HP Laptop Issue (locking up, not OS issue)

[Chef2Tech]

I have a HP DV4-1125NR Laptop with Windows 7 on it currently and am having a major issue with it locking up on me. It always takes place when I boot up. I get to the desktop and I am not able to click on anything nor open the windows menu. I am able to move the mouse, do a right click and then click on the menu. It also happens randomly while using the machine as well. I do a ctrl+alt+del and then do task manager and after task manager comes up I just close it and am able to use machine as normal.

I know this is not an OS issue since I have done a complete reinstall with formatting the HD twice as well as trying a rebuild from when the computer was shipped and have the same copy of Windows 7 running my other machine and have no issues.

This machine is about a year and a half old and for the life of me cannot figure out what the issue is. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[pentode]

Have you run diagnostics on your hard drive? You might see if there is a low-level test available in the BIOS options at boot time.

I still would not rule out a driver issue with Win 7.

 

[Chef2Tech]

I have done the pre boot tests that test both the memory and hard drive and there were no negative results. Also, this is an issue that just started a fee days ago and previously had no issues with the machine. So I haveruled out driver issues because it has occurrd with both 7 and Vista which was factory OS.

 

[PRPhx]

You might want to download and run memtest. I'd run it at least overnight. Make sure your ram isn't having any problems. Do a google search for it.

 

[PinkSlippa]

Hi,

Have you tried running Windows in safe mode and seeing how long it lasts in comparison?

Also download Seagate tools and make a bootable disc, this hard drive utility tool will work in Dos. This utility is more thorough than most.

Its something that is regular with each install, hardware or the software that comes with the laptop (included on recovery disc).

Another option would be to re-install the OS with a standard disc instead of recovery disc or to get hold of a Ubuntu live disc and run the Linux OS from disc - again see how long it lasts in comparison.

If it still plays up with a different OS, the problem is hardware.

Hope this helps!

Aeren Baker
PinkSlippa Studios

http://www.pinkslippa.com

 

[G0AOZ]

Several things worth trying...

Does it do the same on battery as well as on mains power?
Run a scan for malicious software, try MalwareBytes.
Plug in an external (USB) keyboard prior to switching on, and see if that will allow input.

ROGER - G0AOZ.

 

[kjv1611]

As others have suggested, it could very well be a virus - especially a boot sector virus, if the machine is giving the same symptoms after reinstalling, even. If you didn't wipe the drive completely with something like DBAN or KillDisk, b/c standard windows format doesn't really "wipe" the entire drive.

Also, it could be your hard drive or memory, even if the short tests you ran didn't show anything. If you want to have a full suite of diagnostics and tools at your fingertips for testing, download

http://www.ultimatebootcd.com,

burn to CD, and boot from the newly burned CD.

If you're able to kill a task and then get the system going again, though, as a routine, I am thinking that it is either:
1. An OS Issue, regardless of how many times installed.
2. A malware/virus issue - something that is hiding outside the OS.
3. The hard drive.

In this case, the easiest way to clarify between the likely options may be to install a Linux distro directly to the hard drive. If the system runs fine on Linux, then it would more than likely be a software/OS issue.

Are you sure it's a legit copy of Windows you're using? If not, then there could be some malware being loaded as you reinstall each time. I don't think this is as possible as the other options, but you never know.

Other options for scanning for malware/viruses: You could try scanning outside of Windows to be sure. So, here ar ea couple of tools on that line:

DrWeb CureIt! LiveCD
Avira Rescue CD

Download either of those, burn to a CD, boot, and run a scan, see what you get... of course with Windows installed.

 

[Chef2Tech]

It does this on both battery and main power. Once again cannot be a virus or malware or malicious software this was a clean install with an OS cd. Also I had used a recovery CD once to try this is a clean OS cd.

Will try memtest and/or seagate tools and will see what happens as well as if need be Ubuntu, thanks for those ideas.

If this is a hardware issue does anyone have any ideas as what piece of hardware could be malfunctioning?

 

[kjv1611]

Once again cannot be a virus or malware or malicious software this was a clean install with an OS cd.

Unless you're using DBAN, Active KillDisk, or something similar that's a full format tool, not the built-in Windows format tool at setup, then No, you cannot guarantee that it is not malware/virus. If it's a boot sector virus, then Windows is helpless against it. If you want to be sure, run Active KillDisk off the UltimateBootCD, THEN reinstall Windows.

If it isn't OS related, my first guess is the hard drive, and that's about 90% certain I beleive. Second is RAM - about 7% likely compared to the hard drive. Then, it could be the motherboard itself, but I doubt it with your conditions. So I'll throw in a 2.9% there, leaving the other .1% for some other mystery.

 

[Chef2Tech]

will try ultimatebootcd once i find a copy and let you know. Thanks

 

[kjv1611]

You don't have to look hard, I promise.

Just go to this site:

http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/

Download from there, unzip the file if necessary (if it's not .iso extension), then burn the iso image to a CD.

 

[Chef2Tech]

Go it thanks, except when I try and run certain things on it they dont run and send through this whole thing and finally back to a dos prompt. I did through run active kill disk and ran seagate tools and go no errors. However when I tried to run Western digitals tools was told there is no HD, which is odd since its a WD HD. also tried to run Darik's Boot and Nuke and said it couldnt run because there were bad sectors which again makes no sense if the seagate said HD was good. Also its a 250 gb drive and when I do install now only 232 shows. I have no idea what's going on and starting to think I might be best off buying a new HD for the machine for 50.00.

Anybody any thoughts?

 

[BadBigBen]

Also its a 250 gb drive and when I do install now only 232 shows

that is about right... drive manufactures work with 1000Mega Bytes per GigaByte and MS and other OS manufacturers work with 1024Mega Bytes per Giga Byte...

so 250 GB x 1000[sup]3[/sup] = 250000000000 Bytes and 250000000000 Bytes / 1024[sup]3[/sup] = 232.830 GB...

and I agree with KJV, in that it is most likely the HDD that is flaky, depending on usage and thermal buildup the drive could have shortened its life time, so getting a newer drive could alleviate the problem.


Ben
"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.
Only ask questions with yes/no answers if you want "yes" or "no"

 

[flyboytim]

Laptops with inconsistent problems may have cooling issues due to dust/fluff build-up. Only a few months of use in some environments are needed to block the heat exchanger so that the system becomes unstable shortly after start-up.
Some tips on how to get to the fan in a HP laptop for a clean-up can be found here:

http://www.insidemylaptop.com/remove-keyboard-clean-cooling-fan-hp-compaq-6515b-laptop/

 

[gbaughma]

Here are things that I would check.

1) Are you mapping any drives? Drives that can't resolve during boot will cause the system to pause while it searches.

2) Is there anything in the CDRom drive? A bad / unreadable disc in the CDRom drive will cause the system to do this while it tries over and over to read it.

3) Are there any startup programs running that need internet access? Stuff like Weatherbug, MSN Messenger, etc attempting to start before internet access is ready will cause slowdowns.

4) Are you running DHCP? Is it configured correctly? Try using a static IP.

5) Try turning off your windows sounds. A corrupted sound file will cause bootup to be slow while it errors out.

I know this is not an OS issue...

Perhaps not an OS issue, per se, but perhaps a configuration issue, or a dodgy driver. And you can't rule out an OS issue if a critical part of the OS mis-wrote to a bad sector on the hard drive.



Just my 2¢

"What the captain doesn't realize is that we've secretly replaced his Dilithium Crystals with new Folger's Crystals."

--Greg

http://parallel.tzo.com