how to solve computer hanging problem
Few things are more frustrating than being in the middle of a project or watching a video when your computer freezes. Whether it's your cursor frozen in place or the Blue Screen of Death, the fix requires a manual reboot of your computer. Of course, that means you risk losing everything you were working on before the freeze. A better option is to understand the possible reasons for computer freezes and the steps you can take to prevent them from happening.
Despite their relatively sturdy construction, laptops usually show signs of wear quickly—not just on the outside. Any of these issues will cost you time and money, not only will reduce productivity, but also cause technical support calls and shipping labels. Thankfully, problems with your laptop can usually be cured with quick fixes. To find out the most common problems, we selected the brains of senior technical support officers from Alienware, Dell, Lenovo, and Toshiba. We have provided a solution to get your laptop back up and running with minimal effort.
1. Overheating
Symptoms: computer crashes, freezes
Solution: Clean the air vents, place the filter material on the suction port, or update the BIOS
Overheating can reduce the performance of your laptop and often leads to a series of problems, such as system crashes and freezes. Every computer generates a lot of heat, but laptops are particularly prone to overheating due to their small size and lack of ventilation. Excessive dust will block the ventilation holes and deprive your system of cold air to cool the CPU. You usually only need to clean these vents with a cloth or keyboard cleaner to solve the overheating problem.
To prevent further accumulation of dust, place a filter cloth above the suction port, such as a cloth from Swiffer. Do not place one above the exhaust port, as the hot air should flow out of the system quickly there. If the cloth doesn’t work, you may need to update the system’s BIOS, which controls the laptop’s hardware. Most manufacturers provide an installation file that can automatically update the BIOS file, which usually solves thermal management issues. When updating the BIOS, make sure your laptop is connected to a power source.
2. Slow hard drives
Symptoms: The program loading time is too long and the file transfer is slow
Solution: Disk defragmentation
Disorganized information on the hard drive can degrade performance because the computer needs more time to filter data fragments and bad sectors on the drive. This problem can be easily solved using a built-in Windows tool called Disk Defragmenter (but not particularly fast; defragmentation can sometimes take hours). You can access the program through the program menu in the accessories or system tools folder. Just click the "Analyze" button to see if your disk drive needs to be defragmented, and then click "Defragment" to start.
Other options include free Power Defragmenter and Diskeeper 2007 ($29.95 for Home Edition, $49.95 for Professional Edition, and $99.95 for Professional Edition), which provides more features such as full automation, real-time defragmentation and InvisiTasking technology, allowing Diskeeper to run in the background , No need to consume resources.
3. The battery cannot be charged
Symptom: Your laptop can only run for a few minutes when unplugged
Solution: Replace the battery
During its service life, lithium-ion batteries may lose their ability to hold charge. After a few years, some batteries can only be used for a fraction of the rated runtime. Replacing the battery is relatively simple; most pop out from the bottom or back of the laptop.
However, many retailers charge hundreds of dollars for a new battery. Websites such as Battery.com specialize in discounting laptop batteries, which can save money when buying brand new batteries for your laptop. For example, as of press time, the Dell Latitude D620 lithium-ion battery is priced at $139 on the Dell website and $83.99 on battery.com. (The company even offers a two-year warranty and 45-day money-back guarantee for all laptop battery orders.)
4. Need more RAM
Symptoms: Poor performance, hang up, and long startup time when using multiple applications
Solution: Upgrade your RAM, try using a USB drive that supports ReadyBoost
If your laptop takes a long time to boot, you may need to review the boot process. To do this, place the cursor on the icon in the taskbar at the bottom right corner of the screen. If you rarely use any of these programs, right-click and disable them. To better control the programs that load at startup, download System Suite 7 Professional ($59.95), which includes 60 powerful tools, startup managers, and optimizers.
