Windows OS Freezing


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Barbobot

-the Pirate King
Retired
So i brought my laptop home from work on Wed, like I do every single day. It was working perfectly fine during the day at work, but when I got home Windows would consistently freeze on start up when the loading bar for windows would appear. I tried restarting from safe mode: didn't help. I tried running system restore: didn't work.
I tried running my virus scan while in safe mode: didn't work. So I spent all of Wed night backing up all my files onto my hdd so I could reformat. Figured this was as good a time as any considering I've never reformatted this hdd since i bought the laptop.

Then yesterday I reformatted my hdd so I could reinstall windows. Now I wasn't using the original reinstallation disc that came my this laptop as I currently can't find that one, so I was using the reinstallation disc that came with my old laptop that had been stolen a bit over a year ago. Both were running windows XP so I figured it wouldn't make a huge difference. Reformatting went perfectly fine, but during the actual windows installation the setup would freeze at the same point of the setup every time. I tried installing it 4 times and even reformatted again, but every single time the installation would freeze at the exact same spot.

I'm thinking of just caving in and go buy myself a new OS as I would really like to use my computer, but before I go out and do that just wanted to see if anyone here had any advice.
 
Sounds more like a hardware problem to me. If it was a problem with windows then reformatting and then reinstalling would work. That is unless the disc with windows on is scratched too much and can't be read. Check the disc for scratches and try a different copy of windows and if it still doesn't work with a different copy then it could be that the laptop itself broke down.
 
try reseating the ram and if u have a hd that have easy access check if it connected good. Also make sure nothing else is connected when formating.
 
QUOTE (Harukalover @ Mar 06 2009, 02:26 PM) Are you reformatting by wiping the HDD first or are you just reinstalling Windows XP?

Also at what point of the installation does it freeze?
I'm wiping the HDD first and then installing XP. Then during the installation it freezes a bit after it asks setting up network and workgroup settings. Consistently stopping when it estimates about 12 min left.

I really hope its not a hardware problem as that is a bit more difficult to fix in a laptop as opposed to a desktop.
 
I've had problems before installing XP where it would just freeze up (the part of the screen with info still changed from time to time but nothing seemed to be getting done as the bar did not move nor did the time remaining change) and not finish the install. Then again that was with a non-RTM version of XP and a virtual machine so either one of those could have been causing the problem. It did eventually install correctly after resetting the virtual machine a couple times.

Basically try all of the suggestions so far that you can and if nothing helps there are probably other things you could try.
 
A few possible quick-fixes:
If your laptop has a built-in wireless card or any other similar devices, make sure they are switched off before you try installing.
Make sure you don't have anything connected to the computer - including mouse/keyboard, external HDD's, wireless adapters, etc.
Check to make sure the disk is in good condition.
After turning off your laptop, unplug the battery and wall connection then wait a few minutes before plugging the battery and wall connection back in (sometimes this works miracles on laptops).

If you have nothing connected to the computer, the disk is in good condition, the wireless cards etc are off, then there's a few things that could possibly be causing the problem.
1) Your disk came from another laptop, if the other laptop was made by a different company or had significantly different hardware it might be causing the problem. You can usually mail the company from whom your computer was manufactured with a proof of purchase and they will send you an install disk that goes with that computer.
2) Some part of your hardware may have gone bad or lost connection. Reseating your RAM and so on might fix.
3) Using a different computer, go and download a Linux live OS (Linux Ubuntu has a live setup), burn it to a disk, and try running that. It requires no install, it literally runs off the disk. If your computer can't do that then the problem is probably with the laptop itself and you may need repairs or some such.
 
The disk did come from my previous laptop, but both laptops were from the same line, just my newer one was updated. They were both Dell Inspirons. I'm hoping I can find the original disc that came with this laptop at my sisters place tonight though, assuming I even lost it there.

As for reseating the ram, i have absolutely no clue how I would do that in my laptop. It's a Dell Inspiron 1520 btw.

