My notebook freezes at about 2-3 seconds into the boot process
I’m hoping you can help me figure out / repair a problem with my Toshiba Satellite A85-S107 notebook. As best as I can describe, here are the specifics:
1. Freezes at about 2-3 seconds into the boot process. Power comes on, fan kicks in, then nothing. Nothing on screen. Have to power down and try again. Sometimes takes 8-10 tries, and then it still sometimes freezes (screen is on, but no keyboard/mouse response) 5-10 minutes into Windows XP.
2. After going into hibernation, it generally freezes, as above.
3. Here’s where it gets strange – if I press firmly, just to the left of the power button, it will boot properly. The second I let up on the pressure, it freezes. If I hold the pressure until Windows is completely up and running, it is usually OK… until I go into hibernation.
4. I’ve deleted all my files and reloaded it w/ the factory disk several times, and I still get the same problem. It first happened when the system was about 3 months old, but I couldn’t do anything about it since I was in Iraq. Now that I have the system back, its just over a year old, so it’s out of warranty. I’ve taken it apart, as per the instructions on one of your pages, and its very clean on the inside – no dust or dirt buildup at all.
I’m really stumped at this point. I’m definitely not a real tech savvy guy, so I’m tempted to take in to a service center, but don’t want to pay several hundred dollars for a lot of diagnostics if it’s just a relatively simple hardware issue.
Can you help?
When a notebook freezes as you described above, the first thing is to test the memory module. With a failed memory module the notebook will behave exactly as you mentioned in the paragraph 1. To test the memory module you can download and run Memtest 86+ utility.
When you use hibernation, all current information from the memory is written on the harddrive into a hibernation file, it’s like a snapshot of active memory. So, next time you turn on the notebook, it boots back to where you were when you hibernated it. As you see, if you experience any problem during hibernation, it might be related to the memory or to the harddrive. I think that in your case most likely it’s the memory failure. But as a precaution, I would test the hard drive too. You can use Hitachi drive fitness test.
Now regarding the paragraph 3. Here’s my guess. I think that if the problem is related to memory failure, it’s not necessary that the memory module itself is bad. It also could be a bad memory slot on the motherboard. By default, Toshiba installs the memory module in the slot located under the keyboard. When you press on the spot left of the power button, you actually apply pressure on the motherboard, it flexes and the memory slot makes a better contact with the motherboard. As a result, the computer boots properly. In other words, try to move the memory module from the slot located under the keyboard to the slot that you can access from the bottom of the notebook. If both memory slots are occupied, try to remove the memory modules one by one and run the notebook after each removed module. It’s just a guess but it might help. I’ve seen some computers with a failed memory slot and they worked fine with the memory module installed into the second slot.
September 4th, 2006 at 3:22 pm
Thanks for the advice. I ran both memtest and the hitachi diagnostic multiple times, and the memory and hard drive did fine. So, I think that my best bet is to do what you recommend on the bad memory module.
Is it just a matter of taking the original 256 MB off of the original slot and put them in the expansion slot? Will having the default / factory memory slot empty cause any problems?
thanks again for your help.
September 4th, 2006 at 3:32 pm
Yep, just remove the memory module from the slot located under the keyboard and put it in the slot on the bottom. You shouldn’t have any problem if the default slot is empty. It doesn’t really matter witch slot is occupied. I’m not sure if it’s going to help, but at least you can try it without taking the laptop to a repair shop.
BTW, test the laptop (turn it on and run for a while) when the top cover is removed. May be you experience some kind of grounding issue (laptop works when you press on the top cover) and it will work fine without the top cover.
September 26th, 2006 at 7:26 pm
Hi,
My laptop has been acting weird. I came home today to see the screen all black. It was on all day and when I tried moving the mouse or pressing the keys, it wouldn’t respond. So, I went ahead and did it the foolish way by pressing the power button.
