Notebook locking up - slow

[drdom]

Help!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I know this is probably a redundant request but...

I have a Toshiba A105-s4004 laptop, that has been working great until a few months ago...when it started to get slower and slower getting stuck in the middle of downloading something or locking up so that the only way out was CTRL, ALT, DEL. Then wanting to send an error message to MSN. Finally, 3 days ago, I turn on the computer and I get a black screen with white letters stating,that my Windows/system32/config/system has an error or is corrupt.

Since I am very nieve about computers my first thoughts were that all was lost, I had no way out but to recover it to "out of the box" settings with the recovery disks so that is what I did (and in the process loosing all of my photos, papers my kids school reports etc.) but I figured if it got the computer up and running we would have to sacrific. Well, everything came back up and the computer seemed to be working fine for about a day, when this happened again yesterday. So I recovered it again, and it happened again this morning! ARGH! What am I doing wrong? Is this a virus? The computer was not dropped or damaged. What can I do, short of trashing it to stop this or is this a lost cause. I feel like I am stuck in an endless loop of recovery! I would appreciate any help with this, and in very babylike terms as I am a quick learner but do not know much about computers. I am in the process of recovering again but want to make this the LAST time!

Thanks

Help!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I know this is probably a redundant request but...

I have a Toshiba A105-s4004 laptop, that has been working great until a few months ago...when it started to get slower and slower getting stuck in the middle of downloading something or locking up so that the only way out was CTRL, ALT, DEL. Then wanting to send an error message to MSN. Finally, 3 days ago, I turn on the computer and I get a black screen with white letters stating,that my Windows/system32/config/system has an error or is corrupt.

Since I am very nieve about computers my first thoughts were that all was lost, I had no way out but to recover it to "out of the box" settings with the recovery disks so that is what I did (and in the process loosing all of my photos, papers my kids school reports etc.) but I figured if it got the computer up and running we would have to sacrific. Well, everything came back up and the computer seemed to be working fine for about a day, when this happened again yesterday. So I recovered it again, and it happened again this morning! ARGH! What am I doing wrong? Is this a virus? The computer was not dropped or damaged. What can I do, short of trashing it to stop this or is this a lost cause. I feel like I am stuck in an endless loop of recovery! I would appreciate any help with this, and in very babylike terms as I am a quick learner but do not know much about computers. I am in the process of recovering again but want to make this the LAST time!

Thanks

 

[Moraconda]

Run the Check Disk Utility and allow it to fix errors and repair bad sectors if found. It may be that some of Windows' vital and necessary information and files may be located on a bad portion of your hard drive and can not get accessed sometimes. If everything checks out fine, than conduct a virus and malware scan.

 

[drdom]

How do I do that??? I need computers for dummies...LOL!

 

[Moraconda]

One you're booted up into windows
Click on My Computer
Right click on the C: drive
Select Properties
Select Tools
Go to Error Checking and select Check Now
Select both boxes in new Window and then select Start.
It should ask you to reboot.
Once your system reboots, it will go through and conduct the Hard Drive checks
Good Luck

 

[drdom]

Thank you I am trying that now...just another question though...shouldn't the Toshiba recovery disks have taken care of this issue? Why else do they give them? Also, what if this does not help and I get locked up again...what do I do?

 

[Moraconda]

The recovery disk only repairs and reinstalls files and drivers for Windows. If your hard drive is damaged or corrupt, then the files will never open and close correctly, Worse case scenario, a new hard drive will need to be installed and loaded with Windows.

 

[drdom]

How does a hard drive become damaged or corrupt? The utility disk check has just finished, how will I know if this problem is fixed. The log did actually say at one point that it had repaired something for Windows...hopefully that was it! Also, I have been receiving another "Windows-system error balloon at the bottom of the page that says a duplicate name exists on the network", and idea what that means or how to correct it.

Thanks again!

 

[Moraconda]

Heat and magnetic waves are a common cause for a hard drive to fail. Frequent use also may cause for it to slowly malfunction mechanically verses electrically. As for the network error, how are you hooked up to the internet? Wired via ethernet/modem or wireless?

 

[drdom]

HELP!!! Now I really need help...turnedon my computer this morning it was working fine for about 10 minutes...then it froze up...tried everything, nothing worked so I shut it down...when I powered up again the Toshiba screen came up the computer started loading (blue bar at the bottom) then stopped finally the screen went blank with only a little white curser in the upper left hand corner. I shut down again several more times only to have this happen every time. I tried F8 to get to safe mode...nothing...I tried f2...the screen came up...but with my limited knowledge of computers I wasn't sure what to do with it...I tried f12...it did not come up. So I resorted to the recovery disks...followed the instructions on the case...nothing happened. What short of a new computer can I do now??? All of these wierd things have been happening since my first post in November! PLEASE HELP SOON!!!

