What is WRONG??

[upd@te]

I'm a bit worried about my laptop. It works 100% fine, but it froze on me twice during the welcome/log in screen. Before I logged in, i pressed the wireless LAN enabler/dis-abler (as I wanted to dis-able it). I inputted my password and pressed enter...the circle loading thing just kept spinning..basically it froze. Waited for awhile then finally turned it off. It only happened to me when I pressed the wireless button though, without pressing it, it logs on just fine.

I logged in again, this time pressing lots of buttons on the keyboard..it didnt freeze, it appears that it only freezes when toggling the wireless mode on/off (which is quite unnecessary, but i just wanted to press it for no reason..)

Is this a sign of a faulty machine? I mean..its brand new, and I checked the drives using ''chkdsk'' and it does not read any bad sectors. If chkdsk does not read bad sectors, its 100% sure my laptop is fine right? The hard drive at least..

Also, using the Toshiba PC diagnostic tool, all the areas was passed and no problems were found. Is it possible that the diagnostic and chkdsk overlooked some problems? If they both say my system is fine and has no errors, is that 100% accurate?

Specs:
Toshiba P750 02J
4 gb ram
750 gb sata hard disk
i7 2630qm processor quad core
Bios version 1.90

 

[frozenlead]

You probably just need to update your wireless driver. Your PC is probably fine.

CHKDSK will not necessarily determine if your disk is damaged or not - it only checks for bad sectors and corrupted files. Other stuff can happen to your disk. Your hard disk is at no fault here, though, so it's not really useful to you.

 

[upd@te]

You probably just need to update your wireless driver. Your PC is probably fine.

CHKDSK will not necessarily determine if your disk is damaged or not - it only checks for bad sectors and corrupted files. Other stuff can happen to your disk. Your hard disk is at no fault here, though, so it's not really useful to you.

Ok, here is the update. I can safely conclude that its not the wireless driver, nor the toggling of in on/off during the log in process. It seems that the wireless has no effect on if, since I have tried and experimented on it, rebooting, then pressing the wireless button, and my computer did not freeze. I have done this a total of 3 times in a row.

SO...What is the problem? I have done no updates recently, and my BIOS is the latest one. Also, can we safely assume my hard disk is fine?

If my computer is freezing at start up, what do you think is wrong? The Operating system? (Windows 7 Home Premium).

I really don't want to, but you think recovering my system using the Toshiba Recovery Disks I have created will solve this problem? (Note: start up only froze 2 times. And it happened when i was pressing something. Only then.)

Also, I'm afraid, does holding down the power when the laptop freezes break my system when it is logging in/starting up?

Can you help me pin-point the problem if possible? Thank you

 

[frozenlead]

Okay, well, first:

Does the notebook actually freeze? You said the circle with welcome was still spinning; by definition, that isn't 'freezing'.

Does it occur just randomly? Is there some way you can reliably reproduce the problem?

If so, what happens when you induce it while booting in safe mode?

If this has only happened twice and never again, I wouldn't worry about it until it's actually recurring.

 

[upd@te]

Okay, well, first:

Does the notebook actually freeze? You said the circle with welcome was still spinning; by definition, that isn't 'freezing'.

Does it occur just randomly? Is there some way you can reliably reproduce the problem?

If so, what happens when you induce it while booting in safe mode?

If this has only happened twice and never again, I wouldn't worry about it until it's actually recurring.

Ok, I did it again last night. I pressed the wireless button again and again while logging in, it didnt freeze.

Last time it happened, ''nothing'' induced it except the fact i pressed the button lol.

Happened twice. I believe it was freezing, nothing was happening for about 3-5 minutes. my usual log in takes around 30 seconds or less.

Well, this freezing happened 4 times in total. But the log in freeze, as I have said, only twice. The reason why I didn't mention the first three is that they were kinda understandable.

The first time, i installed kaspersky antivirus 2011, shut down my computer then turned it on again. I was testing how long my computer would take for it to start/load a program (i want to see if the AV slows my computer down) it didnt, the boot up was only around 5 seconds late. BUT the moment it loaded my desktop, THAT same instant i immediately clicked on the google chrome program. I did this as i wanted to know how long it would take, from a log in to a program application load. However my computer just froze. The was the windows circle thing just spinning around. I waited 5 minutes, nothing happened. I just then did a cold boot... (Maybe it was my fault clicking immediately? But i dont know, i tested this ''immediate click after log in'' with my desktop..it didnt freeze..lol)

That was the 1st incident to freezing.

The 2nd and 3rd ones, happened few days after. I updated again, this time it was an intel hd graphics update. after installing it, it said to restart my computer. My computer restarted then when i was at the log in screen, i decided to shut down, since i dont really need to log in. Next time i used my computer, It froze after I logged in. I can see my desktop and everything, but theres this circle thing again, loading. My gadgets didnt even load as usual. I waited for a while then another cold boot.

I ran the memory diagnostic just in case..clear results.

What could be wrong, or should I just ignore it..?

 

[frozenlead]

It sounds to me like a driver issue. Are you sure all your device drivers are the newest version? What happens if you try and induce it in safe mode?