When I turned it on, it stayed as a black screen with a blinking underscore symbol for almost an hour. I got fed up and went to the store to buy some compressed air and cleaned the dust out.
It worked fine, and so I left it like that for 15 minutes. When I came back, a blue screen popped up and said something like, “If this is your first time seeing this screen…,” etc. And it did something called “DUMP”.
I have no idea what to do. I can’t even turn it on to do diagnostic tests on it.
Thanks in advance,
Happy
September 26th, 2006 at 7:36 pm
Happy,
Test the hard drive. Download Hitachi Drive Fitness test and burn it on a CD. It’s an .iso image, you can burn it using Nero, Roxio, Alcohol, or any other burning software. After that boot the laptop from the CD and run the test. I think you might have a failed hard drive.
September 28th, 2006 at 8:31 pm
Dear Laptop Freak,
Also, I forgot to mention that I tried to do a system repair for Windows XP. After looking up the instructions on how to do so, I was supposed to get a message that said:
Before I do that, I have to find a good friend to burn the image for me.
Microsoft Windows(R) Recovery Console
The Recovery Console provides system repair and recovery functionality.
Type EXIT to quit the Recovery Console and restart the computer.
1: C:\WINDOWS
Which Windows Installation would you like to log onto
(To cancel, press ENTER)?
Well, I did not get option 1. Does this confirm that I do have a failed HD?
Thanks,
Happy
September 30th, 2006 at 11:03 am
Happy,
I think it could be a failed hard drive or a corrupted Windows OS. If you don’t really care about your personal data on the hard drive, you can try re-imaging the drive using a recovery DVD you got from Toshiba. Insert the recovery DVD into the DVD drive, restart the laptop, press F12 as soon as Toshiba logo appears on the screen and choose boot from CD/DVD drive. Follow the instructions. You can backup your data if you install the hard drive into an external USB enclosure and connect it to another working computer.
October 2nd, 2006 at 8:31 pm
hi I have a Dell Inspiron notebook and it recently just started moving slowly and makes this noise before it freezes up completely. So then i just hold the power button down till it shuts off. I’m freaked out coz I have midterms this friday and i don’t know what to do besides running dell diagnostic tools.
What could be the problem?
October 2nd, 2006 at 9:04 pm
Andris,
It could be a failing hard drive. Can you a better description of the noise? Can you check if it’s coming from the hard dive area? If so, I would back up all important file as soon as possible because the hard drive can fail any time.
Test the hard drive with Hitachi DFT test, the link is in the post.
October 26th, 2006 at 11:05 pm
Im having a similar problem with my Toshiba Satellite A65-S126. I turn it on and it will freeze at the Toshiba screen. It will sit there for like 15 minutes until it either starts windows or gives me the option to boot up from the hdd, cd etc… Im also having a problem with the USB that I think is related. None of my USB devices seem to work when I plug them in and the pop up bubble that says “USB device not recognized” pops up all the time even if I have nothing in the USB slots.
October 27th, 2006 at 12:24 pm
Ryan,
May be you have a bad hard drive? When the laptop freezes up on Toshiba screen, the hard drive LED is off or it’s solid green? What if you remove the hard drive, does it still freeze up on the Toshiba screen?
October 27th, 2006 at 6:11 pm
The Hard drive light is always green. Someone on another website told me to download a program called speed fan and check my hard drives SMART characteristics. I have no idea what that means but after they saw my results they told me that the hard drive was ok and it wasnt the problem that it might be a Mobo problem.
November 8th, 2006 at 11:16 am
Dear Laptop Freak,
I have a Toshiba Satellite 1400 that suddenly died. I have 2 lights on the front, the power in and battery charge. Press the on button does nothing, no flicker, no fans, no HDD light. I’ve opened up and made sure all connecters are seated correctly, i’ve tried removing the HDD, I’ve tried swapping the memory. Still nothing.
Any suggestions?
