Anybody familiar with laptop troubleshooting?

Question

Hey,

I'm having a problem with my laptop. Whenever I try to log in the icons don't appear and basically it just won't function (it's frozen). I've been trying to re-start it but even the "Turn Off Computer" menu buttons won't appear. I've tried turning it off, removed the battery, reconnected it and started it up again but the result's still the same (and the screen just keeps getting fuzzier).

I'm not exactly the most computer tech savvy person either so it's really becoming very irksome. I'm thinking that the problem may have stemmed from the other day when I was trying to save some files on a floppy disk and the damn program wouldn't respond and ended up "hanging".

It would be a huge relief if someone could point me to the right direction on what to do.

Thanks in advance,

Ella

Answer 1

Ok you may try starting the computer in safe mode. To do this , press on F8 just after the bios screen. This should bring up the startup options in WinXP. Select safe mode. After the pc starts in safe mode, select drive C and right click > properties> tools> scandisk. check on automatically fix errors. restart the system as usual.

Or , as you said the problem began with the floppy, then goto BIOS, and look for an option that says "floppy Drive A" or something similar and Disable it.

The last option is to reinstall windows , which takes a lot of time but saves a lot of hard work.

Answer 2

How old is your laptop? what model

What brand?

Is this an external or internal floppy?

If it is internal, what is the size?

what is the amount of memory & capacity of physical drive?

What operating system are you using?

Describe as much as can remember about the way the computer operated before it stopped working.

Whatvirus software are you using?

Answer 3

hit the reset button on the pc then as the pc is starting up keep hitting the f8 key your come to a menu
load up in safe mode
when at the desktop in safe mode
you need to do all this


By freeing disk space, you can improve the performance of your computer. The Disk Cleanup tool helps you free up space on your hard disk. The utility identifies files that you can safely delete, and then enables you to choose whether you want to delete some or all of the identified files.

Use Disk Cleanup to:

• Remove temporary Internet files.

• Remove downloaded program files (such as Microsoft ActiveX controls and Java applets).

• Empty the Recycle Bin.

• Remove Windows temporary files.

• Remove optional Windows components that you don't use.

• Remove installed programs that you no longer use.


Tip: Typically, temporary Internet files take the most amount of space because the browser caches each page you visit for faster access later.

To use Disk Cleanup

1.
Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, point to System Tools, and then click Disk Cleanup. If several drives are available, you might be prompted to specify which drive you want to clean.

Disk Cleanup calculates the amount of space you will be able to free.
Choose the files that you want to delete.

3.
Clear the check boxes for files that you don't want to delete, and then click OK.

4.
When prompted to confirm that you want to delete the specified files, click Yes.


After a few minutes, the process completes and the Disk Cleanup dialog box closes, leaving your computer cleaner and performing better.



Speed Up Access to Data
Disk fragmentation slows the overall performance of your system. When files are fragmented, the computer must search the hard disk when the file is opened to piece it back together. The response time can be significantly longer.

Disk Defragmenter is a Windows utility that consolidates fragmented files and folders on your computer's hard disk so that each occupies a single space on the disk. With your files stored neatly end-to-end, without fragmentation, reading and writing to the disk speeds up.

When to Run Disk Defragmenter

In addition to running Disk Defragmenter at regular intervals, optimally monthly, certain events warrant running the utility outside of the monthly rule of thumb.

You should run Disk Defragmenter under the following circumstances:

• You add a large number of files.

• Your free disk space nears 15 percent.

• You install new programs or a new version of Windows.


To use Disk Defragmenter:

1.
Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, point to System Tools, and then click Disk Defragmenter.




Click Analyze to start the Disk Defragmenter.


2.
In the Disk Defragmenter dialog box, click the drives that you want to defragment, and then click the Analyze button.

After the disk is analyzed, a dialog box appears, letting you know whether you should defragment the analyzed drives.

Tip: You should analyze a volume before defragmenting it to get an estimate of how long the defragmentation process will take.

3.
To defragment the selected drive or drives, click the Defragment button.

After the defragmentation is complete, Disk Defragmenter displays the results.

4.
To display detailed information about the defragmented disk or partition, click View Report.

5.
To close the View Report dialog box, click Close.

6.
To close the Disk Defragmenter utility, click the Close button on the title bar of the window.


Detect and Repair Disk Errors
In addition to running Disk Cleanup and Disk Defragmenter to optimize the performance of your computer, you can check the integrity of the files stored on your hard disk by running the Error Checking utility.

As you use your hard drive, it can develop bad sectors. Bad sectors slow down hard disk performance and sometimes make data writing (such as file saving) difficult, or even impossible. The Error Checking utility scans the hard drive for bad sectors, and scans for file system errors to see whether certain files or folders are misplaced.

If you use your computer daily, you should try to run this utility weekly to help prevent data loss.

To run the Error Checking utility:

Important: Be sure to close all files before running the Error-Checking utility.

1.
Click Start, and then click My Computer.

2.
In the My Computer window, right-click the hard disk you want to search for bad sectors, and then click Properties.

3.
In the Properties dialog box, click the Tools tab.

4.
Click the Check Now button.

5.
In the Check Disk dialog box, select the Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors check box, and then click Start.


In most circumstances, select Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors.

6.
If bad sectors are found, choose to fix them.


Tip: Only select the Automatically fix file system errors check box if you think that your disk contains bad sectors.

run a virus scan / spyware scan
then restart the pc then when back at the desktop

check your system for spywarew

Spyware
W32/Spybot
Browser Hijackers
Adware
Malware
Keyloggers
trojans
virus
back door trojans
Malicious mobile code


XoftSpy 4.22 is the Latest and Most Advanced Spyware Detection and
Spyware

when you download xoftspy422 install it and run it then stop the scan click on scan settings tick every box and click on where it says >>> click here to select a folder
tick in that box tick (c) dive thats your hard drive then click ok then click on start when the scan is done cllick on remove tab and xoftspy422 will remove the trojan and all other trojans with it



http://www.paretologic.com/products.aspx



check your internet speed/download/upload speed to make sure your isp server is not ripping you off if they say your getting 3.5 mb download speed and 2.4 upload speed make sure you are from the net speed test website


http://performance.toast.net/results.asp?testtype=1&loadtime=2.609

Answer 4

Refresh your system O.S.