the bottom when it does this, and it is definitely NOT hot. It's barely even warm. I figured the fan just turned on because it read the amount of strings going through the processor rather than sensing the temperature.
Any help? I'll gladly answer any additional info or post logs that anyone wants me to run.
What do you mean when you say locks up?
Have you tried using Task Manager in the Performance tab to monitor your system resources when these lock ups occur?
I've tried. But, these freeze ups are so random that it's like watching a tea kettle.. It doesn't do it when I have the resource monitor open.
And when I mean lockup, I mean an unrecoverable, 100% lock up. The whole system freezes and nothing works. Keyboard and mouse are unresponsive, like I said before, the fan goes full board, and the system just won't come back. I have to choke it to death (holding down the power button). Boot it back up and everything works fine (other than windows asking me what to do since it didn't shut down properly).
I can't seem to find that info other than the BIOS which doesn't help too much. The only thing I could find, using SIW, was the GPU temp, which sits between 45-48 C.
EDIT: I downloaded 2 different CPU temp programs, and 1 said my processor was not supported and the other just displayed nothing.
There we go, that one shows it. Says average is 48-49 C. Is that too hot? It doesn't feel hot to the touch, not even warm, which is usually what I go by on laptops.
Any help? I don't want to try reformatting it and then have it freeze in the middle of that too.. is there any way to find out if its hardware or software related?
Because if it's software related, I'll gladly reformat and re-install windows.
Hi start by cleaning the air vents and fan with some compressed air to ensure nothing is causing extra heat (I know you said it was not hot) test the ram with memtest 86 + RAM - Test with Memtest86+ - Windows 7 Help Forums
test the hard drive SeaTools for DOS tutorial
troubleshooting is a process of elimination and moves slowly in order to be thorough.
You have only given part of the model number please check for the rest Hp pavilion DV6 xxxx
Not sure why Joeten asked you to run SeaTools, as it's only for Seagate drives, unless he saw something in your Posts I missed. If SPECCY is correct and it usually is, SeaTools will NOT be able to test a Toshiba drive.
Bear in mind this is not an absolute thing, but you have the hard drive that fails more than all the other laptop hard drives I see in all brands of laptops--Toshiba. Their quality is quite low, as is the Motherboard quality on ALL HP laptops and has been that way for more than 10 yrs.. now. The quickest way to resolve this problem is to unfortunately backup all your vital data to an external drive or cloud account and reinstall your Windows7 from either Recovery Discs or the built-in Recovery partitions that all HP dv model laptops have built in. If Windows fails to reinstall from either the built-in Recovery Partition or from the Factory Recovery discs; most likely it's the hard drive as I said, and you need to replace with a WD or a Seagate of similar capacity. Do NOT replace with a Toshiba, obviously.
This type of problem is very typical on laptops 3-5 yrs. of age which yours is, and extremely typical on older HP pavilion dv series. Laptop hard drives begin to fail about 2 yrs. (right after the most-commonly purchased Extended Warranties expire!); and 5 yrs. If you've never replaced the original hard drive in your laptop, odds are that's the source of all your lockup problems. I've seen this on HP's and Acer's particularly of that 3-5 yr. age category.
Replacement hard drives are cheap, and well under $100 to fix your problem. It's cheaper than a new Motherboard which will run you $180-$260 roughly; but it's more cost effective to replace the hard drive first; if it still fails to reinstall Windows; it's time to junk the laptop and replace with new in most cases. New laptops start at $199 now, so unless it's a really high-end laptop, it's not worth $280-$360 to repair it; and that's parts only ,not labor unless you do yourself.
Next time you buy a laptop, I'd advise selecting a brand other than HP for reasons stated above.
Sorry to bump again, but this is an important question. I actually found a working Laptop SATA 320GB WD harddrive (Model WD3200BEVT) laying around. If I were to replace my laptop's current HD with this one, can I put in the recovery disks and have it up and running with a valid copy of Windows?
Alright guys, I'm back. And I'm done with another test. I put in a new hard drive and installed Windows 7 32bit (not the OS it came with). Was doing fine the first 2 days. Now, it is back to where I started: complete freeze with no cpu spike.
What programs have you got installed take a snapshot of your installed programs from programs and features, and post it, someone might be able to see if there is one known for causing an issue.
To my knowledge you can do so as the recovery disk come for particular models, so using original recovery disks on your laptop with new HDD in there shouldn't be a problem.
Cheers mate.
If you do have any crash/ error logs you can attach and post, you should post them in here ... BSOD, App Crashes And Hangs
The specialists there are quite busy and might take a little while to determine the cause but they will help if you can provide the required information.
@joeten: These are all the user installed programs:
Name Version
Apple Software Update 2.1.3.127
Java 7 Update 67 7.0.670
Google Drive 1.17.7290.4094
Apple Application Support 3.0.6
Microsoft .NET Framework 4 Client Profile 4.0.30319
iTunes 11.3.1.2
Adobe Reader XI (11.0.08) 11.0.08
Apple Mobile Device Support 7.1.2.6
Google Update Helper 1.3.24.15
Skype™ 6.18 6.18.106
Bonjour 3.0.0.10
Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable - x86 9.0.30729.4148
Java Auto Updater 2.1.67.1
EDIT: WMIC didn't catch this one. But I also have Avast, WinRAR, and Steam installed with Dungeon Defenders and EVE Online.
@BIGBEARJEDI: Here's my current diagnosis trip:
-CPU doesn't go above 49 C, so overheating is not the issue
-I ran both of my RAM stick through 7 times on MemTest86, no errors
-I attempted to recover on a new HD, however, this particular laptop did not come with factory restore disks and DOES NOT have an option to make factory restore disks. This means I cannot use a recovery option (The HP recovery disk I made greyed out the option for factory reset with a different HD in it, but not with the original).
-I have successfully installed a new harddrive and used a 32-bit Windows 7 disk. It works great, other than the original problem. No new problems, though.
@vikrant singh: As said previously, the laptop did not come with factory restore disks, and does not give an option to make one. It only allows me to make a "Recovery disk". Which only allows me to make backups and restore them (it doesn't allow me to restore them to a different harddrive, already tried that).
@Panther063: No crash/error logs that I know of. If you happen to know where they might show up, I'd definitely take a look.
Thanks all for the replies.
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