Please help, my computer goes rogue on me

it sounds like the hard drive might be going into the click of death, which means the hard drive is 80 percent dead now, or the CPU or Memory is loose, I would recommend backing the files on the computer up to a flash drive or multiple CDs or DVDs and stopping by a local computer repair shop, since either one can lead to data loss in the near future

First, from you description (that's all I have to go on), this was caused by SOMETHING that happened when you dropped the unit.

The fact is you could have done a lot of serious things that are not apparent (and that the local "hospital" can't fix). FOR EXAMPLE, you may have "cracked" either a circuit board trace or a solder joint that is usually in position and touching anyway (hence making electrical contact, hence working), but it is, in fact, no longer one piece, there is a "crack" in what is supposed to be a solid conductor of copper or solder, and the laptop is, thus, consequently now "flakey". If that had happened (it could have, but I'm not presuming that it did), the only fix might well be to replace the motherboard, which probably cannot be done economically (in other words ... the fix is to buy a new computer).

Less seriously, a connection (one that can be reseated, such as the keyboard to motherboard cable) may have been knocked loose. That could be fixed.

But I think, from your description, the most likely cause (not the only one) is that when you dropped the unit you damaged, but did not destroy, the hard drive. So, now, when the unit tries to access the hard drive (and, likely, only certain spots on the hard drive), it "hangs" and other things (like responding to your keyboard keys) come to a halt until the hard drive resolves things (or declares failure and gives up). By no means is this the only possible cause, but I do think it's among the more likely causes. Although there may be ways to "repair" the hard drive, my preference would be to try a different drive (not touching the current drive in any manner at all) and see if the problem goes away. For testing (to see if this is the problem), if you don't have a spare hard drive, you can probably find a used but good SATA 2.5" hard drive for $20 to $40. That is the first thing that I would try if this was my unit.

That you dropped it, and that it's the keyboard that seems to be the culprit, suggests a few things may have gone wrong. All involve opening the laptop up, which not everyone is able to do. I'm really thinking this is hardware, 'cause it's highly unlikely a hacker invaded it with a ton of malware and took it over, right about the same time you dropped it.

1. A connector between the keyboard and the motherboard has become unseated. Opening the laptop up and checking the connections might fix it. The only cost to you would be the effort to open it up. I haven't worked on that model so I don't know how easy or difficult this will be. Some laptops, such as the Lenovo I have, are fairly modular with lots of access doors. Some are tougher to open up, have tightly packed parts, etc.

2. Something came loose inside the laptop and is pushing on something ... either on the keyboard cable, or contacts on the motherboard, or perhaps is stuck inside or under one of the keys and applying mechanical pressure to it. Finding whatever is out-of-place might fix it. Looking for something like this may take some effort, but again, it might pay off if you can find it and remove whatever is there.

3. A part on the motherboard, or maybe some other component, was itself physically damaged in the drop. If you can see physical damage to the motherboard then you know what it is, but not all damage is going to be obvious to an untrained eye. (Or even to a trained one.) If this is your problem, then a technician visit is in order and the motherboard might need to be replaced.

When that happens to me, a simple reboot does the trick.
I have only experienced this with desktops, as I don't have a laptop.
But, it doesn't happen every other day.
I think you have another problem.

When you dropped it, the keyboard may have been damaged. Or, possibly, the cable connecting the keyboard inside the laptop came a bit loose.

In any event, this isn't something you can fix on your own. You'll need to take the laptop to a computer specialist.

My guess is when you dropped it you either cracked the keyboard circuit board and theres a short, or a key is sometimes now sticking and that will cause the keyboard to lock up. I'm not a geek or a computer nerd, but may I suggest when it happens again; go across the keys one at a time and tap each one multiple times briskly. Then check to see if your pc is back. This is repetitive and time consuming but if that is the problem you will know what key is sticking. You may not necessarily be able to see the culprit by eyeballing it. It just has to be stuck a little to lock up the keyboard. If you have damaged the computer keyboard in another way by the drop, it may be a good idea to take to someone to check to see what the problem is. I hope this helps in some way.

i may not have a lap top but my computer has done the very same thing and it turned out to be a video driver. in your case maybe a video board after being dropped. i can't think of anything else since it was dropped

When I had difficulty with my computer. I called Geek and they fixed it right over the internet while I was on the phone. My problem took a couple of hours but it was worth it because the problem got fixed, so first before you spend alot of money I would see if you can get Geek to fix the problem. Connie Wilson

Your problem happens because the CPU is not able to carry out the instructions of the program/keyboard.
Either the CPU is taking abnormally long to execute the instructions, or the CPU is having trouble interacting with the RAM.

