I have a HP laptop and whenever I turn it on, it seems to boot up fine. All the icons appear on the screen. Then I try to click on any icon and nothing happens. I cannot access the start menu either. Its like everything is frozen.

I usually have to turn off and on the laptop about 6-8 times before it actually boots up and can work normal.

I have never had a problem like this and I am scared that my laptop is dying.

There could be a few different possible problems with your laptop.
First of all, this might be a software related problem. Test if your laptop freezes in Safe Mode. Turn on the laptop and press F8 as soon as HP logo appears on the screen, select Safe Mode from the menu. If the laptop freezes in normal mode but works fine in Safe Mode, most likely you have some kind of software related issue. I’m not going to troubleshoot any software related issues because it might take hours and bring no results. In this case backup all personal data from the hard drive and reinstall the operating system from the recovery disc.
If the laptop freezes even in Safe Mode, I would run diagnostic tests on the hard drive and memory. You can test the hard drive with Hitachi’s DFT test and memory with Memtest86+. Links to both utilities are located in “Useful Links” on the right side of the website.
If the hard drive fails to pass the test, replace the hard drive and reinstall the operating system.
If the memory fails to pass the test, replace the memory module.
Also, try removing the wireless card and modem one by one and run the laptop without them. A faulty wireless card can freeze up the whole system.

I have a problem with my Laptop. I have got a Compaq Evo N1020v and recently bought a new PC2100 512MB Memory Module. I replaced my current 256MB one with the new one and it works perfectly. When I insert the 256MB in the second slot the memory increases to 768MB but while working after about 30 minutes the computer freezes, the mouse pointer even freezes and Ctrl + Alt + Del, does not do anything, it stays frozen. I thought that it might be that the memory is not compatible with each other so ordered another 512MB from MemoryX. After inserting the new one, the computer works for about 30 minutes then freezes. After changing BIOS Settings nothing helps. What I have noticed is after the first time I restart after it has frozen, the computer already freezes at the login and does not get further, after another restart the computer freezes before even getting to the login. After taking out the one 512MB the Laptop works perfectly again. Could you please help me as I don’t know what is wrong.

I think there is a problem with the memory slot on the motherboard. Here’s what you can try to narrow down the problem. Run the laptop with each memory module in each memory slot. If the laptop works fine with both memory modules installed into the slot A but freezes with both memory modules installed into the slot B, most likely the slot B is bad. Also, you can narrow down the problem by running memory test utility, I usually use Memtest86+. I linked to this utility in Useful Links.
If both memory modules passes test in the slot A but fail in the slot B, the slot B is defective.
Unfortunately, in this case you’ll have to replace the motherboard or use it only with one memory slot occupied.

I have an HP Pavilion dv6000 that came with Vista. I am having problems with it freezing literally “every 6 minutes” when I’m using wireless….this is NOT an issue at all if I have the Ethernet plugged in directly from the DSL modem. I have a Linksys router, and I installed the latest firmware. I don’t know if this is an HP problem, a Vista issue, or if I simply have a bad wireless card. Anyone else experiencing this? (I’ve had this problem both with the laptop plugged in and just on the battery).

Thank you in advance for any help!

Sounds like this one will be a tough one because I don’t know any utility for testing the wireless card. In most cases to find out if your problem is related to the wireless card is replacing it with another good working wireless card.
Here’s what you can try. Probably you have original HP software load and it has a lot of programs running on the background, you can see them in the notification area of the task bar (lower right corner). Try turning off these programs one by one and see if it makes any difference. It’s possible that you laptop freezes because of some kind of software conflict.
Try reloading your laptop from scratch. Backup all personal files and run the restore (recovery) CDs or DVDs.
Sounds like you installed the latest firmware for the router but did you check if you have the latest BIOS installed on your laptop? Sometimes these kind of issue can be fixed with upgrading the BIOS.

I have a Toshiba Tecra A3 cel-M 360 laptop and it was all working perfectly fine until recently. I use Microsoft Office 2003 and lately it has stopped working. T tried uninstalling it and re-installing office but it just wont work. If i click “Microsoft Word” the start up screen appears and it just freezes on that screen. I can run other programs and applications but that start up screen for Microsoft word remains frozen on top of my wallpaper. I was told that the hard drive could possibly be faulty but I’m not sure. Any help please?

I think they are right, you might have a problem with the hard drive. Turn on the laptop and listen for the hard drive sounds. Is it loud? Can you hear grinding or clicking noises? If you can, probably your hard drive is dying. You can test the hard drive with Hitachi’s drive fitness test. Download this utility, create a bootable CD, start the laptop from this CD and run the test. Also, you can find this utility in the Ultimate Boot CD.
I would recommend to back up all personal data as soon as possible because the hard drive can stop working any moment.

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.

My Acer TravelMAte 3650 (not flashy I know) is having issues! It freezes up when I am using it at home. It is a temporary freeze up, it used to go for about 30 seconds and occur every couple of minutes, I have run a heap of anti-virus stuff, adware and spyware programs to try and find out what might be the problem. All of the computers components seem to be find according to device manager as well. Now the freezing is down to about 2 seconds or so, (if you are playing music you can hear when it freezes because it will get stuck on that note). Here comes the confusing part, when I am using it at home I will have all of these troubles with it and at home I am not connected to the net or any wireless networks. When I use it at collage or at a friend’s house or any where else that I have it connected to a wireless, then it doesn’t seem to play up at all. I thought if my laptop was going to have any issues, it would have been when it was connected, not the other way around. Please help me because I travel a lot and need my laptop to show clients their work.

