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meglamaniac · 28 Jan 2006, 02:53

Ok, something fairly fundamental is dying or overheating. Forget the harddrive for now, you can sort that out by booting with the proper XP cd (i'm sure you can borrow one from someone, it's not illegal if you just use it to format the drive) but right now the machine is too unstable to bother.

My first suggestion is one that's already been given. Download a live linux distro and see what happens when you boot it. There are plenty: knoppix, ubuntu, slax, kanotix, pclinuxos, the list goes on. Pick any one and give it a go. My guess is it will behave in much the same way as windows and be horribly unstable so...

Download memtest86. You will get a CD image which you can burn, and then boot from. All it does is boot itself up and run memory diagnostics. They take some time - it's best to leave it for a full 24 hours to be positive that everything has been tested multiple times. If it flags up something, then you have a memory failure. This could either be heat/dust related, or actual component failure. Whether it does or not, the next step is the same, so...

Get a can of compressed air. Open the laptop - you may have to fiddle a bit to do so. They tend to hide screws in recesses or under caps, and there are usually some hidden under the keyboard. If it looks like the surround for your keyboard pops out (ie. little slots you can stick a flat blade screwdriver into) then do so, and you'll probably find something under there. Do NOT unscrew anything on the lid. You don't want to start dismantling the screen, you just want to get to the motherboard. Once you have access, blast the thing with compressed air. This will blow the dust out without potentially sucking jumpers off the motherboard into your hoover. Once this is done...

If possible, boot the laptop while the case is still open. If things go well, you probably had a dust or heat issue. Rescrew everything and try again. If things still go well, you're ok. If they don't, something is overheating so check all the fans are still working and get them replaced if necessary (various private laptop repair places can do this for you).
If things do not go well while the case is still open, you either have a serious overheating issue (ie. dead fan on the processor or something) or component failure. In either case it probably means a trip to a laptop repair joint. If the laptop has any removable memory (the ones that ship with the basic amount usually have it permanently soldered to the motherboard) then remove it, and run memtest86 again. If it STILL flags up errors then you are, basicly, buggered I'm afraid as there is no way to replace memory that's built on to the board. If it's clean, one of your memory expansion modules is probably dead. If you had more than one, plug them back in again one at a time until it stops working, and chuck the dead one.

That's about the best I can do.

28 Jan 2006, 02:53	#10
meglamaniac Born Sinful Join Date: Nov 2000 Location: Loughborough, UK Posts: 4,059	Re: Me and My Laptop Ok, something fairly fundamental is dying or overheating. Forget the harddrive for now, you can sort that out by booting with the proper XP cd (i'm sure you can borrow one from someone, it's not illegal if you just use it to format the drive) but right now the machine is too unstable to bother. My first suggestion is one that's already been given. Download a live linux distro and see what happens when you boot it. There are plenty: knoppix, ubuntu, slax, kanotix, pclinuxos, the list goes on. Pick any one and give it a go. My guess is it will behave in much the same way as windows and be horribly unstable so... Download memtest86. You will get a CD image which you can burn, and then boot from. All it does is boot itself up and run memory diagnostics. They take some time - it's best to leave it for a full 24 hours to be positive that everything has been tested multiple times. If it flags up something, then you have a memory failure. This could either be heat/dust related, or actual component failure. Whether it does or not, the next step is the same, so... Get a can of compressed air. Open the laptop - you may have to fiddle a bit to do so. They tend to hide screws in recesses or under caps, and there are usually some hidden under the keyboard. If it looks like the surround for your keyboard pops out (ie. little slots you can stick a flat blade screwdriver into) then do so, and you'll probably find something under there. Do NOT unscrew anything on the lid. You don't want to start dismantling the screen, you just want to get to the motherboard. Once you have access, blast the thing with compressed air. This will blow the dust out without potentially sucking jumpers off the motherboard into your hoover. Once this is done... If possible, boot the laptop while the case is still open. If things go well, you probably had a dust or heat issue. Rescrew everything and try again. If things still go well, you're ok. If they don't, something is overheating so check all the fans are still working and get them replaced if necessary (various private laptop repair places can do this for you). If things do not go well while the case is still open, you either have a serious overheating issue (ie. dead fan on the processor or something) or component failure. In either case it probably means a trip to a laptop repair joint. If the laptop has any removable memory (the ones that ship with the basic amount usually have it permanently soldered to the motherboard) then remove it, and run memtest86 again. If it STILL flags up errors then you are, basicly, buggered I'm afraid as there is no way to replace memory that's built on to the board. If it's clean, one of your memory expansion modules is probably dead. If you had more than one, plug them back in again one at a time until it stops working, and chuck the dead one. That's about the best I can do. __________________ Worth dying for. Worth killing for. Worth going to hell for. Amen.