My Compaq laptop started acting all weird and would constantly freeze on me
I bought a Compaq R3000 about a year ago and it seemed to run fine until recently yesterday. It started acting all weird and would constantly freeze on me. This would cause me to constantly having to restart the computer. Then finally today I have decided to reboot the computer, but now I can’t even get through the whole process because the computer continues to still freeze!! I’ve formatted the whole HD and everything. I thought it was a virus, but now I’m thinking it is a hardware problem. Please help me.
I think you might have a problem with your hard drive. Very often a laptop would freeze up because of installed spyware/asware programs, but by reinstalling the operating system you’ve eliminated any software related issues. Test it with Hitachi Drive Fitness test to see if it fails the test. User guide for Hitachi DFT test utility is located on the same page.
May 23rd, 2008 at 8:11 am
I think hardware failure or software failure will likely not repair itself, so if the problem is intermittent, it might be the CPU–not that it is down, but it is overheating due to a failing cooling assembly. This can be caused by lost of heat sink compound, loosened screws to the heat sink to the CPU, dirty fan, worn fan motor, aged cables, failed secondary fan, dust accumulation, etc. Has anybody tested these possibilities?
March 29th, 2008 at 3:29 pm
My Compaq v2000 has the same problem as SAME, i have to press down on the laptop just to the left of the featherpad. I also recently had overheating problems with the processor until I fixed the fan. I was also having problems with the memory, I used the program you have previously posted and it said I did indeed have bad memory, which I then replaced. I have also noted holding my laptop vertical or upside down works just as well as upside down. I tested the hard drive and it is just fine. Any ideas as to what could be the problem?
March 22nd, 2008 at 10:16 am
INHead,
Do you know if he tested your RAM or tried replacing it with another working module?
If you have only one memory module installed, try moving it into the empty slot. Test the laptop after that. You can test RAM yourself with Memtest86+ utility.
Test the hard drive, you can use Hitachi’s drive fitness test I mentioned in the post. Even though the hard drive looks fine and you can read/write, it still can be defective. Run the test first.
March 22nd, 2008 at 5:17 am
Hi there !
Reading through these comments they all seem extremly similar to a problem im facing, but not quite. What im facing is really bad since I use the laptop alot in my career, since im a DJ.
Thing is, up until yesterday, my HP Pavilion DV1000 was going great! Suddenly, it frooze, i wasnt workin on it at the time, i was away, wen i came bak it was frozen. So i had to manually reboot it using the power button. It worked okay, but 5 minutes later when i was moving it around it showed the ‘blue screen of death’ and restarted!
Now before that i had an HP compaq which had motherboard problems and these were the exact symptoms. But the other problem was much more severe to the extent that in the end it wouldnt even boot anymore !!
Later on yesterday, twice it restarted, all because I moved it. Note : I moved it with one hand on the place where the hard disk is.
Anyways, I took it to a technician today, and he checked my RAM, which was all fine, and the fan was working great.
This leaves 2 options :
1- My HDD is damaged. But that wouldnt make sense, seeing as though im Reading/Writing everything fine!
2- The motherboard is indeed hit. This ofcourse is my worse nightmare, because this means that I have to ship the laptop to the HP people, and stay without it for a long time, and I cant do that because I need it on a daily basis.
Note: I re-installed the BIOS today, but it didnt seem to make any difference , because it also frooze then restarted when I moved it later on.
Anybody can put their 2 cents on the issue?
February 25th, 2008 at 11:28 pm
I already too it apart. Its way past time for cleaning. Laptop has not been taken care of. I am about to reassemble. But not really seeing it being a memory or HDD issue when you have to tap or squeeze laptop to get it to run. I think it might have gotten hot enough to flow some solder somewhere. If you look at the post the reason it was totally going out is the processor was over heating. Charging it just caused more heat. Thats why I suggest getting laptop cold to see it will boot. I have Back Track 2 that I will boot when its back together. I will also try your test. Thanks for the help.
February 24th, 2008 at 8:33 am
SAME,
Before taking it apart run diagnostics tests on memory and hard drive. For memory test you can use Memtest86+ and for the hard drive test Hitachi’s DFT. Check out “Useful Links” on the right side.
February 22nd, 2008 at 10:02 pm
I am working on a Compaq V4000, a friends and it locks up. Get the laptop cold and see how long it runs. It was pretty cool in the house we left and turned heat off not expecting so cold. Cam home and booted up laptop that I had been charging once before and it would not boot. This time it came all the way up and I could look around alittle but then started freezing, i rebooted and it came up but stored freezing again and blinking. Removed processor door and processor cooling plate and a big ball of fuzz came out, it was blocking the fan from blowing any air to processor. So got shutting off problem fixed, now for locking up, of which is some due to over heating. For some time friend has told me they have to tap laptop or squeeze left of mouse pad close to keyboard and it doesnt lock. Started looking at it and it makes the HDD work when you do this. Not squeezing the HDD area but actually the DVD player area. Go it turn apart to see if bad solder, probably from over heating, have not found anything yet.