If you need to buy a new memory chip, Kingston (www.kingston.com) and Crucial (www.crucial.com) provide tools on their websites to determine which products are compatible with your laptop. You can also try www.4allmemory.com. Vista users can use the new memory diagnostic tool in Windows Vista; just type "memory" in the search bar, and the operating system will scan your physical memory for problems and recommend replacements if necessary.
Vista users may also want to buy USB drives that support ReadyBoost from companies such as Corsair, Kingston, Lexar, or SanDisk. These devices can improve the startup time of certain programs by using the available space on the USB drive as a temporary memory cache.
5. Hard Disk Failure
Symptom: Every time the computer accesses the data in the hard drive it will make a loud clicking sound
Solution: Online backup site, replace hard disk
Obviously, the best defense against hard drive crashes is a good backup solution. Nowadays, there are many choices, but among software solutions, we like Norton Save & Restore 2.0 ($49) because it is easy to use. If you want to back up data online, please use Mozy.com (2GB free, $4.95 per month unlimited), it will automatically back up your system and track changes in the background without taking up valuable system resources.
Even if you go online, a hard drive failure can paralyze your laptop. Fortunately, many tools can test your drive for problems. Hitachi provides some support in the support section of its website (www.hitachi.com). If you need to replace the hard drive, be sure to back up as much data as possible, and then turn off the hard drive. You can find step-by-step instructions for the replacement process on the support sites of most manufacturers. For example, Lenovo redoubled its efforts in the video showing the replacement process; enter "replacement movie" on www.lenovo.com to view it.
If you want to keep the data on the old drive and switch to the new drive as easily as possible, we recommend Apricorn's EZ upgrade universal and hard drive upgrade packages. The kit is available in 40GB, 80GB, 100GB and 120GB capacities, and the price ranges from US$109 to US$149. The kit allows you to upgrade your hard drive in three steps. The package includes cloning and backup software, which allows you to use your old hard drive for backup purposes-assuming it is still valid.
6.Bad keyboard
Symptom: missing or loose keys
Solution: Replace the keyboard
The keyboard bears the brunt of any laptop, whether it's typing or pouring coffee. Therefore, the key often falls off or wears out. Fortunately, the laptop manufacturer provides a quick online guide to replace the keyboard on its support page; just type "keyboard replacement" in the search bar or check the manufacturer's knowledge base.
For example, Toshiba's "Ask Iris" document database provides hardware replacement guidelines. To remove the old keyboard, you usually only need to remove some screws from the bottom of the laptop, and then use a button or snap mechanism to unlock the keyboard and secure it to the frame. Replacement keyboards are usually covered by the warranty or can be purchased relatively cheaply. For example, Dell sells them for 15 to 25 dollars. The company also offers plastic keyboard cases on its website for $10 to $15. CompuCover provides keyboard protectors for various other notebook computers.
7. Cannot connect to the wireless network
Symptoms: No Internet connection, often time out when browsing the web
Solution: Make sure the wireless is turned on, a smarter software tool, make sure the router is broadcasting the network name (SSID)
Whether in an airport, coffee shop or hotel, you want to be able to connect to any wireless network with your laptop. But wireless networks, by their very nature, are picky beasts. Some laptops have external buttons or switches separate from the software settings to enable wireless connections. Always make sure to turn on this wireless switch. Also make sure that the network you are connected to is broadcasting its network name or SSID.
If you would rather avoid network problems altogether, or want a tool to help you troubleshoot without having to learn any jargon, download an all-in-one utility like Network Magic (free, or buy the premium version, starting at $29.99) It can help you easily set up and protect your network, and provide a comprehensive network map, as well as repair broken wireless Internet connections. Road warriors should consider JiWire’s Hotspot Helper ($24.95 per year), which will not only show you where you can log in via Wi-Fi, it will also protect your privacy when you’re surfing the Internet wirelessly. In addition, this utility provides secure e-mail delivery as if you were back in the office.
