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Author Topic: Laptop freezes all the time  (Read 2505 times)

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Tisch

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Laptop freezes all the time
« on: June 11, 2018, 12:58:40 PM »
Hello!

My brothers laptop (about 5 years old) that  is running Windows 10 started freezing all the time recently. It is an Acer Aspire v7-582PG with a Intel Core i5-4210U @ 1.7GHz, 8GB DDR3 1600MHz RAM, GeForce GTX 850M and a 1TB HDD and a small SSD as cache.

It sometimes freezes just on the desktop but it usually freezes every time we try to start any application, but it freezes to a point where the mouse moves but you can't click anything and pressing CTRL+ALT+DEL doesn't do anything.

I went through it and made multiple tests. So far I've done SFC Scan which found and fixed corrupt files, DISM Restore Health which didn't find anything, MemTest86 which found no errors and I deleted all temp files etc using the Disc Cleanup tool. I also ran the Windows Memory Diagnostics Tool which resulted in that the laptop shut down at about 6%. I tried that twice but I got the same result both times. During MemTest86 the CPU goes to about 90C.
 
That made me think it was an overheating issue so I ran Prime95 and it got to 95C and started throttling, but it never shut off during the 2 hours I let it run. One thing I can mention is that the fan has been very noisy lately but during the torture test even when throttling it didn't go below 2GHz clock speed.
I also checked CrystalDiscInfo which said that the drives are healthy.

At this point the only thing that came to mind was to try to repair Windows which I did using the one that keeps personal data but that didn't help either. My brother would prefer not to do a complete reinstall and I'm out of ideas at this point.

Do anyone here have any recommendations of what I could do next to pinpoint the hardware/software problem as well as the component if it's hardware related?

Thanks in advance!

Mark.



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Re: Laptop freezes all the time
« Reply #1 on: June 11, 2018, 04:43:06 PM »
the age of the laptop and the fact you found corrupted system files on it could indicate a failing/faulty hard drive.
dig out the SMART values will help verify that (although they in themselves are no absolute verification).and run a chkdsk c: /r as well.
also, it sounds like you can't 100% rule out some sort of infection/gremlin.
with the hours you have already spent, and the potential of hours remaining, and no guarantee you are going to fix it, if it was mine, I would be backing up my personal data and biting the bullet and doing a fresh install.
it's the only way you know the system (and any gremlins) are not part of the problem.
then from that clean slate, restore your data, reload your printers, Office, emails etc (yep, a pain I know) and hopefully, if the drive is faulty, all the activity will highlight any short comings.

you're still up for a couple of hours work, but the theory is you have eliminated a couple of possibilities.


patio

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Re: Laptop freezes all the time
« Reply #2 on: June 11, 2018, 06:17:07 PM »
Quote
with the hours you have already spent, and the potential of hours remaining, and no guarantee you are going to fix it, if it was mine, I would be backing up my personal data and biting the bullet and doing a fresh install.

And replacing the HDD...
" Anyone who goes to a psychiatrist should have his head examined. "

Tisch

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Re: Laptop freezes all the time
« Reply #3 on: June 12, 2018, 09:00:43 AM »
Thanks for the answers! I'll talk to my brother and let him decide what to do based on that information

patio

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Re: Laptop freezes all the time
« Reply #4 on: June 12, 2018, 06:54:41 PM »
Welcome Aboard !
" Anyone who goes to a psychiatrist should have his head examined. "