What the heck just happened to my computer?
I fired up my laptop and decided to install updates on my TomTom (a waste of $180 but that's another story). I hooked it up, and computer froze. And remained frozen. I did Ctrl-Alt-Del several times and nothing happened. Eventually I got the prompt to shut down the computer and this is no lie. It took 2 hours for the dang thing to shut down. When this happens to my computer at work, I crawl under my desk and pull the plug. Can't do that on the laptop. The power button didn't even work to shut the dang thing off. Finally it shut down, I waited a few minutes and restarted it. I think my threat to drag it into Best Buy worked. As soon as I found the recovery disks, the thing started working. |
|
|
| Paula, You can force a laptop to turn off. First, unplug the power cord from the laptop. Second, remove the battery. Wait a minute, then reinstall the battery, plug the cord back in, and restart the computer. It sounds like you've got maleware on your machine. Try a good anti-virus, anti-spyware, anti-maleware removal program. If that doesn't work, then it's time to reformat. When's the last time the machine was reformatted? |
| Some laptops can also be forced to shut down by holding down the power button for an extended period (up to 60 seconds). |
CamVal1 wrote: It sounds like you've got maleware on your machine. Try a good anti-virus, anti-spyware, anti-maleware removal program. Mark, if Paula had anti-maleware on her computer would she be able to see your post?  j/k  |
| Alright, alright. I see my mistake. Wise guy.  |
Darn those typos!  |
CamVal1 wrote: Wise guy. Guilty as charged!  |
| I have antimalware, antimaleware, antispy stuff, antivirus stuff, antieverything stuff. Last night I fired it up and everything was fine. I did clean it up and defragged it (per the Geeksquad instructions). When it was frozen, I thought about taking the battery out but figured I'd screw something up. |
Time to get a Mac  |
Paula O. wrote: I have antimalware, antimaleware, antispy stuff, antivirus stuff, antieverything stuff. Last night I fired it up and everything was fine. I did clean it up and defragged it (per the Geeksquad instructions). When it was frozen, I thought about taking the battery out but figured I'd screw something up. If it keeps acting up on ya, then it's probably time for a reformat. |
| Do I have to take it in for a reformat? Or is there a reformat button I can press and it does it automatically. |
| Unfortunately, there is no "reformat" button to push. Reformaating your hard drive takes some knowledge and lotsa time to complete. It's really not an operation for the average computer user. It involves completely wiping clean the hard drive, reinstalling the operating system, then all your programs, then all your user-created content. I would suggest trying your recovery discs first. If that doesn't work, then you should contact a professional for the reformat (unless you've done it before & know how to do it). |
| Good way to trash an install if it just happens to be doing a v long update and writing to registry at the time by forcing a power off. |
Archies Slave wrote: Good way to trash an install if it just happens to be doing a v long update and writing to registry at the time by forcing a power off. I don't know how Paula has her machine set up, but I have mine to prompt me when there are new updates available. That way, I can control what gets installed & when. I don't like the "auto update" setting. |
| Mark, my computer is set up like yours. I get a prompt that an update will be installed in x minutes and I can opt to postpone. No problem with it yesterday, so I'm hoping the lock up was a one off, particularly since I'll be doing my taxes this weekend and don't want it to freeze up in the middle! |
Didn't find exactly what you're looking for? Search again here:
Custom Search
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|