My laptop keeps freezing. Help.

Rick Lee · Rick Lee's Garage

I have a four yr. old Dell Latitude D610 that sometimes will boot up, but eventually freezes and can only be unfrozen by rebooting. How do I even start fixing this?

tangerine911S · 03-22-2010, 02:08 PM

Try reimaging your hard drive and reinstalling your operating system. You may have to back up all that you don't want to lose. Or at least insert the OS cd and see if you can "fix" the OS.

imcarthur · imcarthur's Garage

Does it have a wifi card? My Vaio worked absolutely perfectly, except when it didn't. In most hotels/locales it worked like a charm, but I ran across 2 hotels when it would boot, auto start wifi & blue screen. Updating the Intel wifi drivers solved it.

Ian

Rick Lee · Rick Lee's Garage

I don't believe I have an OS cd for this one anymore. And I probably couldn't keep it running long enough to back up everything anyway. Yes, it has a wifi card, which reminds me that, when it's running fine, it disconnects from the Internet a few times per hour too.

sailchef · sailchef's Garage

Add more memory?

island911 · 04:15 PM

I would boot into 'safe mode' (F8 key on boot)...see how that works. Your hard-drive could be going south. ...hope you have things backed up.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315222

Rick Lee · Rick Lee's Garage

No, I don't have things backed up. I have an external drive for doing so, but don't know that I can keep this machine running long enough to complete the backup. Can I back things up in safe mode? I have it up and running in safe mode now, but don't know what to do next.

imcarthur · imcarthur's Garage

Is the external visible? If yes, then back up your data files, favorites, email etc.

But if it runs & doesn't crash with normal drive access in safe mode, then it is a driver issue & probably not a drive or memory.

Ian

Rick Lee · Rick Lee's Garage

What do you mean visible? It's completely separate piece of hardware I have in a storage bin somewhere.

I'm doing a system restore in safe mode back to Jan. 1, which I think was before any of this started. I don't have anything on there since then that I can't live without. The system restore seems to be working fine. Sure would hate to lose some of the old porn on this one.

porsche4life · porsche4life's Garage

Paging slodave!

I'm about to backup a Dell for a friend. Got a virus...

Rick Lee · Rick Lee's Garage

System restore didn't work. But it booted up fine. I guess I need to back things up soon and try another restore.

stomachmonkey · 03-22-2010, 05:54 PM

HD should be easy to get to. Should be under a panel. Yank it and get something lke this,

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3265860&CatId=3770

Sabrent USB 2.0 to IDE/SATA Cable for 2.5-Inch/ 3.5-Inch / 5.25-Inch Drive with Power Adapter at TigerDirect.com

plug it into another computer and pull your data.

imcarthur · imcarthur's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

What do you mean visible?

When you plug it in, can you find it in Explorer? Look in My Computer>External Drive: ( ? : )

Ian

Arizona_928 · 03-22-2010, 06:01 PM

Try going to Dell and requesting a OS cd. My 1505 crashed hard, and dell overnighted me the cds. The only thing is I lost everything on it... but it runs like new. =D

Rick Lee · Rick Lee's Garage

Dell ain't gonna help me. I sort of kept this laptop after a previous employer went belly up and locked the doors on folks. I found some guy on Craigslist to reformat it and reload Windows, which is probably pirated. No way anyone is gonna touch this machine.

stomachmonkey · 03-22-2010, 07:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

Dell ain't gonna help me. I sort of kept this laptop after a previous employer went belly up and locked the doors on folks. I found some guy on Craigslist to reformat it and reload Windows, which is probably pirated. No way anyone is gonna touch this machine.

Does it have the Windows sticker with the license key on the bottom?

Rick Lee · Rick Lee's Garage

Yes

stomachmonkey · 03-22-2010, 07:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

Yes

Then you have a valid license key.

Download a torrent of an OEM OS, load it and enter your key number.

Rick Lee · Rick Lee's Garage

Locked again now and locked while rebooting in safe mode. No way can I keep this thing running long enough to download an OS and then run that. I'll be overjoyed if I can get it backed up. Might end up pulling the hard drive and handing it off to someone to copy for me.

Rick Lee · Rick Lee's Garage

I tried a system restore back to Jan. 1. Didn't work. Just tried to do it to Feb. 1. No dice. Message reads, "Restoration Incomplete. Your computer cannot be restored to:"

What now? Can I back everything up while in safe mode?