toshibarookie

Bought a Toshiba Satellite L305-S5946 in May 2009. Running Vista sp2. Worked like a champ for six months then started doing a partial hang thing. The cursor still moves and lets you select start menu, but no actions start. "Working" circle indicator is active and a very dim light flashes next to the hd led, but nothing happens. I left it like this for 12+ hours and nothing changed. I have to hold the power button down and restart. Chkdsk found some bad sectors the first time, but nothing after subsequent freezes. There's no consistency as to what causes it. Sometimes it happens after a couple of hours, other times just a few minutes. It's happened with several programs open, internet only, once in safe mode and once during chkdsk. I assume this is a failing hard drive. Any other ideas?

raptor_pa

It could be an HD, but it sounds more like malware or some type of virus. What are you using for antivirus/adware protection? Have you run a full scan with it recently?

toshibarookie

Malwarebytes and Windows Defender. Full scans are clean.

raptor_pa

Post your full system specs including Mobo and Power supply please.

toshibarookie

Sorry, I know this is way more info than you asked for, but I didn't know how to get what you wanted specifically so I copied the spec page from the online manual. Thanks for your help.

Satellite L305 Detailed Product Specification1
Model Name: L305-S5946 Part Number: PSLB8U-0VS062 UPC: 883974234868
Operating System C1 2
• Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium (SP1, 32-bit version)
Processor and Chipset3
Intel® Centrino® processor technology featuring:
• Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T6400
o 2.0GHz, 2MB L2 Cache, 800MHz FSB
• Mobile Intel® GM45 Express Chipset
• Intel® Wi-Fi Link 5100AGN (802.11a/g/n)4
Memory5
• Configured with 3GB PC6400 DDR2 SDRAM (both memory slots may
be occupied). Maximum capacity 4GB
Storage Drive6
• 250GB (5400 RPM); Serial ATA hard disk drive
Fixed Optical Disk Drive7
• DVD SuperMulti (+/-R double layer) with Labelflash® drive supporting
11 formats
o Maximum speed and compatibility: CD-ROM (24x), CD-R (24x),
CD-RW (24x), DVD-ROM (8x), DVD-R (Single Layer, (8x)),
DVD-R (Double Layer, (6x)), DVD-RW (6x), DVD+R (Single
Layer, (8x)), DVD+R (Double Layer, (6x)), DVD+RW (8x), DVDRAM
(5x)
o Supports Labelflash® media to burn high quality labels directly on
the disk.
Display8
• 15.4” diagonal widescreen TruBrite® TFT LCD display at 1280x800
native resolution (WXGA)
o Native support for 720p content
Graphics9
• Mobile Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD with 128MB-
1342MB dynamically allocated shared graphics memory
Sound
• Built-in stereo speakers
• Sound volume control dial
Input Devices
• 86 key US keyboard
• TouchPad™ pointing device
• TouchPad™ Enable/Disable
• Control Buttons:
o Mute button
o Media button
o CD/DVD control buttons
Communications
• Webcam with microphone built-into LCD bezel
• Modem10
• 10/100 Ethernet
• Integrated Wi-Fi® compliant wireless:
o Intel® Wi-Fi Link 5100AGN (802.11a/g/n) 11 12
Expandability
• 2 main memory slots. Both slots may be occupied.
• ExpressCard™ slot (ExpressCard/34 and ExpressCard/54)
• 4-in-1 Bridge Media Adapter
o Secure Digital, Secure Digital High Capacity, Memory Stick™,
Memory Stick PRO™, Multi Media Card™ [shared slots]
Ports
• Video
o RGB(monitor) output port
• Audio
o Microphone input port
o Headphone output port
• Data
o USB v2.0 – 3ports
o RJ-45 LAN port
o RJ-11 modem port
Physical Description
• Glossy black with Onyx blue lid
• Dimensions (W x D x H Front/H Rear): 14.3” x 10.6” x 1.33” /1.51”
without feet
• Weight: Starting at 5.49lbs depending upon configuration13
Power
• 75W (19V x 3.95A) 100-240V AC Adapter
o Dimensions (W x D x H): 5.23” x 1.21” x 2.28”
o Weight: starting at 0.77 lb
Battery14
• 4000mAh (6 cell) Lithium Ion battery pack
Software C1 15
• Toshiba Software and Utilities
o TOSHIBA Value Added Package
o Electronic User’s Guide
o TOSHIBA ConfigFree®
o TOSHIBA Assist
o TOSHIBA DVD Player
o TOSHIBA Disc Creator
o TOSHIBA Extended Tiles for Windows Mobility Center
o TOSHIBA Speech System
o TOSHIBA Resources
o TOSHIBA Recovery Disc Creator
o Hard disc (HDD) recovery
o TOSHIBA Face Recognition
• Third-party Software
o WildTangent® Orb™ Games Console
o Microsoft® Works 9
o Google™ Toolbar
o Google™ Desktop
o Google™ Picasa™
o Sun® Java™ 2 Runtime Environment
o Adobe® Acrobat® Reader
• Trial Software
o Microsoft® Office Home and Student 2007 Edition 60-day trial
o Norton 360™ All-In-One Security
• Special Offers
o Amazon.com-Online Shopping
o Intuit® Quickbooks® Financial Center
o Skype™
o eMusic
o NetZero® Internet Service
o Computrace® LoJack® for Laptops (BIOS Enabled)
Environmental Specifications
• This product is RoHS16 compatible
• Energy Star 4.0 compliant
• EPEAT™ Silver
Operating Non-operating
Temperature17 5° to 35° C
(41° to 95° F)
-20° to 60 C
(-4° to 140 F)
Thermal Gradient 15° C per hour (max) 20° C per hour (max)
Relative Humidity
(non-condensing)
20% to 80% 10% to 95%
Altitude
(relative to sea level)
0 to 3000 meters 0 to 10,000 meters
Shock 10G 60G
Vibration 0.5G 1.0G

raptor_pa

Make sure all the vents underneath are clear and open, and the fans are running. Is the machine sitting on a hard surface or soft surface when it is failing? It is probably a Toshiba drive, but to be sure pull the drive and identify the manufacturer then download the diagnostics for the drive from thweir support site and run that against the drive. Use the bootable cd version if one is available to take windows out of the equation.

HD_Monkey

Malware/Viruses tend to download to temp folders. Open task manager and go to processes tab. Sort by user name and kill all processes (related to your user name) excluding explorer.exe. Run an advanced search on the word "temp". Open each temp folder and delete everything you can inside. Some files will not be deletable. Don't worry about that. Also, clear browser cache. Reboot. Takes care of most of the bugs.

toshibarookie

Finally got an error message to appear. Found these comments describing the exact problem related to Vista issues. Sounds similar to the temp file solution proposed above. Thanks.

http://forums.techarena.in/operating...tm#post4256185

http://www.vistax64.com/vista-perfor...te-dial-3.html