STICKY LIST:
· OS - Vista SP1
· 32 Bit
· What was original installed OS on system? Vista
· Is the OS an OEM version (came pre-installed on system) or full retail version (YOU purchased it from retailer)? Full retail
· Age of system (hardware) 3-5 years
· Age of OS installation - have you re-installed the OS? Reinstalled within the last month
· CPU Intel(R) Core(TM) 2 Duo CPU - t5450 @ 1.66 GHz (2 CPUS), ~1.7GHz
· Video Card Mobile Intel(R) 965 Express Chipset Family
· MotherBoard IFT01 IFT00
· Power Supply - I see "19V 3.95A or 3.42A" stamped on the back of the laptop. I don't know if this relates to the power supply.
PROBLEMS:
I've experienced graphics driver-like problems *(which may be linked to something other than the graphics drivers, as I've trouble shooted my errors with the drivers for ungodly amounts of time to no avail which honestly makes me think some of the display problems I've had are just phenomena of a different problem or possibly a physical problem), periods of unresponsiveness** that I think to be memory issues (memtests have reported memory problems), and periodic freezes that seem to happen at any idle phase, such as during a shut down, standby, or if the computer is left idle for some period of time (I haven't experimented to figure out just how long it takes for it to be idle to freeze). The freezes are very predictable in any restart/shutdown attempt, occuring nearly every time.
* The graphical errors include:
-Occasionally, for a brief moment during startup, I see something strange. If you were to look at static on a television (except with a lot more black in the static) and were to pause it, it might look similar to this. It holds for a moment and then goes away. This only happens sometimes, and only on startup.
-Occasionally, it's like the resolution of the screen is messed up in that it doesn't fill the whole screen. It fills it to some particular margin (seemed to me that the right margin cut from where it was supposed to render was around 2 or 3 inches on the right side and around 1 inch on the bottom). The margins weren't even (there wasn't a margin on all sides). All the colors are fine when this happens, it's only the resolution that's messed up. Playing with the graphics settings never changes it. Do note that it's not that it's going to a WRONG resolution, it's that it's not filling the whole screen sometimes by large margins. Something I noticed was, the margins reflect the outermost pixel touching the frame, so say I was to place my cursor at the bottom of the screen; the bottom margin would show the bottom of my cursor all the way across like the whole thing was just the bottom pixel. Same for the right side, should I place my cursor there. I've probably misused a few terms here, my apologies.
** Periods of unresponsiveness include:
-Seems to be triggered upon running a program (as opposed to completely randomly)
-Everything completely locks up and is ENTIRELY unresponsive, including the cursor. Windows task manager doesn't report any change of usage during this time, but I think that it would if it could. This at least suggests that it's probably not spyware coming on and going off, because I've wiped the harddrive recently and downloaded nothing at all, have nothing strange in the startup menu, and have noticed no unkown processes in Windows task manager.
-The degredation of the system during this is progressive. It doesn't suddenly turn from quick and responsive to unresponsive, it first starts with a "(Program) Not responding..." and then a few moments later I can't start any other programs, or even open the start menu, and then after that any input I give the computer is unacknowledged, and then after that the cursor stops responding to my mouse movements. This whole process lasts about 5 minutes, to where it suddenly snaps out of it and doesn't do it again for the rest of the period that it's on.
-If it DOES happen (this doesn't ALWAYS happen, making it so hard to diagnose!!), it tends to happen early on; 5-20 minutes into using the computer.
HISTORY:
This laptop is a "Compal FT01", 3-5 years old, and experienced hardware damage or failure at one point and was sent in with a MF's warranty. Upon return it functioned just fine for an extended period of time (1-2 years). The OS came with the laptop, Windows Vista SP1, on a CD full with it's own registration key. There has been trauma to the laptop, and some problems with it may actually be physical. Fluids have been spilled on it, it has been dropped, and has probably been left on in tight spaces resulting to some overheating (just to let you know.. this is my sister's laptop-- I, myself, am too much of a nerd to let anything like this happen to my equipment :grin
. While physical damage might not be the cause to any of this laptop's problems, I'm just saying that there is the environment that it's possible.
In the last month or so, my sister's laptop automatically downloaded an update that had some infinite loop in it which she could not surpass. It would say it was installing an update whenever she ran her computer, safe mode or not. Anyways, she ordered me to wipe the hard drive and and reinstall Vista, which I did. I've done a clean install of all drivers from a disk that came with the laptop, and let Windows Update run (the problem with that particular download was acknowledged by Microsoft for some time, by the way). Now there are other problems, which I've mentioned up above. As is, the computer is completely unreliable. It'll often go through stages of unresponsivess or it will freeze. My sister finds it too untrustworthy to use for school.
REQUESTS:
The advice that I'm seeking here in this report is any trouble shooting I can get regarding the freezes, and any general advice I can get regarding to what to do next in the broad spectrum of things. Running memtests DID say that my memory was problematic. Should my first step to get new ram? Test other components? Should I send it in to a hardware specialist? Is it more economical to buy a whole new laptop (at the right places)?