December 17th, 2007 at 11:37 pm
hi guys I have a compaq v4000 and I’m having the same issue with it freezeing up and after messing with it at first I had to squeeze the left side of the laptop and it would start working again without having to restart it but now I turn it on and the power light comes on but nothing else happens sometimes if I kinda tweak the left bottom corner of the laptop I mean really tweak it starts up just fine but I can’t work on the computer and tweak it at the same time. when I stop tweaking the laptop it freezes and parts of the screen start blinking. maybe this will help solve our problem. I know it sounds weird to squeeze it but it worked for a while please help
November 1st, 2007 at 1:07 am
Good day. got me a problem wiht ma wireless, works with getting on 2 the net but when i connect to a friend to play online it shuts downm my laptop. (outlike a light)… Anybody ???
October 30th, 2007 at 10:17 pm
my westinghouse mb-14w2laptop stoped working ,but i fixed and can’t find any drivers for it can any one help me?????
October 2nd, 2007 at 2:05 pm
ok iam really pissed this computer compaq is acting weird well let me explain the color is gray and on top has red letter and one day i turn it on then all sudden a beeeepp beep would come out and the scream will be all black well went i got in the computer was going crazy with the letter mmmmmmm its going like this mmmmmmmmmmmmm i dont knom wat the heck is that but iam pissed please help i need copy and paste the letter m is really hard and the letter m i think iA virous helo e please
September 29th, 2007 at 2:59 am
I have a compaq r3000 which stopped booting. I’ve seen postings here that defined the problem. When power is applied, the screen is blank. Sometimes you might get into cmos, and reset to the bios default settings – which seemed to help. But as time progressed, it became harder to get the computer to respond to the F10 at startup. It seemed like a heat prob, as if i waited for 20-60 mins, sometimes that would help.
What I found was the computer was not completing the POST on power up. I found the internal PCI wireless card was hanging up the bus. To fix it, i simply removed the card and taped the two antenna wires so they would not short anything out.
The PCI card is located under the keyboard, and to access it, you must pop out the panel above the keyboard. There are four screws which hold the keyboard down, and when removed, the keyboard can be lifted out. Removing the keyboard, the pci card is about the size of a business card, and it located in the center.
I’m posting this because i have seen many who have experienced this identical problem and it’s far easier ( and much less expensive) to remove a part and prove a problem, than it is to systematically replace every part inside the notebook.
August 16th, 2007 at 6:33 pm
I just got a used Dell Latitude from my wife
since noticed that it freezes every 10 seconds. The freeze lasts for about 4 seconds. it does every time. I can not type during the freeze. it works well every 10 seconds. Thanks for any help you may give
tony
July 28th, 2007 at 3:23 pm
Akil,
I’m not sure why it shows up as 384MB in BIOS. Here’s my guess. It’s possible that your video card uses shared memory (part of the main memory is used for the video card). If the video card uses 128MB or RAM then you have only 384MB left for the operating system.
Check the BIOS menu and see if you can change the amount of RAM used by the video card. Check if the amount of system memory goes up if you reduce the amount of video memory.
From my experience, 384MB is not enough for Windows. Try installing more memory.
You can use different memory sticks. If you have 256MB under the keyboard and install 1GB into the expansion slot on the bottom, the laptop should work without any problem.
July 25th, 2007 at 1:10 pm
My laptop (HP pavilion ZV5000) keep on freezing randomly.It came up with 512 RAM. In bios , shows 384RAM. Is that problem? Do i need to buy new 2 256RAM or just one. Can I install 1GB in Back slot & 1 256RAM under keyboard slot.will it work? or should RAM be same both slots.
Laptop Freak.. Please help. I have lot of office data inside.
March 9th, 2007 at 8:34 am
i have a toshiba satellite m45 and it is freezing on me. It started when i was transfering burnt files from a CDR to a folder. Since then, it freezes all the time, especially when i insert a burnt CDR. It used to freeze constantly but nowadays it only freezes when i play CDR’s, when i play online media and when i move the laptop from a hard surface like a desk to my laps eg. Can you help? i have reformated and even used my recovery disk but to no avail. I know i do not have a virus or spyware as norton, spysweeper and belarc advisor all say it is clean.
March 6th, 2007 at 6:42 am
hey look i have an HpPavilion dv8000 since i have it from the 10 months it has started to freezed, i have formtatated the whole hard drives like 5 times and it still freezes, also when i push the tap where the rams and the broadcom is located it start to working fine, i just recently sended to a friend to gave it a checkand it results that the processor was running on 1.79 when it should run at 1.43, the computer responds alot better but still it stays freezing, can you give me a hand with this? i will apreciatted. thanks
February 28th, 2007 at 6:41 pm
Chris,
Maybe that’s your problem? Vista is too young and some noteboks still might have issues with this OS. Visit the manufacturer’s website and check if there is a newer version of BIOS available for your notebook.