Freezing like that can often occur when you are running multiple ram intensive programs, over time when you use a computer you would install many different programs, and even if not running these will be making use of space on your computer and slowing things down (even to a stand- still). Thats the whole RAM idea, so clear out unwanted programs and run defragmentation and other such system clean-up tools and/or get more ram.
Malware, virus' etc can also cause these problems (not all virus' can be detected by anti-virus programs), although if you have used several anti-virus programs this may be unlikely.

As for the physical damage, this could have broke something, RAM, CPU, or circuitry in between, but it would need to be a really heavy blow to cause that.

I guess we won't know the exact cause of your problem until you actually get your laptop repaired, but I strongly suspect something pertaining to the keyboard is just a tad out of whack, thereby causing the intermittent problems you're having. Perhaps it's just a loose or damaged internal connector.

I feel that if you had actually damaged any motherboard component or a chip-related circuit, you'd probably get error messages, shutdowns, restarts, or blue screens of death.

I understand that laptop keyboards can be serviced/replaced providing you've got the right tools and expertise. It's not cheap, but it's better than needing a more-serious internal repair and definitely cheaper than getting a new laptop.

Hi
I had something like this, I was working on my pc putting new memory in but it was acting funny, losing promgrams, stop typing, and so on. the memory chip that I installed was not seated and locked in place after locking it in my pc work great.

Hope this helps

Dropping anything electronic, be it a laptop or a digital camera, can
break the micro-chip, the motherboard, other very sensitive electrical connections.

My advice: go to Micro Center and ask for a free evaluation, telling them, what happen and the symptoms, and ask them, is it cheaper to fix it or buy a new laptop.If you want them to repair it, it's $70+ and 1-week, verses BestBuy/Geek=$200+ and closer to 6-months -before-
you see your laptop ever again!
-Dog Daddy

There is a newer malware program called " Advanced System Care " that works very well clearing up malware problems. This is a free program that does a great job. The bought version which I think is 19.00 that even does much more. This program goes after malware, registry problems, security issues, defrags hard drive if needed & lots more. Normally you would have to buy about 5 to 6 separate program to do what this one program does. Give it a try, you will be glad you did. Jim (IT Tech)

sounds like a crack in the motherboard that gives an intermittent disconnect condition. Can cause weird things to happen. Hope I am wrong

Having dropped the laptop onto a hard surface, you have broken soldering joints within the computer. Thus, as long as the computer is at rest the joints might touch each other but as soon as it is moved or dislodged they disconnect, ie they don't touch, or don't make a connection.
You need to take it to a computer repairer who will disassemble the computer and check for dry solder joints and damaged connections.
It will NEVER right itself, so get it done ASAP to save yourself heartache and irritation.
Most 'solid state' electronics will last for many years undisturbed, but you have well and truly disturbed yours!

Hello Michael,

As i read your sentiments regarding your computer, i think the operating system and the anti-virus are not the reasons of your problem. It was dropped down into the floor. So first thing you must do is to go to a computer shop and let them check because i think there is a loose contact of the parts inside the laptop. Stop shaking your laptop it may cause fatal problem that will make your problem worst.

It sounds like the meeting with the floor may have jarred the keyboard or the keyboard connector. Consult the documentation for your laptop on where to find the connector and how to get to it (screwdriver may be required!). Take it out completely, blow with compressed air between its floor and keys, make sure all keys are in the correct position (slightly up from the keyboard floor), and reconnect it carefully. If you're not comfortable doing this yourself, it should be a quick thing for a computer repair shop to do for you while you wait.

Let me know how things go with using Advanced System Care. If you still have issues you can drop me a message & will try to help. Hope all goes well which I think it wilL. Jim jm09@comcast.net

The logical problem would be some moving part inside your laptop, since they are easily affected by shock (compared to solid state devices.) The only moving part that could cause such a problem would be the hard drive. Here is what I would test (in this order)

Burn a bootable Linux Live CD, like ubuntu, or load it onto a flashdrive and make that bootable. boot into it, and see if it acts up. If it does, that means the problem still persists even when not using the hard drive.

Borrow a friend's harddrive out of their laptop. Note, when you start their version of windows on your laptop, windows will ask to activate. this should work fine.