November 8th, 2006 at 7:17 pm
Pinball Addict,
I don’t really have a straight answer to your question. It looks like the power switch button in this model is located on a separate board (you can access the board if you remove the keyboard bezel) and this board connects to the motherboard via a flat cable. You mentioned that you have two lights on the front but the laptop will not start. It could be a bad power switch board but as you understand that’s just a guess. It’s impossible to say what is wrong basing only on your description.
If you can find a multimeter, test the AC adapter and make sure it outputs correct voltage.
November 9th, 2006 at 10:26 am
I’ve checked the voltage coming in at the connector on the pcb and it’s correct. I’ve tested the on button back to the board and it’s OK.
It would seem that the battery is knackered, I can’t measure any voltage across it. Does this type of laptop need a battery to operate? If not, would it suggest this laptop needs to retired?
Regards
PA
November 9th, 2006 at 7:05 pm
Pinball Addict,
Nope, the laptop should be able to run even without the battery installed.
November 26th, 2006 at 8:52 am
I have a Toshiba Satellite Pro 6100 with an intermittant boot problem. When booting (with A/C adapter connected), When it fails, I get the toshiba splash screen, and then about 0.5 seconds of hard disk activity, then it freezes. The power and A/C LEDs remain on, the HDD LED sometimes stays on and sometimes stays off. If I am in safe boot mode, I get 5-20 lines (varies) of logging on screen before it freezes. The failure happens on 90% of retarts, and 80% of cold boots.
The behaviour is the same even with a new HDD and clean install of XP, also tried booting Linux with same results. I have upgraded to the latest BIOS version with no improvement.
The weird thing is that the system boots 100% OK when booted from CD, or USB floppy or when running from battery with A/C disconnected. Once it is booted, the system runs happily (for weeks) without crashing.
Any ideas?
November 30th, 2006 at 4:55 pm
My Dell Inspiron 500M freezes during booting when either my HP 2575 AIO or my WD external HD is turned on. I do not get any error messages. It just stops booting and may be on a blank screen or on a graphic. I have to power off and reboot after turning off the offending peripheral.Dell refuses to tell me how to fix this problem. Since it is only a pest, I wait till boot is completely before turning on either peripheral bugt would like to get it fixed. Do you know any solution?
Thanks. Don Barker
November 30th, 2006 at 11:07 pm
JagV12,
If the laptop was purchased in the United States then I think at this time Toshiba will fix this issue at no charge even if the laptop passed the warranty period. Call the customer service and ask about it.
Here’s what you can try yourself. Lift up the keyboard, here’s a guide for taking apart a Satellite Pro 6100 laptop and gently press on the video card to make sure it’s seated properly. Overtime the video card might pop up from the connector on the motherboard and cause a lot of different problems like boot failure, bad video, lock ups, etc…
Another very common issue with this model is a bad connection between the power board and the system board, but in this case the laptop usually fails to boot at all and power LED flashes orange. In this case we usually replace both boards.
November 30th, 2006 at 11:11 pm
Don,
I cannot say what is wrong just from the description you provided without testing the laptop. Check if there is a BIOS update for your model.
December 5th, 2006 at 12:53 pm
I have a Acer Laptop, model: travelmate 4152 NLCi…
whenever i am trying to install windows Xp, my system shuts down automatically, this had never happened before as i have formatted the system many times.
As soon as the menu of windows XP comes for installing fresh windows XP, repair windows XP…etc.., my laptop just turns off, then i have to restart the system, boot the XP cd again…but the same thing happens–laptop shuts down.
One more important thing is that this is not only happening while installing windows, i tried to install UBUNTU 6.06 ( linux ), same thing happened.., system shuts down while installing.
Is there any hardware failure ( hard disk problem ) or some sort of virus attack.???
Also tell me that how many times a laptop harddisk can be formatted? is there any limitation for formatting??
