My laptop has randomly malfunctioned.

[Coco Pommel 669]

So, I was going to reply to a topic on this forum when my laptop froze randomly, unwilling to unfreeze itself. Eventually, I held on to the power button because I was unable to use the CTRL + ALT + DELETE function. I tried starting it back up, but it was extremely slow. After trying to restart it maybe two times, I decided to wait and read a book until it came to the area that you usually see when you start your computer. However, the taskbar looked similar to that of Windows 2000 (I have Windows 7). It took roughly fifteen minutes to get there. And now, opening up things on my laptop takes an unreasonable amount of time and seems next to impossible. Currently, I'm on my father's laptop as he is away.

 

What should I do?

[Rochambo 88]

as far as I know, your computer has gone into basic mode.

 

It's switched to the windows classic look because it improves performance.

 

I may be able to assist you further, but you must post your computer's specicfations.

 

i.e processor,processor frequency,ram....

Edited April 28, 2012 by Rochambo

[SPLinux 380]

Any new hardware or software? Try checking task manager to see what's eating up your resources, also run your antivirus scan, it could be some sort of malware which is bogging you down.

 

EDIT: If you did install any new software, check out your start up applications, it could be running a service in the background that is slowing you down. look at this: http://www.groovypost.com/howto/performance-disable-startup-programs-windows-7-vista/

Edited April 28, 2012 by superponylinux

[Ashbad 969]

Definitely boot into 'Safe Mode with Command Prompt', type 'tasklist', and see if anything weird seems to be running. If there are any, 'taskkill /PID <Process ID>" using the PIDs from tasklist, and see what happens as a result. If it's still running slowly after all of that, it's quite possible something rather nasty is on your machine, hogging its resources. A small scan from Avast! should be able to pick it up and wipe it clean, hopefully.

[Akemi Homura 7,680]

My laptop's problem is worse. It won't boot up period. As we speak, a recovery disk (4 of them - they came in with the laptop) is in the DVD drive and I am attempting to get into safe mode. Other than, I keep getting a "No bootable device" black screen with white text error on startup.

[Jokuc 8,173]

Start the computer and press F8 a few times, then start the computer in safe mode.

Look how much space you have left on the computer, then open your anti-virus program (Avast! recommended) and do a virus scan.

If neither worked follow these steps (still in safe mode):

 

• Open Computer by clicking the Start button , and then clicking Computer.

• Right-click the hard disk drive that you want to check, and then click Properties.

• Click the Tools tab, and then, under Error-checking, click Check Now. If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

  To automatically repair problems with files and folders that the scan detects, select Automatically fix file system errors. Otherwise, the disk check will simply report problems but not fix them.

  To perform a thorough disk check, select Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors. This scan attempts to find and repair physical errors on the hard disk itself, and it can take much longer to complete.

  To check for both file errors and physical errors, select both Automatically fix file system errors and Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors.

• Click Start.

Depending upon the size of your hard disk, this may take several minutes. For best results, don't use your computer for any other tasks while it's checking for errors.

Note

 

If you select Automatically fix file system errors for a disk that is in use (for example, the partition that contains Windows), you'll be prompted to reschedule the disk check for the next time you restart your computer.

Edited April 28, 2012 by Jokuc

[Coco Pommel 669]

I had to bring it up to a place where people will fix it once this weekend is over. I am left without my laptop for a few days, which is a pain because I forgot to print out an essay for English class that I stored on it. I hope my teacher will understand. :< It seems like there was a virus in my laptop or something.