February 27th, 2007 at 5:04 pm
I just bought an Everex VA 4103M StepNote and a couple of times (I’ve only had it 2 days) it freezes up on me after a few hours. I’m running Vista, it has a 1.7GHz processor, 512mb RAM, Microsoft Office 2003 and barely any other programs (it had only office when it first froze up). Thanks for your help.
February 26th, 2007 at 8:31 pm
Steve,
Then probably there is nothing wrong with memory. From my experience Memtest utility is pretty accurate.
I think there could be a problem with the motherboard.
February 24th, 2007 at 10:13 am
OK,
Here is an update – I get the laptop to boot into the Noppix about half the time – would this be a memory issue, a motherboard issue or an overheating issue?
Thanks in advance for any help.
February 24th, 2007 at 10:02 am
Hi,
I have been working on a Compaq Evo N1015v for the past few days. It has had an intermittent problem booting up and installing OS. When the OS had been installed, the laptop woud fail to fully boot into XP – it would boot into XP safe mode, but not the full program. Tested the HDD with the hitachi program, and that program said there were problems with the HDD. Installed another HDD, still same problem. Tested the memory with the memtest program, ran 4 or 5 passes and no problems. Then, booted into the Noppix CD once, ran fine. Rebooted, no go. Switched memory slots, etc. Still no go.
Any help would be appreciated – is this thing toast?
February 13th, 2007 at 11:34 am
Hello!
I have a IBM Thinkpad T40, problem either it freezes up or Lcd problem.
Since i bought it has been defect, when i turn it on while using AC/battery sometimes it doesnt show anything on screen sometimes i get perfect display, so windows boot. (when no photo i turn it off then on of on of until it boots with display). then gets to windows suddenly(some times after 1 min , sometimes after 10-20min the video gets gone , blank screen, it looks like the pc is still runnning but when i connect the externel screen and press fn +f7( i think it was that) it comes no photo on the external screen. When i boot up and no photo comes i press the bios button(f1) then press fn+f7 but photo will not come to external, so it looks like that when it boots without showing display it actually doesnt boot up right, meaning its no problem with the lcd.what you think? I opened the pc and took cables of and back on inverter no help. Reseated cable back on LCD same problem, Reseated Lcd cable on mother board same problem. Took out hdd/bluetooth/sound card/cd rom same problem , took out both Ram and tried two different ram from other computer . the ram in the machine was 512+512. i tried with two different 256 (256 alone) tried both . same problem. Before it took longer time before the display gets blank , now when machine is open(or hot after many hours?) i nearly come into windows , some times even after the windows loading screen only.
I noticed some times i have battery out and only AC connected, i press on power button , the battery light/icon flashes orange 3-4 times. Even the battery is not in the machine.
I came in to bios and made the analog VGA as boot display but same problem.
Bios is updated to newest version.
Any suggestions?
February 12th, 2007 at 6:39 pm
Hi Same thing again, moved the memory to slot 2 and froze again after a short period, rebooted and it ran for about 4 hours no probs then froze again. “Help” now i am totally lost
February 12th, 2007 at 7:35 am
I have a Compaq Presario laptop that shows the red Compaq logo on startup but then freezes after Windows XP starts loading. Sometimes the graphics would fade slowly until the screen is a light yellow and other times it would become jumbled and freeze. I’ve tried starting in safe mode and reloading Windows XP but this does not help. Rarely am I able to get through startup without it freezing and when it does it freezes before the desktop is setup. Pllllllllease help if you can.
February 7th, 2007 at 11:58 pm
Hey again The laptop doesn’t have a wireless card but moving the memory from the #1 slot to the #2 slot may have wotked, its been going now for 3 hours with no probs (its worked for 4 to 5 hours before too) but i will keep ya posted on the progress. Thanks heaps again
February 7th, 2007 at 11:49 pm
Lary Jurosic,
You checked the RAM slots, but did you test the RAM itself? You can test memory with Memtest86+ utility. Download it, burn on CD or make a floppy and boot the laptop from it. The test will start automatically.
February 7th, 2007 at 8:06 pm
Geoff,
Try moving the memory module from one slot to another. You might have a faulty memory slot on the motherboard. Remove the wireless card and try running the laptop without it. A bad wireless card can halt the system, it’s not likely but possible.
February 7th, 2007 at 12:28 pm
Hello my computer, an alienware 51 770 sometimes works fine and then it freezes up. I replaced the hard drive and the optical drive. I also went through and checked all the ram slots.
I am pretty sure it is something simple any idea what would cause a computer to sometimes work and other times fail.
thank you
February 6th, 2007 at 10:20 am
Hi I downloaded and ran knoppix, it ran fine for a couple of hours then switched the laptop off and on again, no problems then all of a sudden FREEZE. I am sure it is something to do with Power but i dont know what. The battery is charging to max, and the freezing Accures on Ac or DC