December 18th, 2006 at 9:17 pm
I recently, about a month ago bought a new Dell Latitude 820 laptop, and its giving me a problem since past 2/3 days. it doesnt boot up and even if it does it gets hanged
.
once i press the power key, sometimes its starts with some indicator lights blinking but dies right away and nothing happens further..If i press power up again it repeats the same process a few times again, sometimes it hangs up while loading the windows XP OS.
Also sometimes if it boots fine, it gets hanged after boot is complete, sometimes it hangs in midst of everything.the display is there but cannot move the mouse, keyboard doesnt work.
Is this a software related problem, some virus or trojan
or this is a hardware related problem??
Can you please tell me how should i do try to fix the problem?
December 19th, 2006 at 9:05 am
hey need some help here.. has anyone encountered a problem whereby they turn on the power button.. then they hear the hard disk spin a while, the cpu fan spins also then.. after that it just dies… nothing on screen.. no booting into bios or etc..
i’ve tride switching the ram slots but ntohign seems to work.. by the way i’m using an Acer aspire 1680.. and its passed its warranty period..
December 20th, 2006 at 6:49 pm
With reference to my previous post (post no 21)
I understand that this site is run on no profit basis and taking lot of efforts and its totally understable about some time before replying to queries but my bad being impatient with my problem i did some actions on the problem laptop before some reply on my query.
I had two partioned drives on the laptop c: and d: , I Formatted both the drives and reinstalled the Windows XP Sp2 OS. Now the boot up problem seems to have ceased to occur.The laptop doesnt get hanged during boot or at any other time.But i have noticied one particular problem,
sometimes when i start the laptop, the fan makes a lot of unusual noise of rotating very fast and the booting takes a very long time…it becomes very slow.But if i power down and restart the laptop again, the noise of the fan ceases and also the boot is fast(as normal case). It is also that the problem of the noise of fan and slow boot does not occur at every boot, it occurs only sometimes.
To detect if it is some hardware related problem, I ran the hardware diagnostics cd provided along with the dell, and it reports the memory, hard disk, fan and in fact all hardware devices tests to be passed.
It should not be software related as i have just reinstalled my OS.But if hardware the diagnostic doesnt report any failures too.
Can someone please please help me out and ascertain what the problem is?And how can i try to fix it?
December 20th, 2006 at 7:35 pm
Alok,
First of all, in the post 21 you mentioned that the laptop is only 1 month old. Isn’t it still under warranty? If it is, I would send it back to Dell for repair. If you open up the laptop case yourself, you might lose the warranty.
It’s very hard to troubleshoot an intermittent problem and right now I cannot say what exactly is wrong with your laptop. First, I would find out what version of BIOS is installed on the laptop. Check the manufacturer’s website if there is a newer BIOS version available for your model, upgrade the BIOS if needed. After that test the laptop.
You have a new laptop and I don’t think that the fan is clogged with dust and the laptop basically overheats but check the heatsink anyway.
If I understand right the fan starts spinning very fast as soon as you turn on the laptop even before Windows starts loading, correct? If yes, then it doesn’t sound as a software issue. Remove the hard drive and test the laptop again, see if the fan still spins faster than usual. Remove other devices (like wireless card, DVD drive, modem, USB devices, PC card, etc…) and test the laptop again. If you removed all devices you can access and the laptop still have intermittent issues with the fan speed, then you might have a problem with the motherboard.
By the way, what if you unplug the main power and start the laptop just on the battery? The problem is still there? May be the AC adapter is bad and the power provided by the AC adapter is not correct? The voltage might be too high or too low. It’s just a guess, but still worth trying.
December 20th, 2006 at 7:42 pm
Steelrage,
To boot any laptop with video you need three main parts: system board (with video card), processor and memory. If one of the above mentioned parts is bad you will not get any video. The memory fails much more often than the processor or motherboard, and I would test the memory module first. Check if the module is seated properly, reseat it just in case. Find a test memory module and see if it makes any difference.