If it works fine under your friend's hard drive, and the linux distro, then it is definitely your hard drive. It could be a mechanical error with the drive, or just a mis-written file due to the drop. Hoping that it is the latter, format the drive, and re-install xp. If it still does it, chances are you may need yet another hard drive.

Hope this helps

Most hard drives are very susceptible to falls such as the one you indicated your laptop took recently. New laptop harddrives have sensors and protection for this kind of accident. My suspicion is that you're looking at replacing the hard drive.

Your other option would be save your data to an external source, and reinstall the OS and programs and see if it continues, if the OS install is even successful on the drive.

Offhand I can think of a number of possibilities:
1) depending on the installation method, the drive connection may have been loosened by the drop. To many this may seem unlikely, but I have seen it happen with IDE drives where the system continues more-or-less but not 100%.
2) a trojan attempting to connect with a failed website
3) a crashed hard drive. When a hard drive crashes, it doesn't always crash hard. Depending on where the heads park it is possible to have a surface touchdown without damaging the head(s) so the drop could have created a bad spot on the drive that appears to hang the system whenever it is read.
4) the drive had a bad spot that was either marginal during the manufacturing process and subsequent low-level format, or it has developed over time.

Most times when this behaviour occurs it is either an application looping until a timeout or the OS trying a hard drive recovery (as in #3 and #4)

I have had several laptops over the last 15 years, including Compaq, and I've only ever replaced hard drives to upgrade, and all the originals are still operational, so 3 years sounds like it might be more than just the hard drive, but I'd still lean towards #3 or #4.

As a first step I'd use chkdsk /f /r to see what it turns up, I suspect it will replace one or more blocks, and if the same thing happens soon after then I'd suspect the head(s) got damaged too.

Hello Micheal,
Make sure you do a complete back up of your data and make sure you have the product keys for any particular program that you have purchased including XP.
The problem could be hardware related as has been mentioned. Opening up a laptop is time consuming and sometimes difficult but if you dare to try out to find out if there is anything inside that is loose, you might be able to re-seat any possible connector that could be loose if that is the case, I am posting here the link to the steps available at HP/Compaq on how to access panels and service certain components on your laptop.
I hope it helps.
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/CsrDocumentIndex.jsp?contentGroup=BSC_SYSTEM_CG_CSR_PEL&lang=en&cc=us&prodTypeId=321957&prodSeriesId=1847703

Regards,
Geo

Shock usually damages the screen and hard drive first; the traces on the motherboard are also a consideration. Usually, when the lid is closed, the drive is "parked" to prevent the head from touching the drive and damaging it. However, severe shock can cause this sort of damage. But, since your display was not affected, I don't think the shock was severe enough for this. I would try, in this order:

1. Remove the hard drive and then put it back in to make sure the connections are good.
2. Install Passmark Diskcheckup [from download.com] and verify the health of the hard drive. If it is failing, this program will tell you.
3. Run CHKDSK with the "/r" switch to have the unit check for any system file damage and repair if possible
4. Run memtest86+ to verify the integrity of the memory. If any errors are found, remove and reseat the memory sticks and run again.
5. Disassemble the unit far enough to view the keyboard connection and verify or disconnect and reconnect. Visually inspect for any debris/damage from the shock.
6.Disassemble further if you are comfortable enough, and perform a visual inspection of all connections and any traces visible on the MB. Clean as necessary and reseat/check all connections.
7.Open Task Manager on your desktop and try to duplicate the problem - watch the load on your CPU usage and the memory usage when it starts acting up. See if that identifies any culprits (processes in particular) which might provide clues for further troubleshooting.

Report back and let us know what you find. Good luck!

Seems to be the key clue here. Does the laptop sit level on a flat surface now or does it rock back and forth on its little rubber feet(assuming it still has all of them)? If it rocks back and forth, then you bent the frame of the notebook and it could be affecting the operation of the electronics.

It could be that the drop also jostled the connection to the keyboard and it could be intermittent.

Of the two fixes, the second is really cheap and the first is... painful.

To me, since it started after the drop, it seems to be a hardware issue that needs repair.

dear sir
i have some suggestion for your problem please remove the ram from mother broad and check it clean it and fix on again in slot it is due to losing of ram in the slot or check the configuration of the ram if you have two ram i ave suggestion that use only one ram in place of two

I believe your problem is the Mobo.
Most likely when it dropped, you caused some damage to the Mobo, which is most likely intermittent. I had a desktop that would not fire up on occasion, and I replaced power supply, HD, processor, and after all that it still would fault on ocasion when starting up.
I replaced the Mobo and no problem.
Good luck