Well unfortunately I'm about to leave work now so I won't have a computer to use for a while unless I do manage to get my comp working. Hopefully things work out.
 
update time (ignore things like typos or odd formatting here as im typing this on my ps3 w/o a keyboard.

i tried most suggestions that were given.

the reinstall disc looked fine. ie no scratches. so thats not the problem.

i rseated the ram and there was no change. Fail

i burned a live linux ubuntu disc and could get to the boot up menu on the disc but none of the menu options would respond. Fail

i even tried a new vista instillation, but after booting from the disc it started to load windows files. after that finished a loading bar appeared.and my computer froze. Fail

from the bootup menu on my computer after hitting f12 i then performed the diagnostic and every test it ran was passed.

any new ideas or is laptop just a really expensive paperweight now?

i plan to bring it to the IT at my school tomorrow after work so ill see what they have to say about it
 
Some more things to think about:

As this is a laptop, are you trying to do this install mobile/on your lap or sofa etc or is it sitting on a nice hard surface, ie a desk or table? - The reason I ask is overheating.

Also, how long before the crash after power on? Ie are you turning it on and it dies in about 2-3 minutes each time, and then maybe at a decreasing time after or is it totally random times?

For a machine to be able to install windows XP to the point of setting up networking I dont see this being a HD or ram seating issue - if that were the case it wouldnt have got that far - unless its on a moveable surface and u moved it at that point and you were really lucky etc.

As for the install CD being different, again this should not be a big deal, OEMs will sometimes pack drivers into the windows PPK for install, but Windows will only install what it deems the most appropriate driver, it will ignore non detected devices.

What happens when the machine freezes? Is the display still updating? Is it showing anything? Do things like caps lock / num lock work - will the light come on? Also when it is frozen, try holding down a few keys, like return, or ctrl and C or ctrl and break, or ctrl alt del. hold these down for a atleast a minute - dose anything happen. ie a reset or dose it start beeping like crazy.

If it beeps then it means the keyboard buffer is full and the hardware is still alive but the OS is ignoring the input. If the caps lock etc dont light, and it dosnt beep after holding the keys down then it means the hardware has locked up.

For hardware poking on a Dell laptop, the keyboard or plate above it will often have 4-6 small spring mounted clips which poke out on the the keyboard plate. To take off the keybord you have to push the clips in and keyboard will pop up. Lift it upwards carefully as there will be a ribbon cable attached to the underside which is often very short. Dependig on the model you may have access to various things, RAM/CPU are likly, sometimes the ram is on the bottom in its own trap door. The HD is usually a slide out tray on the oposite side to the cd drive if you have one. The CPU will be near the large fan vent on the bottom of the case, check if thats still working.

I just found this which may help:
http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/796318
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQyyKI06aWo

Be warned tho that dismantleing laptops is very difficult, actually no the dismantleing is easy, its putting it back together after - you have to put the right screws back in the right holes or it may damage things.
 
Every time the laptop has been on my desk, so a stable surface.

Every time it freezes, it freezes during the same point, ie every time I tried installing Vista it froze right on the beginning loading bar. Every time I tried reinstalling my XP it froze during the installation setup and at the "12min remaining" point every single time.

When it freezes everything just stops and is frozen on whatever the screen was at the time. I didn't try and check the keyboard during the XP reinstallation attempt, but during the Vista installation attempt i tried the keyboard and didn't get any response. No light-ups from num/capslock and no beep from holding ctrl-alt-dlt.

I also don't really trust myself with taking apart my laptop aside from unscrewing the small panels on the back like when i reseated the ram.
 
Have you tested your memory yet? Use memtest86 or memtest86+ to see if your RAM is okay. From the description of your problem, you're most likely looking at some kind of hardware failure. Although it's a bit too late to say this now, reinstalling your OS probably won't help.

Also, make sure your laptop does not ever run hot. If it ever feels hot to the touch, then you may be experiencing a heat related hardware failure. Dell Inspirons have had numerous reported overheating problems - even the one I have (1525) will overheat in a few minutes if I run the CPU at full speed.