December 25th, 2006 at 12:03 am
Hi LapTop Freak,
I updated my Laptop BIOS version, the manufacturer DELL had just released a new BIOS version and i updated to it.For past 4 days the laptop is working fine without giving any problems.
I want to thank you for all the help.
Its really appreciating to carry out a non profit venture like this one to help out people.People like me…end users face a prob..google..and come to forums like these..ask for help…and people like u help out without..we move on…and u continue to help others..it really is amazing..and i would really like to thank you for this great help and attitude.
Thanks again.
Wish you sucess and good luck.
-Alok
January 8th, 2007 at 12:43 am
Hello Laptop guy,
can you help me find out whats the problem with this thing i purchased by spending so much of money!!
Im back again…my problems seem never ending
Please see my posts 21,23 and 26 bcos this is what follows after tht..After i installed the new bios my laptop seemed to work perfectly fine untill one fine day out of nothing…it cant boot!! i thought it must be a virus or something and tried to boot it from the bootable disc..but no it doesnt boot…the behaviour tht happens while booting from HDD or from bootable disc is the same, i mention it below:
As soon as i power up the laptop, some of the leds for power and all start blinking..the BIOS loading page appears, and after tht nothing!! the power led keeps glowing, i tried it with the power cable plugged in as well as without it, the behaviour is the same..
When i boot from bootable disc, i get a message, windows is checking hardware settings or something like tht and then nothing happens…the power led keeps glowing and i do not get anything
strange is i can run the dell hardware diagnostic test cd by booting tht cd from the drive..i tried with another windows bootable cd and it just doesnt work..
Also, the dell hardware diagnostic tests..do not return any errors!
Can you please help me?? my problems with this laptop just seem never ending
January 9th, 2007 at 12:10 am
Alok,
It’s hard to troubleshoot a laptop over the Internet. There could be hundreds different things causing the problem. I’ve tried to provide some basic troubleshooting steps but obviously they didn’t help a lot. At the next step I would probably start minimizing the system by removing all extra devices such as DVD drive, wireless card, modem, etc… until you have only three main parts left: motherboard, processor (with the cooling module) and memory. If the system still freezes, one of the three main parts is bad and I cannot say which one. It’s necessary to install known good parts and test again after each installed part. I think it might be necessary to take your laptop to a repair shop for more detailed diagnostics.
January 9th, 2007 at 7:06 pm
Hi Laptop guy,
Thanks very much for your opinion.
Im sending it back to Dell, to look in to and sort out the problem.I will keep posted about the details as and when they come in as it might help someone else with similar symptoms.Thanks again for your help with the replies.
Best Regards,
Alok
January 18th, 2007 at 10:31 am
Hi there,
I want to ask about booting up problems. I have a Toshiba Equium A60 692 and it fails to boot after the POST test. The Toshiba logo comes up then everything goes dead.
I want to know is the Processor dead or is there something else wrong. Would the Toshiba logo have come up if the processor was dead? The processor is a Pentium 4 2.8ghz. Any info is welcome.
Cheers!
January 20th, 2007 at 11:52 am
Dalvir,
From my experience I know that Satellite A60 notebooks have a lot of problems with onboard memory. It might be your problem. If you have any extra memory module installed, remove it and test the base RAM with Memtest86+, you’ll find the link in the post.
I don’t think so. If you can run Memtest 86+ utility, then probably there is nothing wrong with the processor.
January 26th, 2007 at 3:40 pm
Hi,
I have a Dell Inspiron 2500 laptop that has had boot problems off and on since I bought it a few months ago on Ebay… I repartitioned and reformatted the HD once and the problem seemed to go away for a while.
Problem: XP starts to boot, shows splash screen, plays windows jingle but cursor doesn’t appear nor does the desktop… can hear pop up from xp (tour prompt/request) everything seems normal except no display of desktop and cursor.
could this be related to the laptop being cold? I repartitioned and reformatted last night, reloaded xp and today same problem for about 1/2 hour then windows boted ok.
