Computer became unusable out of nowhere.

mgio · 07-19-2009, 07:49 AM

Windows Explorer Freezing, extremely slow, safe mode crashes, programs won't open
Last night, out of nowhere, I noticed that every 15 seconds or so the computer would seem to freeze and then unfreeze after about 5 seconds or so. The computer has never done this before. I decided to restart, and this is when things started getting bad. After restarting, the computer seemed to boot up fine, but when I clicked on firefox, it seemed to lock up completely. The taskbar didn't seem to be affected, so I clicked start. The frame of the start window opened, but everything inside was white, and that too appeared frozen. I hit ctrl-alt-del, and nothing happened, the computer stayed locked.

I turned the computer off manually and tried restarting in safe mode. The computer started to boot until it reached a specific process (I don't remember which). It was stuck on that process for about 15 minutes, and then it just turned itself off.

I turned the computer back on again and let it boot fully while I took a shower, so it had about 30 minutes to fully boot. I come back and everything seems to be working, icons are highlighting as I hovered over them, the start menu worked, right-click menu's appeared, etc. I opened up a folder with some movies on my desktop. It loaded fine. I click a movie, and it begins playing, but then all of the sudden the whole thing freezes, and I can't open anything in the background. I hit ctrl-alt-del, and this time it actually worked. I chose task manager, and although it took 5 minutes to actually appear, I was happy to see it. I checked the CPU usage, and it was not above 3 percent even while the computer was locking up, which was bizzare to me.

I used msconfig to disable everything non-vital from startup but the problem persists. Every now and then I'll get a Windows Solution box pop-up telling me there's a problem with my hard disk. I performed a disk check and it found nothing. It seems that if I click a bunch of items (programs, folders, browsers), the computer locks up initially, but if I walk away for 15 or so minutes I'll come back and they'll be opened. Also, occasionally I'll get a box that pops-up telling me various Windows services have been terminated. These have included Java, Windows Indexer, whatever service was controlling the speakers, and others.

My computer was extremely fast before this, and for the life of me I'm lost as to what to do. I can't run anything, restore anything, or install anything. Here are my specs

HP Compaq 8510p
Vista Home Basic
4.0 Gb RAM
ATI Radeon HD2600 Mobility
Intel Centrino DualCore @ 2.6Ghz

Dracia · 07-19-2009, 07:57 AM

Who is the manufacturer of your hard drive? Most manufacturers make diagnostic utilities that you can put on to a CD and boot from. Although Toshiba doesn't make their own, you can use Hitachi's or Maxtor's utility on them.

mgio · 07-19-2009, 07:59 AM

If I could open the device manager, I would tell you. Where can I get one of these utilities? Will I have to change my BIOS to get it to boot from the CD?

dai · 07-19-2009, 08:03 AM

yes you will have to set it to cd as first boot

d/load and run the h/drive makers diagnostic utility on the h/drive

http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=287

also check your tempreures

mgio · 07-19-2009, 08:05 AM

Temperatures? My computer was running a bit hot when this first started. You don't think I melted away a connection or something do you?

**simpswr** · 07-19-2009, 08:06 AM

Drive diagnostics ( click here )

If you do not know the drive brand, try the Seagate diagnostics . . they will run on most drives.

I would also test the memory . .click on Memtest in my signature

You will have to set your BIOS to boot first from CD

mgio · 07-19-2009, 08:09 AM

Will these tools just diagnose the problem or can the fix it as well?

**simpswr** · 07-19-2009, 08:19 AM

only diagnose . . to fix will probably require replacement

mgio · 07-19-2009, 11:20 PM

I just ran the Hitachi diagnostic and it everything started well. I left the computer alone for 10 or so minutes and when I returned it was off. Not a good sign I'm assuming.... I really don't know what to do. I have a paper due in 2 weeks so this is becoming quite imminent.

Sorry for the double post, I couldn't find the edit button.
UPDATE: Ran the advanced test twice. Computer turned off each time for unknown reason. Ran the quick test once, and my drive passed. What to do from here?