8. Stuck Pixel
Symptom: Green or red dots appear on the laptop screen
Solution: massage the dead spots
On other powerful laptop LCDs, substandard or stuck pixels can be annoying. Pixels usually remain green or red, and do not light up normally with other pixels on the display. Unfortunately, manufacturers will not replace LCDs just because of one or two stuck pixels. In fact, some require as many as 10 to 18 dead pixels to take action.
However, there is a solution. Take a soft material, such as felt cloth, and gently rub it in a circular motion around the stuck pixel. Performing this technique usually causes the pixels to light up correctly. Once you find the right place and pressure to illuminate the pixels, put your finger there for up to two minutes, and voila, there are no more stuck pixels.
9. System crash
Symptom: The laptop cannot be started
Solution: Remove the hard drive and place it in an external cabinet. Run check disk.
Most people enter panic mode when their computer refuses to start. However, usually, the problem is as simple as losing system files or bad sectors on the hard drive. To determine if this is the case, you can follow the manufacturer's instructions to remove the hard drive, and then put the drive in a USB enclosure-these are the outer enclosures for the internal hardware. You can find them at most retailers such as Best Buy, Staples or Newegg for less than $40.
Next, connect the USB cable of the case to the open USB port on the work PC. If the file system is still intact, the hard drive should appear as an external drive and allow you to transfer data to and from the drive. Next, try to run Checkdisk on the drive by opening a DOS prompt (Start/Programs/Accessories/Command Prompt) and typing X:, where X is the drive letter of the external drive. Then press Enter. Now enter "chkdsk /f". Your system may ask you to unmount the drive; that’s okay, so type Y and press Enter.
Your notebook will now display some information about the drive (file system type and serial number), and then scan the drive to fix any errors encountered. An error report will be printed out so you can view the changes made to the drive. If all goes well, after reinserting the hard drive into the crashed laptop and turning on the power, you can start using it.
10. Virus or spyware infection
Symptom: Too many pop-up windows and slow download speed
Solution: Install an anti-spyware program and use a free virus scan
Nothing can weaken your system like malware. The first line of defense is always prevention. It is best to subscribe to services such as Norton 360 ($79 per year). Norton's unobtrusive security suite left a deep impression on us. It provides excellent antivirus and spyware protection, file backup and performance adjustments without the need for a complicated user interface. Norton Suite also provides a firewall option that can silently block most threats while reminding users to pay attention to friendly programs that request Web access.
If you don’t want to spend money, you can use free tools like Ad-Aware and Spybot: Search and Destroy to strengthen your defenses. Although both are excellent tools, each has advantages and disadvantages-Spybot is better at tracking malicious code such as pop-up windows, while Ad-Aware does a good job in deleting cookies (text files copied by advertisers to the user's computer for tracking) Better surfing habits). We recommend using these two tools to schedule regular scans to ensure safety.
If these tools cannot locate viruses, you may want to try Trend Micro’s free House Call on housecall.trendmicro.com, which is sometimes better at identifying viruses than other programs. If the automatic solution fails, Trend Micro also provides a free virus database and manual deletion tips.
11. Outdated video driver
Symptom: The video appears garbled or distorted
solution: Download the latest driver
Video problems are a common complaint among notebook users. The problem usually stems from newer games and software that require the latest video card drivers to run. Although most laptops come with the latest driver files, some systems are outdated when the machine is sold. This is why it is important to update the graphics card drivers frequently-sometimes audio and network drivers may also need to be updated.
Many laptop manufacturers provide installation packages that will provide you with the latest drivers and provide automatic tools to update the rest of the laptop. For example, Lenovo hosts its driver files on lenovo.com/support. Alienware tests new drivers for all of its machines and hosts them in the support area of its website. However, if you can’t find the driver on the laptop manufacturer’s website, you can try the manufacturer of the graphics card, which is usually ATI or Nvidia. If your system is equipped with Intel’s integrated graphics chip, your best choice is the laptop manufacturer’s website, although you can also try Intel’s support and download pages.