January 27th, 2007 at 8:48 pm
Steve,
Did you try boot the laptop in safe mode? Can you boot to the desktop in safe mode? Try boot the laptop with an external monitor. Can you get the desktop on the external monitor?
February 11th, 2007 at 2:39 am
I have a huge problem!
Let me try to explain it, first of all i have a HP DV5217CL notebook, AMD ATHLON 64 MOBILE 1.67GHZ. 1GB RAM, 100GB HD. Im running on win xp pro. Okay problem is as follows. When i turned on my computer for the first time it took a long time to restart, im talking about 5 minutes. But it was full with junk from Sams Club, so i just restored system and got ride of all, after that it worked perfectly. But 3 days later the problem reapeard. first way i know problem is back, is because my audio begins to cut off (it feel like a shortage of memory problem, but im running the least amount of programs posible, y disabeled all programs from start up), then when i restart it will take 5 minutes about, and i wont be able to use any sound related programs, because it say my computer doesnt have any sound recording device. The problem fixes every time i restore system, but im tired of doing this because i need to reinstall all the programs im using. So i dont think it a hardware problem since it can work perfectly when that problem doesnt come up. I have warranty but im actually in europe til july, so i cant take it back now. HELP PLEASE.
February 15th, 2007 at 10:27 pm
My problem is similar. I have Gateway 600ygr and a week ago when tried to turn the power button on it nothing happened. But, when I unplugged the power cord and then pluged it back in, the lights and fan sarted going. Unfortunately only for 2 seconds and then the laptop died. Eventually I have discovered that besides the trick with the power cord, I could power on the laptop by presing the little button that puts the computer in the stand by mode when closing down the screen, unfortunately for only 2 seconds. When I press this litle button and hold it down, laptop starts normally, but the screen does not lights up. I can see a little under the right lights, but cant manage to see the mouse to get into the windows. External monitor does not work either. I even changed the little circuit board on which this little “stand by mode” button is located with no change. I don’t know where else to look. I hate this Gateway, but that is all I have. Any help I will appriciate very much.
February 16th, 2007 at 8:13 am
Hi, I have a similar problem to the main post – I believe. I have a HP Pavillion Laptop.
If I shut down the computer using the Power key, or if my battery runs out of power causing a shut down, or if I go into hybernate (or shut the laptop while running) – - the next time I try to boot up the laptop it will freeze. It will start and get to the windows XP screen – but will then freeze (I have left it for over an hour).
The only thing I can do is to use the power key to turn it off. I can then restart the computer – and it will ask it I want to start normally or start in safe mode. If I choose start normally, it will freeze again. If I choose safe mode – it will run okay. It then appears that if I leave it running in safe mode for at least 30 min and then log off properly (using the windows-start-shutdown) and wait another hour with the laptop off – - it will boot up properly.
I am still under a staples warrenty (9 more days) – but they tell me that no computer can start properly if it is not shut down properly – so I should just live with this.
I am not sure what to do – or what to tell them to make them believe that there is something actually wrong with my laptop.
Any help is much appreciated!
February 16th, 2007 at 8:18 am
Addition to my previous post.
I thought that I should mention that this all started after I sent my computer to HP becuase the motherboard was dead. They replaced the motherboard – and mailed the compter back to me. I kept my hard-drive and just plugged it back in becuase I didn’t want to lose any information. That is when this issue first started.
(I have sense backed-up my machine – so I don’t care if the new solution requires me to slam my machine etc)
Thank you again for your time – I really appreciate it.
February 21st, 2007 at 9:34 am
Additional information regarding my problem.
By formating and reloading windows several times – I have isolated the problem to Windows XP Service Pack 2. The laptop works 100% fine until I install it. Once I install it – it will not boot up properly.
