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Question

My laptop randomly hangs

Jul 3, 2011 7:49AM PDT

I know, I know it's been asked a million times but I didn't see anything that applies to me. My hang up could be 2 mins after I power up or 2 hours later. Sometimes it is so bad I have to pull the A/C and then the battery pack. I have run registry scans and , depending on which one I run, I have thousands of problems or nothing serious. When the problem first started, 3-4 weeks ago, it was only when I was using IE and taking surveys. Now it may fail while I am still in the desktop or using a program not related to IE. I have deleted all temp files and cookies and set up to clear both at shutdown. I have asked for help on several sites and so far no one has even bothered to respond. So, here I am at CNET. Let's see if this is any different.
Jim

Discussion is locked

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Answer
Have you tried calling tech support?
Jul 3, 2011 3:22PM PDT

It is really difficult to troubleshoot the problem you're describing without a tech spending a lot of time on your system. It could be that Windows is having problems or your hard drive might be experiencing issues. I don't use registry scanners/fixers. I think they are dangerous. Nobody is going to know enough about every single registry entry to know whether or not it's safe to "fix." The alternative is to blindly trust the registry scanner and I'm not comfortable with that either.

Sometimes computer manufacturer's will include utilities to check system health. If you have access to those, I would try running those first.Bad hardware drivers can also cause problems, so if you've recently installed any hardware, you might want to check for updated drivers. To check your hard disk, try running the Windows utility, chkdsk, to see if it finds any bad blocks. Also, if you can determine who makes your particular hard drive, you can usually download software from the manufacturer's website to check the fitness of your hard disk more thoroughly. If none of these things resolve your problem, I would reload the computer with system restore discs.

Good luck!

Ed

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Reply to Ed
Jul 4, 2011 4:27AM PDT

Thanks for taking the time to read and reply, Ed. It looks as tho' I solved the problem. I downloaded and ran Comodo System Cleaner and let it do its thing. You are right about the safety of cleaners! Fortunately I had read a couple of reviews about Comodo and how aggressive it is because I wiped out most of my wife's scrapbooking and card making programs. And again, fortunately, Comodo has a restore problem. It took a bit to find what I needed to restore but so far it looks as though I got verything back where it belongs. And again, so far, it looks as though my hangup problem is fixed. I had already run all of the "built in" cleaners such as chkdsk and it hadn't helped. We have just a basic laptop and haven't added any hardware, haven't need to, so drivers wouldn't have been a problem.
Again, thanks.
Jim

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Answer
It would be nice to read Make, Model and Age.
Jul 4, 2011 5:40AM PDT
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Make, model, age
Jul 4, 2011 10:34AM PDT

Bob,
Its an IBM ThinkPad, mod 2668-44u and no way to know its real age. I got it through IBM as a refurbish about 18 mos ago. I'm thinking that this is not a heat issue because it can hang up 2 mins after power up.
It may be a moot point 'cause it appears to be fixed. I down loaded Comodo System Cleaner and let it do its thing. After I went back and restored a bunch of stuff I shouldn't have removed, it appears that the hang up is fixed. It still takes for ever to start up but, I'm going to remove more stuff from the start tray. I'm kind of chicken since I'm not sure what needs to turn on at start up.
Thanks for the reply. Now, time will tell.
Jim