dai · 07-20-2009, 12:14 AM

what is your cpu temp

Dracia · 07-22-2009, 04:09 AM

You can check the CPU temps in BIOS

07-19-2009, 07:49 AM	#1 (permalink)
mgio Registered User Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 5 OS: Vista Home Basic	Computer became unusable out of nowhere. Windows Explorer Freezing, extremely slow, safe mode crashes, programs won't open Last night, out of nowhere, I noticed that every 15 seconds or so the computer would seem to freeze and then unfreeze after about 5 seconds or so. The computer has never done this before. I decided to restart, and this is when things started getting bad. After restarting, the computer seemed to boot up fine, but when I clicked on firefox, it seemed to lock up completely. The taskbar didn't seem to be affected, so I clicked start. The frame of the start window opened, but everything inside was white, and that too appeared frozen. I hit ctrl-alt-del, and nothing happened, the computer stayed locked. I turned the computer off manually and tried restarting in safe mode. The computer started to boot until it reached a specific process (I don't remember which). It was stuck on that process for about 15 minutes, and then it just turned itself off. I turned the computer back on again and let it boot fully while I took a shower, so it had about 30 minutes to fully boot. I come back and everything seems to be working, icons are highlighting as I hovered over them, the start menu worked, right-click menu's appeared, etc. I opened up a folder with some movies on my desktop. It loaded fine. I click a movie, and it begins playing, but then all of the sudden the whole thing freezes, and I can't open anything in the background. I hit ctrl-alt-del, and this time it actually worked. I chose task manager, and although it took 5 minutes to actually appear, I was happy to see it. I checked the CPU usage, and it was not above 3 percent even while the computer was locking up, which was bizzare to me. I used msconfig to disable everything non-vital from startup but the problem persists. Every now and then I'll get a Windows Solution box pop-up telling me there's a problem with my hard disk. I performed a disk check and it found nothing. It seems that if I click a bunch of items (programs, folders, browsers), the computer locks up initially, but if I walk away for 15 or so minutes I'll come back and they'll be opened. Also, occasionally I'll get a box that pops-up telling me various Windows services have been terminated. These have included Java, Windows Indexer, whatever service was controlling the speakers, and others. My computer was extremely fast before this, and for the life of me I'm lost as to what to do. I can't run anything, restore anything, or install anything. Here are my specs HP Compaq 8510p Vista Home Basic 4.0 Gb RAM ATI Radeon HD2600 Mobility Intel Centrino DualCore @ 2.6Ghz

07-19-2009, 07:57 AM	#2 (permalink)
Dracia Registered User Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Surrey, UK Posts: 470 OS: Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 My System	Re: Computer became unusable out of nowhere. Who is the manufacturer of your hard drive? Most manufacturers make diagnostic utilities that you can put on to a CD and boot from. Although Toshiba doesn't make their own, you can use Hitachi's or Maxtor's utility on them. __________________ Please do not PM me for support or add me to Windows Live Messenger. It's better for questions to be answered in the forum for others to read. You may PM me if you were expecting a response from me and 72 hours have passed.

07-19-2009, 07:59 AM	#3 (permalink)
mgio Registered User Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 5 OS: Vista Home Basic	Re: Computer became unusable out of nowhere. If I could open the device manager, I would tell you. Where can I get one of these utilities? Will I have to change my BIOS to get it to boot from the CD?

07-19-2009, 08:03 AM	#4 (permalink)
dai Manager, Hardware Forums Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: west australia Posts: 56,784 OS: win 7 32x 64x rtm	Re: Computer became unusable out of nowhere. yes you will have to set it to cd as first boot d/load and run the h/drive makers diagnostic utility on the h/drive http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=287 also check your tempreures __________________

07-19-2009, 08:05 AM	#5 (permalink)
mgio Registered User Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 5 OS: Vista Home Basic	Re: Computer became unusable out of nowhere. Temperatures? My computer was running a bit hot when this first started. You don't think I melted away a connection or something do you?

07-19-2009, 08:06 AM	#6 (permalink)
simpswr Moderator Hardware Team Join Date: May 2007 Location: Houston, Texas Posts: 12,327 OS: XP, Vista, Win 7	Re: Computer became unusable out of nowhere. Drive diagnostics ( click here ) If you do not know the drive brand, try the Seagate diagnostics . . they will run on most drives. I would also test the memory . .click on Memtest in my signature You will have to set your BIOS to boot first from CD __________________ Rich MemTest86 \| BenchTest \| Virus/Trojan/Spyware Help How to post a Screen Shot \| PC running slow?

07-19-2009, 08:09 AM	#7 (permalink)
mgio Registered User Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 5 OS: Vista Home Basic	Re: Computer became unusable out of nowhere. Will these tools just diagnose the problem or can the fix it as well?

07-19-2009, 08:19 AM	#8 (permalink)
simpswr Moderator Hardware Team Join Date: May 2007 Location: Houston, Texas Posts: 12,327 OS: XP, Vista, Win 7	Re: Computer became unusable out of nowhere. only diagnose . . to fix will probably require replacement __________________ Rich MemTest86 \| BenchTest \| Virus/Trojan/Spyware Help How to post a Screen Shot \| PC running slow?

07-19-2009, 11:20 PM	#9 (permalink)
mgio Registered User Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 5 OS: Vista Home Basic	I just ran the Hitachi diagnostic and it everything started well. I left the computer alone for 10 or so minutes and when I returned it was off. Not a good sign I'm assuming.... I really don't know what to do. I have a paper due in 2 weeks so this is becoming quite imminent. Sorry for the double post, I couldn't find the edit button. UPDATE: Ran the advanced test twice. Computer turned off each time for unknown reason. Ran the quick test once, and my drive passed. What to do from here? Last edited by dai; 07-20-2009 at 12:13 AM.

07-20-2009, 12:14 AM	#10 (permalink)
dai Manager, Hardware Forums Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: west australia Posts: 56,784 OS: win 7 32x 64x rtm	Re: Computer became unusable out of nowhere. what is your cpu temp __________________

07-22-2009, 04:09 AM	#11 (permalink)
Dracia Registered User Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Surrey, UK Posts: 470 OS: Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 My System	Re: Computer became unusable out of nowhere. You can check the CPU temps in BIOS __________________ Please do not PM me for support or add me to Windows Live Messenger. It's better for questions to be answered in the forum for others to read. You may PM me if you were expecting a response from me and 72 hours have passed.