Screen freezes - then creates more problems

[devonshire]

Hi,
I'm not sure this is the right place to ask this q. I have an Acer TravelMate 5720 with windows 7 ultimate on it. I have no idea what happened but one day I was browsing and watching a promotional video on a website when the screen froze and I got white lines accross it. The problem seemed to happen every time I restarted the cpu. No idea what could have caused it. Everything was working fine prior. Then, after a few restarts/refreezes, I kept on getting startup errors and windows refused to start.
This was in April. I haven't touched the computer since then because it seemed dead. Now, a few months later, I decided to turn it on and low and behold, it started up fine, until it got to windows where it said logging on and then gave me a blank screen. I then restarted with wifi off and it works, I'm using it right now in fact.
My question is, how can I know this won't happen again? are there any tests to run to see if there's something inherently wrong with my computer? I'd love it if someone could help. I posted in the malware forum before and got great results, so I have great faith in this forum Any help much appreciated.

 

[Dawn1113]

Strange that the problem seems to have disappeared after you disabled wifi.

I'm afraid I can't offer you much help when it comes to finding out whether the problem will happen again. I'd do a chkdsk scan and maybe even run Memtest86+ just to make sure that the problem isn't caused by a failing HDD or bad RAM.

I 'd also suggest you update your drivers and and scan for malware. Did you attempt a startup repair when the problem first cropped up? If you do encounter the problem again, see if you can start your system in safe mode. Or you can also disable all non-Microsoft services using the msconfig route to see whether that makes a difference. It does sound like a driver or software issue, though I can't be sure. Any abnormal beeping at boot?

I'm sorry I couldn't be of more help to you. I'd stick around and wait for the advice of the more tech savvy members.

 

[devonshire]

I appreciate your advice. I did run a full avast scan plus a boot up scan and superantispyware scans as well since the computer started working and they all turned up 100% clean, so I doubt it's malware. It's more likely to be a software/hardware problem if anything. I will try the memtest, it sounds like a good idea.

Now excuse me for my ignorance, but can you pls detail how to do a chkdsk scan.

I believe that when the problem happened, the computer automatically went into startup repair but couldn't resolve the problem. I wasn't able to start in safe mode. As an aside, I have no idea how to get the screen that offers the option to start in safe mode manually when starting the computer. What is it?

There's no unusual beeping happening either. It's hard to re-piece together what exactly happened since it was such a while ago and I haven't used the computer since then. Today it worked great though, I was able to retrieve my data and all.

Thank you for your help. Any other suggestions much appreciated.

 

[Tmagic650]

for CHKDSK, go to computer and right-click on the C drive. Select properties, tools, check now. Put a check in both boxes to set a disk check on the next start up. This also could be a power supply issue

 

[Dawn1113]

Thanks for picking the ball up on this one, Tmagic650. I was unable to check the thread and hadn't realized that I'd left devonshire hanging. Sorry about that, guys.

And yeah, I agree, it could be a power supply problem.

 

[devonshire]

Hi again. I just ran chkdsk with no errors and ran memtest86+ 3 times, all with no errors to report.
Speaking of a power supply issue, I am using a power cord that needs jiggling at times to have the computer recognize it as charging. Rather than buying a new power cord and seeing it it works, I was wondering if there's any way to test the internal power supply connection of a laptop. Any thoughts? Also, the battery that I use in the laptop is not the original acer one but a replacement one.

 

[Tmagic650]

Missed the laptop thing... Oops. The internal AC Jack on the laptop is worn, and the laptops battery may need to be replaced. It may not be charging right because of the faulty AC Adapter connection. In order to "fix" the AC Jack it will have to be replaced by a quality computer repair tech

 

[devonshire]

ok, thanks. Is there a way to be sure that it's the internal jack that needs fixing and not a totally unrelated issue? Someone once mentioned to me that it might be a motherboard problem. How can I check for that? I want to try and rule everything out before I actually spend money on this.

 

[Tmagic650]

Are you running XP Service Pack 3? I know this laptop is old. Even more reason that the AC Jack is worn out. Some AC jacks are part of the motherboard, some are on a removable cable assembly. Both are repairable by a qualified tech. Your Motherboard CMOS battery could be bad too. It is up to you what you want to do. A re-load of Windows could help after you fix the charging and battery

 

[devonshire]

not xp, I wrote before I'm using windows 7 ultimate.
I thank you very much, you've been most helpful.

 

[Tmagic650]

Does this laptop support Windows 7? How much memory is installed?

 

[devonshire]

it's a good question. I think it came with Vista but windows was once reinstalled and 7 was put on. About the memory, how do I check to let you know?

 

[Tmagic650]

Well if it ran Vista (although the ACER site said XP) it should run Windows 7. You can find the total memory installed in Control Panel, System. Windows 7 needs 2GB memory at the very least. 4GB is ideal for laptops