[Atala]

Hello there. I am at my wit's end with my laptop because I don't know what else to do. I'm hoping maybe someone can help me. If you don't know how to help me, maybe you can point me in the right direction.

Within the past 2 days I've started to have MAJOR problems with my Dell Latitude 2820 laptop.

It started the other day with sound issues. For some reason, I didn't have any sound at all, even though I had the volume all the way up. I looked it up and I think a found a solution on this site (by going to Quicktime preferences and doing something) because the volume hasn't been an issue since.

Then, I've had MAJOR MAJOR flash player crashes and unresponsive browser pages. (I'm using Google Chrome with the most recent updates). I will be trying to go to Youtube or another site that requires flash (I'm assuming since a lot of internet pages require flash) and I will get a message saying "Plug-In Flash has become unresponsive. Would you like to stop it?" Either way, when I press Yes or No, the browser freezes, and I have to go to task manager to end the program. Most of the time, even when I end it, and I try to go to the page again, it does the same thing. However, when I let the computer rest, it works fine for a while, but then starts acting up again.

Today, I had USB port problems. I connected an external harddrive to backup my files, and the laptop would not recognize that I had connected it. I tried the same thing with a regular USB drive, and the same thing happened. Again, I let my laptop sit for a while, and now this is working fine.

Finally, (which this is making me worried more than anything) I cannot properly shut down my laptop without pressing the power button. I've tried shutting it down normally (Start>Shutdown) and it doesn't. I know I'm not supposed to press the power button to shut off, but it's been the only way that I can shut my laptop off.

And when I try to re-start the computer, it gets to a black/grey page (where you can see a mouse) but does nothing else.

I really don't know what's wrong with my laptop. I don't know if it is because of the portable/external harddrive program I purchased, or if it could be the newest version of Norton Security Suite that I downloaded. Because up until those points, my laptop had been perfectly fine.

I'm so close to doing a System Restore, but I wanted to know what you all thought. I just really don't know...

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Hi Atala sorry to hear that you are having issues with your laptop.
I have just checked the specs for the laptop and it was listed as having an 80GB HDD, 1GB of Ram and a 256MB integrated video chip, does this match your laptop details?

I don't know if it is because of the portable/external harddrive program I purchased, or if it could be the newest version of Norton Security Suite that I downloaded.

Whilst it is possible that it is the external HDD software it is most likely to be Norton that is causing the issue so I recommend you uninstall it using the correct uninstall procedure http://us.norton.com...3834EN&ln=en_US and install a more user friendly and less demanding AV software, my preferences on my different computers are Avast (free) and MSE (Microsoft Security Essentials) but reading the informative information that Admin has provided may offer other alternatives that you may feel suit your needs better
http://www.geekstogo...yware-software/
Please confirm that the laptop specifications are correct as there may be other improvements that can be done to improve system performance.

[phillpower2]

Hi Atala sorry to hear that you are having issues with your laptop.
I have just checked the specs for the laptop and it was listed as having an 80GB HDD, 1GB of Ram and a 256MB integrated video chip, does this match your laptop details?

I don't know if it is because of the portable/external harddrive program I purchased, or if it could be the newest version of Norton Security Suite that I downloaded.

Whilst it is possible that it is the external HDD software it is most likely to be Norton that is causing the issue so I recommend you uninstall it using the correct uninstall procedure http://us.norton.com...3834EN&ln=en_US and install a more user friendly and less demanding AV software, my preferences on my different computers are Avast (free) and MSE (Microsoft Security Essentials) but reading the informative information that Admin has provided may offer other alternatives that you may feel suit your needs better
http://www.geekstogo...yware-software/
Please confirm that the laptop specifications are correct as there may be other improvements that can be done to improve system performance.

[Atala]

Hello there, thank you for replying to me.

I have found the paper with all the parts in my computer. They may be different because my father added more memory when he customized the building of the laptop.

2.0 GB, DDR2-667 SDRAM, 2 DIMM for Dell Latitude notebooks
512MB NVIDIA Quadro NVS 120M TurboCache
100 GB Hard Drive 9.5MM 7200 RPM
Intel 3945 WLAN (802. 11a/g) Mini card for latitude

I do not know about the video chip, but I hope this information helps (I copied it directly from the Packing Slip receipt).

I am starting to think that it was the new version of Norton. The internet and my computer weren't giving me problems before I installed this new version. Do you think that if I did a system restore to a point before I downloaded the new version my computer would work again?

I'm just curious.

Again, thank you for your help, and I did look at that link you gave me and I might be considering downloading a new Anti-Virus software.

Thank you.

[phillpower2]

Hi and thanks for providing the specification upgrades, I still feel that it is the Norton software that is causing this, if it is going back to a restore point will not resolve the issue as the software will still be present, if you have not recently installed anything else then using a restore point will do no harm though.
The Ram and the 512MB NVIDIA Quadro NVS 120M TurboCache (your video chip) upgrades are good but can I ask how much free storage space do you have on the HDD? On a 100GB HDD you must have between 12 and 15GB (12 and 15% of total HDD space) available at all times or instability and eventual crashes caused by a corrupt MBR (master boot record) will occur.
Is Norton the only AV program that you have installed and is your XP SP3 and fully up to date?

[Atala]

The last time I checked (when I defragged it the other day), it roughly had between 23-25%.

I'm not quite sure what you mean by AV program and XP SP3. I'm going to assume that they are programs on the computer itself?

I'm sorry if I seem out of the loop. I'm not that familiar with abbreviations for computer parts as well as computer terms.

If you're talking about my XP itself that should be up-to-date, then yes, it is.

As for AV programs, (I'm also assuming this stands for audio/visual?) I have iTunes, and a computer game that I'm not on too much. But, I do go on the internet a lot and watch videos, etc.

[phillpower2]

The last time I checked (when I defragged it the other day), it roughly had between 23-25%.

Not likely to be the cause of the issue then.

I'm not quite sure what you mean by AV program and XP SP3. I'm going to assume that they are programs on the computer itself?

AV = Anti Virus program and SP3 = Service Pack 3 which is a further upgrade of XP, your operating system (OS) this includes security and driver improvements etc.
Uninstalling Norton and trying another AV program in its place is still what I suggest.

[Atala]

The Antivirus program I have now is Norton Security Suite. I also have Malwarebytes. And I'm pretty sure that I do have SP3. It seems like my computer is updating all the time.

Although right now, everything seems better for some reason. I deleted a few things. Most of them being Java update programs installed onto my computer, and left the most recent one.

Although I am still having some problems (but not as many) with my browser. And my USB ports are not connecting properly (I have to restart my computer for it to recognize that something is connected), as well as that my computer is still not shutting down correctly, and I can't even restart correctly (I have to press and hold the power button both times).

I'm still thinking that I'll have to do what you suggested.