 

[upd@te]

It sounds to me like a driver issue. Are you sure all your device drivers are the newest version? What happens if you try and induce it in safe mode?

Hi, I updated my Atheros Wireless Network Adapter, so far so good. I think its solved now. Restarted again and again and pressed the wireless button several times. Success! Did is as well on Safe mode.

Ok just to be safe, ASSUMING, that freeze was a random incident (I think it is since WHY would it freeze by just pressing the wireless button), does freezing mean my system/laptop/operating system is bad/faulty? When I chose to cold boot by holding down the power button, did I damage the laptop in someway?

My final question: has your laptop/PC frozen? I think freezes are normal, that is just my opinion.

Thanks!

 

[upd@te]

UPDATE:


Yeah, it seems my assumptions are right. It was not the wireless driver. It may have coincidentally occurred.
I downloaded Intel Processor diagnostic tool, to stress test my i7 processors and see if they are in good condition. It passed the test. After that, I was browsing some files. I clicked on something, then the loading cursor appeared (spinning blue). Its normal, so I waited. After around a minute, i clicked on the mouse. Then the window showed as not responding. I clicked and clicked again, and found it strange since if the window is not responding, windows usually says something like wait for the program to respond or close the program. It didnt say it. To my dismay, after waiting for around 5 mins, i turned my computer off.

Is this really a problem I should be worrying about? I'm not getting any Blue screens, thankfully, and my laptop has not crashed. Is there really something wrong with it, or is freezing a ''norm'' in the windows 7 scene?

I dont even understand why it freezes, it was on high performance battery mode and i have done all chkdsk, intel diagnostics, toshiba diagnostics, updated drivers, they all showed good results and found no problems. My laptop is virus-free, and the CPU usage is very low. Usually around 5-15%

Please help

 

[frozenlead]

Freezing is never normal in any OS. Freezing is usually software-related, though, so I doubt any of your hardware is at fault. Really there are two actions to perform here:

1. You could disable startup programs and services one by one until you find a configuration in which the problem no longer occurs. Once that happens, the last service or program you disabled (or even device driver) should be causing the issue. This takes some time and skill, but will leave your data intact.

2. You could reinstall Windows (which may or may not fix the issue if it's driver-related). This will require you to back up your data and reinstall all of your applications afterward.

Number 2 is easier for someone who's not as technically inclined, though it doesn't guarantee to solve the problem if in fact, a driver is malfunctioning. However, since so little is installed, it gives you a very easy way to diagnose what is causing what.

These both really depend on you being able to reproduce the issue.

 

[upd@te]

Freezing is never normal in any OS. Freezing is usually software-related, though, so I doubt any of your hardware is at fault. Really there are two actions to perform here:

1. You could disable startup programs and services one by one until you find a configuration in which the problem no longer occurs. Once that happens, the last service or program you disabled (or even device driver) should be causing the issue. This takes some time and skill, but will leave your data intact.

2. You could reinstall Windows (which may or may not fix the issue if it's driver-related). This will require you to back up your data and reinstall all of your applications afterward.

Number 2 is easier for someone who's not as technically inclined, though it doesn't guarantee to solve the problem if in fact, a driver is malfunctioning. However, since so little is installed, it gives you a very easy way to diagnose what is causing what.

These both really depend on you being able to reproduce the issue.

Yeah, its obviously not normal. But yesterday, I talked to my software engineering professor and after I told him the problem, he simply replied "Well, coz its Windows." and "Try Macs" He said, though it is not normal, there is nothing to worry about that much since it happens to him as well.

After that I went to a branch of the store where I got it, and told them about it. Two sales persons/tech guys came to me and we began to chat. Both of them were not surprised and they told me it sometimes just randomly happens to them. They also taught me a technique by using the task manager to end the explorer.exe task, and going to file, new task (run) and input explorer.exe. This will reboot the windows UI or something. They showed me how it works.

Finally I went to another store and told them about it. They also said it happens to them too. Looking through the web, googling ''windows 7 freeze'' will have a lot of results.

Its not normal, but I think I will just have to deal windows coz I like it more than a Mac. Besides I have a 3 year warranty so...

Thanks for your advice frozenlead!

 

[upd@te]

Best answer selected by upd@te.

 

[cbrunnem]

first of all 2-5 mins isnt long enough to determine if windows is going to successfully boot. wait longer next time.

also, when it takes longer to boot do you have any thing extra plugged in? windows is know to take longer to boot when any external device is plugged in. it is intermittent but happens.

 

[upd@te]

first of all 2-5 mins isnt long enough to determine if windows is going to successfully boot. wait longer next time.

also, when it takes longer to boot do you have any thing extra plugged in? windows is know to take longer to boot when any external device is plugged in. it is intermittent but happens.

I think sometimes its a mouse plugged in. Other than that, none. Also usually its just 30 seconds to boot, so I found it strange.

Just wondering, has your computer frozen in any way and the only thing you can do is shut it down?

 

[cbrunnem]

its slowed down at shutdown before and once at startup but it eventually finished.