Problem is that I need Service Pack 2 to install much of my software (Office 2007 etc).
From researching on the web people say this may be an indication that I need a BIOS upgrade??? Is this true – and if so, what does this mean and how do I do it.
Thanks
February 21st, 2007 at 11:40 pm
Jennifer,
I would definitely try upgrading the BIOS if there is a newer version available for your model. Visit HP support site at: http://welcome.hp.com/country/us/en/support.html
Find available downloads for your model. You’ll find available BIOS update and instructions in there.
March 5th, 2007 at 12:23 pm
hey laptop guy-
I have an HP pavilion ze 5300 laptop, about four years old now, with Windows XP SP2 that at boot up does not get past the Welcome screen, that is on screen I see only the pretty blue windows decor with the micrsoft windows xp logo. I can hear the processor every now and then but it never moves to the login screen. I tried the F8 and Last Known Good Settings combo and a got a message saying tha a registry had been changed or deleted but had been restored successfully (this was on top of the blue Windows XP screen) I pressed ok and nothing happened. I rebooted and tried again but the message did not reappear and I still did not get to the logon screen. Next I tried Safe Mode, some code of the C:\Windows\system32 variety came up and then the usual Safe Mode text came up in each of the four corners of the screen, but then the computer just returned to the blue screen, same as before.
I have read that programs like Spybot and Adaware(programs which I used on a frequent basis) have the tendency to mess with registry keys. Perhaps I have unwittingly done myself a diservice by trying to keep my computer free of spyware!
Unfortunately I am far away from home and don’t have the xp or restore cds available to me. Perhaps I am at a dead end.
thanks for reading.
April 1st, 2007 at 10:36 pm
Toshiba A35-S159 laptop, can’t setup CMOS
OS: Win XP Home
CPU/Ram: 2.7 Celeron/512M
I have a Toshiba A35 laptop with a strange problem that appeared gradually. It won’t allow me into CMOS setup. If I press F2 on boot-up, it goes to Windows instead but dbl-clicking on any icon brings up the properties window instead of the program! If I reboot and press F1 repeatedly while booting, Windows works normally. I tried to use the recovery DVD but if I press F12 on boot-up to change boot device, the boot device menu appears but locks up and I have to power down. Keyboard tester program says keyboard is OK; CPU heatsink was clogged but is now clean. Do I have corrupted BIOS, hard drive partitions or worse? Any ideas? Pressing F1 to boot every time is driving me nuts! Thanks.
July 25th, 2007 at 6:17 pm
Dear Laptop Freak,
I have a japanese toshiba dynabook px-410dl. Recently, it just dead and stop booting up. The power and charger led are on only when I press the power button. It light for around 5 seconds then nothing happens at all. It just not powering up and booting up. I have try to swap the memory as well as putting new memory, putting new hard drive, tested the ac adapter etc. Do you have solution for it?
September 18th, 2007 at 5:39 pm
Mr laptop,
I have an interesting problem with Toshiba M35 laptop.
1) When I turn on my computer the power light does come on, the fan starts, and after a few seconds the screen goes black and the fan stops. However, the power light is still on. The computer almost acts like it is in hybernation but won’t come out of hybernation. Please help. Thanks.
September 18th, 2007 at 10:15 pm
Greg R,
Did you test the laptop with an external monitor? Can you get external video?
Try reseating the memory module, it could be memory related issue.
Are you sure it’s a Satellite M35 and not a Satellite M35X laptop. I’m asking because I believe in Satellite M35 the fan doesn’t start when you turn on the laptop. It starts only when the CPU is hot.
December 17th, 2007 at 9:40 am
hello
i have problems booting my EI solutions laptop. it continually scrolls through the safe mode screen. it will not boot. if i remove the power supply so it runs on battery it does boot. i can then plug the power supply back into the laptop and it works. why wont it boot up with the power supply connected?
thanks
Trevor
January 14th, 2008 at 6:07 pm
I have a Toshiba A1100. When starting the boot up, it seems to get stuck on Windows XP. The words show,as does the moving lines like normal, but it stays on that forever. Finally, I see the third LED light go on, then it makes a noise and the screen goes black, like it is hibernating. Any ideas?