A problem like yours could be triggered by a piece of malicious code installed on the hard drive. It’s trying to connect to a remote server causing the laptop to freeze up. It might try to connect regardless if a network connection is present or not. There is no spyware or adware removal tool that can clean your system 100%. Some malicious programs are not detectable because they are new. Cleaning up a laptop from spyware and adware might take hours and hours and still there is no guaranty if it will help.
When I have to troubleshoot a laptop that freezes up, locks up or runs slow, I always install my test drive and reload the operating system. If the laptop works fine after the operating system is reloaded then it’s a software problem. If I still have the same issue then it’s a hardware problem. I understand that not everyone has a luxury of having a spare hard drive. So, if you don’t have it then I would go with reloading the laptop back to original factory defaults using a recovery media.
I know that it will take some time to back up the data and reload the laptop, but from my experience it’s still the best way to find out if the problem is caused by software or by a faulty hardware.

We have a Toshiba Satellite Mobile Intel(R) Pentium (R) 4 CPU. When it sets for a while, and it can vary, the computer shuts down and you can’t log on to the internet or run any programs without shutting it off and turning it back on. What can be causing this? It has been driving us crazy. We should also tell you that we are not computer savvy, so before we take it some where to have it checked out we thought we would ask you.

From your description I cannot understand if your computer shuts down completely or it locks up after a while, so you cannot do anything. If your computer shuts down unexpectedly, then I would check if the heat sink is clogged and the CPU overheats. It’s a very common problem and usually doesn’t take a lot of time to repair.
On the other hand, if your computer locks up after a while, then I would test the hard drive first. I’ve seen it many times when a laptop stops responding because of a bad hard drive. If the hard drive fails the test, then it must be replaced. Hard drive replacement requires reloading the operating system, so be prepared for it. Do not forget to back up all important information from your computer when you take it to a repair shop.

If your laptop is Toshiba Satellite M35X, A70 or A75 then you might have a top cover that wasn’t grounded properly. You can fix the problem if you replace the top cover assembly or modify the old one.

Hey I was just wondering if you might know anything about what problem I’m having, my Dell Latitude D505 series will start up just fine it’s when I enter my password and it starts to load, when its doing so, it freezes, the desktop picture comes up but nothing else shows, it just stays at that and loads. If you could respond to this and hopefully tell me what could be wrong with it I would greatly appreciate it.

My first guess would be that you have corrupted software. Try to boot your laptop in a safe mode by pressing F8 on start up. If the laptop works fine in a safe mode, then you can reinstall the operating system and get it back up and running. If you remember when the problem occurred for the first time, you can use Windows system restore utility to revert the operating system back.
Also, it might be a hardware related problem, most likely a failing hard drive. You can download Hitachi drive fitness test utility and test the hard drive. This utility is free and will work for most laptop hard drives. If the hard drive fails the test, you’ll have to replace it.

My Toshiba 1800 will only work if I center it on one knee and press down on the lower left and upper right corners of it at the same time. If I just place it on a flat surface and hit the power button the hard drive light comes on and stays on and I can hear a sound like the A drive for just a second, then nothing. And if I press on it, and get it started if I let go it just freezes right where it is.

You will not believe, but I have the same laptop laying under my bench and it has exactly the same problem. This laptop fails to start until I press firmly on the right side of the palmrest. After that the laptop boots normally but finally it fails again. I believe this problem occurs because of a faulty connection between the battery board and the system board. Your description proves my point. Buy pressing on the laptop sides, you flex the laptop case and make a better connection between the system board and the battery board. You can see the battery board pictured on my disassembly guide for Toshiba Satellite 1800 (step 23). You can try to reseat the battery board, it might help to get the laptop up and running for a while, but I think it will fail again. I’m not really sure witch part is failing and if I would get your laptop for repair, I would quote you both parts. If you really want try to repair the laptop, I would go with the battery board first because it is 6-7 times cheaper then the system board and would cost you about $60. Give me the model name and number for your laptop (for example Satellite 1800-S203, PS181U-00CFC2E) and I can look up a Toshiba part number for the battery board and the system board, so you can search online.

I have an Acer Aspire 1670, when I switch it on every thing start normally but after login to windows it freezes and I noticed very high fervent from fanning hall , I thing the CPU P4 3.2Gh/1G is faulty please tell me if I can change CPU (same kind)?

I don’t think that the laptop freezes because of a faulty CPU. It easily might be just an overheating problem. Can you hear if the fan is spinning after you turn on the laptop? Can you check if the heatsink is clogged? I would try to clean the heat sink first and see if it makes any difference. It is also possible that the laptop freezes because of a faulty hard drive. Test the hard drive, you can download Hitachi drive fitness test, it’s free and works with most hard drives. I’ve never seen that a faulty CPU causes the problem like yours.