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.
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.
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?
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?
August 25th, 2008 at 3:15 pm
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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 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!
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.
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.
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??
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
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 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 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
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?
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
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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 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 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 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 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.
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?
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 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.