[cbane]

It has been happening fairly often lately and I rely on my laptop for my business.

I will be operating my laptop like normal when it makes a sound similar to if I press the hard power button. ... "PEEHHWW"

Once it does it once it gets very bad the next few times. I am forced to manually power it down (makes the same noise when I do) since it is frozen and when I restart it it usually freezes immediately.

Notes:

Sometimes I can be on for an hour with out any problems.

I blew into the fan a few months ago and this seemed to solve the problem temporarily. Could have been a coincidence.

EDIT: I forgot to add that periodically after this happens, upon startup it tells me that "OPERATING SYSTEM NOT FOUND" "CHECK CABLES"

Help!

Laptop is a Gateway 200x running Windows XP with 512 ram and a 40GB hard drive.

Edited by cbane, 06 November 2006 - 05:56 PM.

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Does this happen randomly, or only after you start doing a specific task on your computer?

--Chris

[cheathawk1]

Does this happen randomly, or only after you start doing a specific task on your computer?

--Chris

[cbane]

Completely random.

However, just about an hour ago upon startup it told me it needed to do a hard disk check up and found and deleted a bunch of files. The first time it asked I skipped the process and when windows loaded it said something about in error in a Firefox system 32 file. That appears to have been deleted.

[cheathawk1]

How hot is your laptop getting? This sounds like its overheating, thus causing it to "save its own life" and shut down. You said the problem was temporarily solved when you blew into the fan? Maybe you should clean out your case fans with a compressed air container, and make sure your allowing it enough room to "breath" while using it. (ie. not setting it directly on your lap, and making sure your fans are not blocked) Also make sure its not being hit by direct sunlight all the time.

--Chris

PS. This would also explain the "randomness" of the shutdowns.

Edited by cheathawk1, 06 November 2006 - 06:06 PM.

[AnthonyJ]

How hot is your laptop getting? This sounds like its overheating, thus causing it to "save its own life" and shut down. You said the problem was temporarily solved when you blew into the fan? Maybe you should clean out your case fans with a compressed air container, and make sure your allowing it enough room to "breath" while using it. (ie. not setting it directly on your lap, and making sure your fans are not blocked) Also make sure its not being hit by direct sunlight all the time.

--Chris

PS. This would also explain the "randomness" of the shutdowns.

could be, but if when he turns it on and it brings up that message. id say your hdd's motor is going bad, how old is it?

[cbane]

Thats sounds about right. Do you happen to know where I can find case removal instructions because I am having issues with seperatin the case.

I have a feeling that dust has accumulated inside and its not coming out unless I take apart the case.


What would cause it to continually get worse after it happens once, no matter how long I let it rest.

[cheathawk1]

ok, that disk check does not mean its a bad motor, that comes up when a sector of data has become corrupt. (this happens on both laptops and desktops). Usually, lettign it complete its disk check will solve the problem.

--Chris

[cbane]

How hot is your laptop getting? This sounds like its overheating, thus causing it to "save its own life" and shut down. You said the problem was temporarily solved when you blew into the fan? Maybe you should clean out your case fans with a compressed air container, and make sure your allowing it enough room to "breath" while using it. (ie. not setting it directly on your lap, and making sure your fans are not blocked) Also make sure its not being hit by direct sunlight all the time.

--Chris

PS. This would also explain the "randomness" of the shutdowns.

could be, but if when he turns it on and it brings up that message. id say your hdd's motor is going bad, how old is it?

2.5 years old


The other above reply was for the first poster.

[cbane]

I just noticed ALL OF MY BOOKMARKS ARE GONE in Firefox!

[cheathawk1]

To remove the case, you will have to unscrew pretty much all of the screws in the bottom of the case. Then the plastic part will simply lift off. Keep in mind, there are a lot of screws, and they are small, do NOT force the case off. It should come off with little resistance.

--Chris

PS. I'm looking for some instructions on the manufactureres website right now, let me know if you get it off.

[AnthonyJ]

Thats sounds about right. Do you happen to know where I can find case removal instructions because I am having issues with seperatin the case.

I have a feeling that dust has accumulated inside and its not coming out unless I take apart the case.


What would cause it to continually get worse after it happens once, no matter how long I let it rest.

think of it like this, you have a car and the starter is going bad, that means more than likely the magnets got too hot and dont perform very good and sometimes when you crank it, it wont crank. it is in a position where it doesnt have any power. understand?

[cheathawk1]

I just noticed ALL OF MY BOOKMARKS ARE GONE in Firefox!

They were probably deleted during the disk check and the computer "fixed" the corrupt firefox file. Unfortunatly, unless youi backed them up somewhere, they're gone. Sorry mate.

--Chris

[AnthonyJ]

I just noticed ALL OF MY BOOKMARKS ARE GONE in Firefox!

They were probably deleted during the disk check and the computer "fixed" the corrupt firefox file. Unfortunatly, unless youi backed them up somewhere, they're gone. Sorry mate.

--Chris

yea same happened to me on my 6.4gig i had a bsod thought, luckly i only had a few bookmarks

[cbane]

Looks like I might have more than one problem.

http://www.notebookf...ost1515556.html

Edited by cbane, 06 November 2006 - 06:57 PM.

[cbane]

I just got Gateway to give me a new IDE cable. Should be on the way.

I will clean the fan then and hope for the best.

PS ... Since the "Check disk" everything has been fine