Hello, recently my laptop (Dell Inspiron 6400, running WinXP Media Edition)'s been failing; it freezes anywhere from ten seconds to five minutes after I log in. I'm unable to install an antivirus because the laptop freezes during installation. Safe Mode seems to be, well, safer, although even so it has frozen.
I'm unable to install the antivirus (Kaspersky) in Safe Mode because Windows Installer is disabled, and none of the solutions I've found online seem to do the trick. And I suspect that even if i could get the installer to work, it'd freeze halfway through anyway.
I have no idea what's causing the freezing; it might not even be a virus at all. I've noticed that the laptop always freezes at the "Copying new files" stage of the Kaspersky installation, although whether that has something to do with my own timing or that procedure I can't guess. Also, the time that the computer did freeze in Safe Mode, I was attempting to rename a file.
The computer is completely frozen; Num Lock / Scroll Lock can't be activated/deactivated, the mouse doesn't move, etc. I can't even shut down without either pulling the plug out or holding onto the power button.
I'm unable to install the antivirus (Kaspersky) in Safe Mode because Windows Installer is disabled, and none of the solutions I've found online seem to do the trick. And I suspect that even if i could get the installer to work, it'd freeze halfway through anyway.
I have no idea what's causing the freezing; it might not even be a virus at all. I've noticed that the laptop always freezes at the "Copying new files" stage of the Kaspersky installation, although whether that has something to do with my own timing or that procedure I can't guess. Also, the time that the computer did freeze in Safe Mode, I was attempting to rename a file.
The computer is completely frozen; Num Lock / Scroll Lock can't be activated/deactivated, the mouse doesn't move, etc. I can't even shut down without either pulling the plug out or holding onto the power button.