March 16th, 2008 at 12:22 pm
Laptop freak i’m having a problem with my laptop in the booting process.
I have a Dell Inspiron 1300 and when I turn it on to boot it loads up upon the Dell screen but stops, something must be working but sometimes when I turn it on it actual goes through and starts up normally. Please help
March 16th, 2008 at 8:46 pm
Trequan,
Test the hard drive. Download Hitachi drive fitness test and test the hard drive. I linked to this utility in “Useful Links”. Does it pass the test?
March 21st, 2008 at 1:52 pm
What do I do when I get on the page? There so many things to click i’m getting confused up there please tell me!
March 21st, 2008 at 3:33 pm
Well laptop freak i have tried the disc, my computer reads it just fine but it won’t do anything it still stops at the dell screen
April 8th, 2008 at 5:39 pm
Hi there..
I have just recently been given a HP Pavilion zt3000, i turn on the laptop.. can hear it start to go through the motions.. then the hard drive stops spinning and nothing.. wont even get past the initial screen boot
could it be a motherboard issue??
April 11th, 2008 at 4:34 pm
Dear Laptop Freak,
Just out of the blue, whenever I try to start my Dell Latitude D600 laptop, it goes to the boot menu and begins to load. However, it freezes just when it is almost finished booting and won’t do anything. The F2 and F12 keys won’t work for some reason, so I can’t do anything. I’m not very computer savvy. Please help me.
July 28th, 2008 at 8:34 am
have a dell Latitude D820
intermitantly i get a loud buzzing noise, low pitch. not sure where it is coming from.
Please email me suggestions.
thanks,
t.
August 13th, 2008 at 7:37 pm
I have a DELL Latitude D610. When I power it on, it freezes while the DELL screen is up in a second or two. I have disconnected the battery and run with just the AC cable and the same thing happens.
Prior to this I was getting freeze ups while working. But now I can’t getpast this initial screen. At this point I was able to reset it to a last successful setting, it worked for about 5 minutes and then I have had nothing but the frozen DELL screen.
No error messages have been received.
Any help greatly appreciated as I leave for college in 2 days…Yikes!
August 13th, 2008 at 9:08 pm
rebecca haeg,
Could be bad memory. Try reseating the memory module just in case, maybe it’s not making good connection with the memory slot.
Also, I would test the laptop with another working memory module.
Do you have two memory modules installed? Try removing them one by one. If one of the modules is bad, the laptop will start working properly when it’s removed.
August 25th, 2008 at 3:15 pm
change the HARD DRIVE SECTOR DAMAGE ATT 00.001%
LOSE OFF DATA ATT ABOUTE 0.0027%
it hepens only too from 20Gig too 60gig Hard Drive
so purchase a hard drive with 80 + gig
att NEWEGG.Com
December 12th, 2008 at 4:01 am
Hey Bro,
The problem that you have described also lies within acer laptops. To get mine working there are some tabs that surround the touchpad, well bend them back and it will take pressure off the hard drive. If that doesn’t work go to my website and contact me. What is/was your rate?
May 25th, 2010 at 10:33 am
I have a Dell D820 that freezes after a couple minutes. It appears the fan is not running.
I have replaced the fan thinking that was the issue, but it still will not run when the machine is on.
Any ideas as what to look at to figure out why the fan will not run?
November 9th, 2010 at 3:49 am
Hi,
I have an Acer Aspire 5332. I turn the laptop on and the Acer logo appears, then the laptop freezes.
I have removed the battery and ran it off the mains cable only. It has two sticks of memory so i have removed them, one at a time to see if one of them was faulty, but still have exactly the same problem.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.