· OS - Vista SP1
· 32 Bit
· What was original installed OS on system? Vista
· Is the OS an OEM version (came pre-installed on system) or full retail version (YOU purchased it from retailer)? Full retail
· Age of system (hardware) 3-5 years
· Age of OS installation - have you re-installed the OS? Reinstalled within the last month
· CPU Intel(R) Core(TM) 2 Duo CPU - t5450 @ 1.66 GHz (2 CPUS), ~1.7GHz
· Video Card Mobile Intel(R) 965 Express Chipset Family
· MotherBoard IFT01 IFT00
· Power Supply - I see "19V 3.95A or 3.42A" stamped on the back of the laptop. I don't know if this relates to the power supply.
PROBLEMS:
I've experienced graphics driver-like problems *(which may be linked to something other than the graphics drivers, as I've trouble shooted my errors with the drivers for ungodly amounts of time to no avail which honestly makes me think some of the display problems I've had are just phenomena of a different problem or possibly a physical problem), periods of unresponsiveness** that I think to be memory issues (memtests have reported memory problems), and periodic freezes that seem to happen at any idle phase, such as during a shut down, standby, or if the computer is left idle for some period of time (I haven't experimented to figure out just how long it takes for it to be idle to freeze). The freezes are very predictable in any restart/shutdown attempt, occuring nearly every time.
* The graphical errors include:
-Occasionally, for a brief moment during startup, I see something strange. If you were to look at static on a television (except with a lot more black in the static) and were to pause it, it might look similar to this. It holds for a moment and then goes away. This only happens sometimes, and only on startup.
-Occasionally, it's like the resolution of the screen is messed up in that it doesn't fill the whole screen. It fills it to some particular margin (seemed to me that the right margin cut from where it was supposed to render was around 2 or 3 inches on the right side and around 1 inch on the bottom). The margins weren't even (there wasn't a margin on all sides). All the colors are fine when this happens, it's only the resolution that's messed up. Playing with the graphics settings never changes it. Do note that it's not that it's going to a WRONG resolution, it's that it's not filling the whole screen sometimes by large margins. Something I noticed was, the margins reflect the outermost pixel touching the frame, so say I was to place my cursor at the bottom of the screen; the bottom margin would show the bottom of my cursor all the way across like the whole thing was just the bottom pixel. Same for the right side, should I place my cursor there. I've probably misused a few terms here, my apologies.
** Periods of unresponsiveness include:
-Seems to be triggered upon running a program (as opposed to completely randomly)
-Everything completely locks up and is ENTIRELY unresponsive, including the cursor. Windows task manager doesn't report any change of usage during this time, but I think that it would if it could. This at least suggests that it's probably not spyware coming on and going off, because I've wiped the harddrive recently and downloaded nothing at all, have nothing strange in the startup menu, and have noticed no unkown processes in Windows task manager.
-The degredation of the system during this is progressive. It doesn't suddenly turn from quick and responsive to unresponsive, it first starts with a "(Program) Not responding..." and then a few moments later I can't start any other programs, or even open the start menu, and then after that any input I give the computer is unacknowledged, and then after that the cursor stops responding to my mouse movements. This whole process lasts about 5 minutes, to where it suddenly snaps out of it and doesn't do it again for the rest of the period that it's on.
-If it DOES happen (this doesn't ALWAYS happen, making it so hard to diagnose!!), it tends to happen early on; 5-20 minutes into using the computer.
HISTORY:
This laptop is a "Compal FT01", 3-5 years old, and experienced hardware damage or failure at one point and was sent in with a MF's warranty. Upon return it functioned just fine for an extended period of time (1-2 years). The OS came with the laptop, Windows Vista SP1, on a CD full with it's own registration key. There has been trauma to the laptop, and some problems with it may actually be physical. Fluids have been spilled on it, it has been dropped, and has probably been left on in tight spaces resulting to some overheating (just to let you know.. this is my sister's laptop-- I, myself, am too much of a nerd to let anything like this happen to my equipment :grin
. While physical damage might not be the cause to any of this laptop's problems, I'm just saying that there is the environment that it's possible.In the last month or so, my sister's laptop automatically downloaded an update that had some infinite loop in it which she could not surpass. It would say it was installing an update whenever she ran her computer, safe mode or not. Anyways, she ordered me to wipe the hard drive and and reinstall Vista, which I did. I've done a clean install of all drivers from a disk that came with the laptop, and let Windows Update run (the problem with that particular download was acknowledged by Microsoft for some time, by the way). Now there are other problems, which I've mentioned up above. As is, the computer is completely unreliable. It'll often go through stages of unresponsivess or it will freeze. My sister finds it too untrustworthy to use for school.
REQUESTS:
The advice that I'm seeking here in this report is any trouble shooting I can get regarding the freezes, and any general advice I can get regarding to what to do next in the broad spectrum of things. Running memtests DID say that my memory was problematic. Should my first step to get new ram? Test other components? Should I send it in to a hardware specialist? Is it more economical to buy a whole new laptop (at the right places)?
