Laptop Issue
 

While doing some work my laptop frooze on me, making a whirring sound and vibrating. Couldnt call up the task manager to see if it was a program using a lot of the cpu/memory.

When i turn the computer on it beeps like normal, but after a while it freezes up again and I can't do any other operations on it, it completely locks up. I feel its an issue with the hard drive as the hard drive icon flashes up and remains on, can't even do the scandisk as it locks up when doing it.

Any suggestions on what i can do to fix this? or does it seem my hard drive is done for? If its done for, can i retrieve all my files on it as i have assignments due in in just over a weeks time... also appreciate any recommended laptop HD brands and online places I can buy from.

EDIT: oh and is hard drive replacing relatively easy?

Re: Laptop Issue
 

Can't say if its the hard drive or not,can you access bios and see what the temps are?Its impossible to say if yoru data can be recovered until you know for sure the extent of the problem
Does the laptop get into windows or freezes up before?If its getting into windows and freezing up intermitantly it could well be a temperature issue
If it is and its not dying\dead fans something like this may help
http://www.expansys.com/product.asp?code=115162

Changing the hdd on a laptop should not be to difficult its just a matter of finding it :) It may be simple and be on the side ,a draw will pull out and hard drive is there,ive also known then to be under cd rom,its just a matter of looking
loads of laptop hdds here
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/produ...&subcat_uid=19

Re: Laptop Issue
 

Also check whether the laptop fans are working as it could be overhearting and causing it to crash if the fans have died.

Re: Laptop Issue
 

Can u hear a "ticking" from where the hard drive seems to be situated, I had a very similar problem with my laptop (probably due to me dropping it) replaced the HDD and all was sweet again.

Re: Laptop Issue
 

What laptop is it bbwannabe? Mine's got a removable hard drive so I'm wondering if yours has too.

Re: Laptop Issue
 

Most do. I bought my replacement from www.scan.co.uk quite cheap too.

Re: Laptop Issue
 

I got hold of a time laptop and had to go on a right hunt the find the hdd,then on a medion it was just in a clip off draw on the side

Re: Laptop Issue
 

Ive tried to access the bios (by pressing a bunch of buttons - i cant rmember which one it takes to access on mine). But it locked up before i could access it.. Sometimes i can get to windows other times i can't. When my computer locks up i need to leave it for a while before trying again, otherwise it will lock it right away.

I've uploaded an image of my HD (which i think it is).

Re: Laptop Issue
 

LoL. Your laptop takes full sized DIMMs? Thats very rare. Yeah those HDDs are really easy to replace, its just a case of swapping over and reinstalling the O/S.

Re: Laptop Issue
 

i can still hear the fan.. me thinks... gonna go check.


Yep fan still seems to be alive.

Check bios as well and theres no heat info, just an option to choose which drive to boot from..
__________________

yep a tick, and then a whiirrrr, like revving a car and constant ticking afterwards. (WHY NOW!!!!... :'( )

Re: Laptop Issue
 

Mine did it all of a sudden as well, i hadnt done anything to aggrievate it. Mine was like a week before i was meant to be taking it to a LAN so i took a chance on replacing the HDD and thankfully that was it!

Re: Laptop Issue
 

mines a gericom.. unfortunately its not a removable drive as in you can pull it out without taking any covers off..
Its still under warranty but the support sucks, and will likely take longer to repair than the time i have.
__________________

mine was sudden as well, i hadnt turned my laptop off for days, and even had it running fine for during the night and most of this morning and afternoon.. then it just locked out on me.. So do ya think its the HD at fault?

Full sized DIMMS? that good thing or a bad things ? :)

Do you reckon i can get my stuff off the faulty drive? or should i bury it now.

Any idea what that plastic strip on the top of the HD is there for?

Re: Laptop Issue
 

This sounds like it could be temps to me,leaving it a while so it cools maybe???


Still no sure evidence that the hdd is dead yet,check your temps. download home version of everest this will give you temps http://www.lavalys.com/

Re: Laptop Issue
 

Just odd/rare for a laptop to have full size PC memory.

The Strip on top of the drive is probably there to make it obvious if it has been tampered with, IE if its broken they wont fix it under warranty.

Re: Laptop Issue
 

i'll give it a shot. But chances are it'll freeze before i get the chance to find out or install it.

Re: Laptop Issue
 

My laptop was like that too tho. If you left it for a while to cool down perhaps then itd work fine for a while and then itd hang making the Ticking noise, id reboot it straight and it just wouldnt boot properly. Leave it for a while and then it would work again, get a new HDD and it worked fine.

Re: Laptop Issue
 

This being said then the data would be recoverable,either plug old hdd into a 2.5 ubs adapter cost about £20 plug it into laptop with new hdd and copy data over,might take a while and may crash,all depends how important your data is

Re: Laptop Issue
 

ater reading this thread, ive just realised that my laptop is burning my leg and the fan isnt working!!! gonna turn it off in a min, cos its been on for weeks, but how easy for a dunce like me is it to replace??

ive got an old fujitsu siemens e-series life book
errrrr but i dont know much else, maybe a trip to pc world?

Re: Laptop Issue
 

go into bios and check to see if the cpu fan is working I would imagine a system failure if it was dead
these work for keeping laptops cooler(as long as cpu fan is still working)
http://www.expansys.com/product.asp?code=115162

Re: Laptop Issue
 

well after careful extraction i managed to get my laptop hard drive out of the computer, and put it into a housing case. I've connected it now to my sisters computer, and its the same whirring noise that happened on mine, so its no doubt in my mind that its the hard drive gone caput.

Unfortunately doesnt seem i can access my info on this drive on my sisters comp.

Any suggestions? Ive tried to use scandisk, but it failed.

Re: Laptop Issue
 

is it being detected in the bios?

Re: Laptop Issue
 

its in a usb2 housing so im not sure if the bios will detect it

Re: Laptop Issue
 

ah I see - how about windows device manager - is it being recognised as a disk drive there?

Re: Laptop Issue
 

yep. But i can't access the drive content, without it locking up

Seems like it doesnt show the free/used amount in my computer, its all blue now :(

Re: Laptop Issue
 

have you tried running scandisk in 'safe mode' ?

Re: Laptop Issue
 

That wont make any difference, the drive is bummed, safe mode or not. If theres anything very important on it, id look into Data Recovery, can be expensive tho :shocking:

Re: Laptop Issue
 

not yet, i'll give it a try now
__________________

well ive managed to save some of my backuped emails just by turning the housing upside down (30MB in 15mins)... phew.. now photos and my other stuff.

Re: Laptop Issue
 

dont go to pcworld :disturbd: , anyway , which fan are you on about ??? , taking laptops apart is dodgy if you are not totally sure about it , i know from experience ;) :D :D :D

Re: Laptop Issue
 

Update: managed to recover most of my files, the only thing ive lost of the drive is a bunch of photographs which sucks, but im glad im able to get most of it off, so im lucky in a unlucky situation.

Anyway im wondering if someone knows how to get my mozilla firefox bookmarks off the drive and onto a safer place. I can't load up mozilla and then export it in the file menu as it loads up the other mozilla installed on my sis's comp, so is there a file which keeps track of these bookmarks in the firefox folder?

Re: Laptop Issue
 

In your old Firefox Profiles folder, there is a file called bookmarks.html than contains all your bookmarks.




Click the link above for info on finding your firefox profile

Re: Laptop Issue
 

Thanks. Gave it a whirl but it only listed favorites it imported from IE, and not of the other bookmarks added to firefox itself.