From my experience, these are the typical points of failure on laptops:
1. ram (run memtest86/86+ on it)
2. hd (replace with another harddrive... or disconnect it entirely and try to boot off a Linux Live CD)
3. cpu overheating / cpu fan problems (feel the underside. if it's uncomfortably hot, you may have a problem. use a laptop cooling device or reduce the CPU speed. alternatively, you can try to clean out the CPU fan as it may be clogged)
4. motherboard (components like your video card, northbridge/southbridge, drive controllers that are embedded onto your mobo may fail when hot)

Sometimes the power supply / battery (problems turning on the machine. machine may turn off by itself) may have issues but based on your description, it doesn't seem to be the case.

There's my 2c.
 
Okay, new update.

I brought my computer to ResNet, the IT people at my school to try and figure out what happened to my computer. They ran the memtest86 and a set of HDD tests and everything came up fine according to those. I've attempted just taking out and putting back the HDD and both ram modules and nothing changed. I'll be calling Dell tonight cause even though my warranty has expired it's complete bullshit that the hardware would fail on a 14-15 month old laptop. If they can't do anything for me I'm not sure what to do then, buy a new laptop? Probably HP as I wouldn't be going Dell again.
 
QUOTE (Barbobot @ Mar 11 2009, 09:19 AM) If they can't do anything for me I'm not sure what to do then, buy a new laptop? Probably HP as I wouldn't be going Dell again.
bottom line in my opininion. Dont get a Dell, compaq, sony vaio, other system is still pending lol

but yea it could be the mb itself though =/
 
QUOTE (Barbobot @ Mar 11 2009, 02:19 PM)I'll be calling Dell tonight cause even though my warranty has expired it's complete bullshit that the hardware would fail on a 14-15 month old laptop. If they can't do anything for me I'm not sure what to do then, buy a new laptop? Probably HP as I wouldn't be going Dell again.
My old Sony laptop lasted only 14-15 months (it's 2 year warranty had just expired) before the motherboard went. I had similar start-up problems and when a technician tested it, the hardrive and ram were okay. They later found it to be a motherboard problem. So I guess that could be the problem... And I'm never buying another VAIO laptop again. Expensive, didn't last long enough and the customer support was expensive and not very good.
 
You ran memtest and passed? Then it wasnt a RAM Problem. If it was a RAM problem the computer wouldnt freeze you would have got a BSOD anyways. Faulty RAM results in BSOD, while a faulty CPU will result in freezing for most cases anyhow.

It might just be your temps exceeding the CPU's maximum threshold temp limit.
CPU's will lock up when they get too hot.

Your laptop CPU is rated up to 95 F, my desktop CPU would fry at those levels lol.

Try this. Load your laptop and go into bios and check your temps whether your CPU temps exceeds 95 F or not. If the temp is somewhat close to 95 then chances are it is exceeding 95 F on load.

If it does then we know the problem. If it doesn't try the following method below anyways just to be sure.

Boot up your laptop and have a really big fan blowing the bottom of it to keep it cool see if it still freezes.

Your problem really does sound like a temp problem.

There is also a possibility you simply have a lot of bad sectors on your HD which is probably unlikely. Just make sure when you reformat you use the longer wait one so it scans for bad sectors.
 
So I am actually typing this on my old laptop. I had sent my laptop to dell to get it fixed cause there really wasn't anything else I could do with my laptop. Well 2 weeks later and I finally got my computer back. They said it was a hdd problem. Only thing I'm not sure if the hdd they sent me is a new or the old hdd as the letter they sent with it says a new hdd is shipping separately, but the hdd that came in the box with my laptop is working perfectly fine. Also they didn't send me any screws with my laptop to screw in the hdd so I have to be careful. I tried calling Dell to see about it but they are completely ignorant and kept bouncing me back and forth between people who didn't know a thing about what I wanted to ask. So for now I'm just gonna wait as it says the replacement hdd should ship at the latest in 3 business days. If a new hdd comes with screws then everything is dandy......if not I'm gonna be having fun playing with Dell for a bit I guess.....ugh.
 
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