Hi, sorry if I'm breaking any forum rules here, but I'm new and a tad distraught.
I got my Dell M1330 in May and it's worked like a dream. I don't use it for much- music, essays, browsing, one game (well within requirements), and I run regular defrags and anti-virus scans. So today I turned on firefox. I opened a few too many tabs and it went "not responding"- I figured, okay, I'll wait. A few minutes later it was still frozen, and when I tried to restart the computer, it wouldn't work. I ended up having to completely shut it off, restarted it in safe mode (at which point it completely stopped working), restarted it back into normal mode. Whenever I tried to open anything it didn't work, and if I simply turned it on and then tried to shut it down, the start menu would freeze.
Now I can keep it working for a few minutes, but it always freezes pretty quickly. It was fine yesterday, I've downloaded nothing since, and there's no sign of a virus (I did a scan using the latest AVG). When I tried to turn on Windows Media (in safe mode) it said something about the video card not working, and it also tried to get me to re-install Microsoft Office (in both safe and normal). Could either of these programs be the problem?
Thanks for any help you can give me.
I am a student and don't have much money- and all my essays-in-progress are stored on there. I don't have the time or money to start a whole new computer. Help...
Specs: Dell XPS M1330, MS Windows Vista Home Premium, 4GB RAM, 300 GB HDD, 2.1 GHZ Power
I got my Dell M1330 in May and it's worked like a dream. I don't use it for much- music, essays, browsing, one game (well within requirements), and I run regular defrags and anti-virus scans. So today I turned on firefox. I opened a few too many tabs and it went "not responding"- I figured, okay, I'll wait. A few minutes later it was still frozen, and when I tried to restart the computer, it wouldn't work. I ended up having to completely shut it off, restarted it in safe mode (at which point it completely stopped working), restarted it back into normal mode. Whenever I tried to open anything it didn't work, and if I simply turned it on and then tried to shut it down, the start menu would freeze.
Now I can keep it working for a few minutes, but it always freezes pretty quickly. It was fine yesterday, I've downloaded nothing since, and there's no sign of a virus (I did a scan using the latest AVG). When I tried to turn on Windows Media (in safe mode) it said something about the video card not working, and it also tried to get me to re-install Microsoft Office (in both safe and normal). Could either of these programs be the problem?
Thanks for any help you can give me.
I am a student and don't have much money- and all my essays-in-progress are stored on there. I don't have the time or money to start a whole new computer. Help...
Specs: Dell XPS M1330, MS Windows Vista Home Premium, 4GB RAM, 300 GB HDD, 2.1 GHZ Power