 

[Moraconda]

Sounds like your hard drive has finally taken a dump. I would suggest removing your hard drive and transferring any important documents like pictures, word docs., music, etc. When you hook up the hard drive to a desktop PC as a slave to transfer the files, you then can allow Windows from the desktop PC to fix the hard drive from the laptop. The procedure will be the same as before except your laptop hard drive will have a different drive letter. An adapter is available from any computer store for under 10 bucks.Whether your successful or not in the fix, I would suggest getting a new hard drive to prevent this from happening again. Because it will happen again.

 

[drdom]

Sorry, I am so naive about computers I don't understand what to do...how do I transfer data...also... I probably don't have much data since I just recover this laptop in Nov. and it is primarily for my kids homework and for surfing the net (thankfully) the only thing I may have to sacrifice is a few pics...can i just recover using the disks. Does the hard drive really need to be replaced? How expensive is that? What would cause this? THANK YOU

Dell Dimensions 8400
3+ Years old
Manufacturer Dell Inc.
Model 0U7077
North Bridge Intel i925X Revision B1
South Bridge Intel 82801FB (ICH6) Revision B1
CPU Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.00GHz
Cpu Socket Socket 775 LGA
System Slots 5 PCI
Memory Summary
Maximum Capacity 4096 MBytes
Memory Slots 4
Error Correction Single-bit ECC

Property Value
Physical Memory 3071 MB Total, 2377 MB Free
Memory Load 22%

Virtual Memory 5009 MB Total, 4413 MB Free

PageFile Name \??\C:\pagefile.sys
PageFile Size 2100 MB
In use 117 MB
Max used 118 MB
Registry Size 9 MB (current), 120 MB (maximum)

Profile GUID {c9a9b540-eacc-11d8-b1c2-806d6172696f}

The system clock interval 15 ms

Property Value
Number of CPU(s) One Physical Processor / One Core / 2 Logical Processors / 64 bits
CPU Full Name Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.00GHz
Vendor GenuineIntel
CPU Name Intel Pentium 4 630
CPU Code Name Prescott
Platform Name Socket 775 LGA
Revision N0
Technology 90 nm
Instructions MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, ET64, XD, EST, HT
Original Clock 3000 MHz
Original System Clock 200 MHz
Original Multiplier 15.0
CPU Clock 2993 MHz
System Clock 199.5 MHz
FSB 798.1 MHz
L1 Data Cache 16 KBytes
L1 Trace Cache 12 Kuops
L2 Cache 2048 KBytes

Memory:
2 Infenion 512MB DDR2 (PC-4300) that came with the original machine
2 PNY 1024 MB DDR2 (PC2-5300) That I installed after I was having crashes. I thought that I might be running out of RAM.

Video:
Property Value
Display Adapter NVIDIA GeForce 6600
Video Processor GeForce 6600
Video memory size 256 MBytes
Adapter DAC Type Integrated RAMDAC
BIOS String Version 5.43.02.20.00
BIOS Date 09/15/04
Display Drivers nv4_disp.dll
Driver Version 6.14.11.8120
Driver Date 2008-12-26 08:08:00
Inf File Name oem130.inf
Inf Section nv4_NV3x

No recent infestations that I know of.

Thanks

GOT A BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH!!!
PAGE_FAULT_IN_NON_PAGE_ARE
0x00000050 (0x8000000D, 0x00000000,0x8054B75F, 0x00000000)

Any ideas?

HELP!!! Now I really need help...turned on my computer this morning it was working fine for about 10 minutes...then it froze up...tried everything, nothing worked so I shut it down...when I powered up again the Toshiba screen came up the computer started loading (blue bar at the bottom) then stopped finally the screen went blank with only a little white curser in the upper left hand corner. I shut down again several more times only to have this happen every time. I tried F8 to get to safe mode...nothing...I tried f2...the screen came up...but with my limited knowledge of computers I wasn't sure what to do with it...I tried f12...it did not come up. So I resorted to the recovery disks...followed the instructions on the case...nothing happened. What short of a new computer can I do now??? All of these wierd things have been happening since my first post in November! PLEASE HELP SOON!!!

GOT ANOTHER BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH!!!
BAD_POOL_HEADER
0x00000019 (0x00000020, 0x000006EB,0x00001630,0x0BE90375)

 

[Moraconda]

If nothing major will be lost then just buy a new hard drive and load it with the Re-installation Cd that usually comes with Dell computers. An 80G hard drive for a Dell Dimension 8400 goes for around 40 bucks. Tigerdirect.com is a great site for computer stuff if you don't have a supplier in town.