Laptop problems - alarm type noise, freezing etc

ih8stress

Help please, you lovely techie people.

My son was online on his laptop when he said it started beeping constantly (like an alarm/siren) and the cursor froze. He said the noise was quite loud and he switched it off.

Have had problems with it starting up on occasion for the last few months, sometimes taking about 5 attempts. Lost the keyboard and touchpad control recently (think the driver disappeared?) and had to remove the battery and drain the power to get it back.

It has about a week of it's one year warranty left, so any advice appreciated please.

He got it from PC World, unfortunately.

Thanks:)

Richie-from-the-Boro

ih8stress wrote: »

Help please, you lovely techie people.

My son was online on his laptop when he said it started beeping constantly (like an alarm/siren) and the cursor froze. He said the noise was quite loud and he switched it off.

Have had problems with it starting up on occasion for the last few months, sometimes taking about 5 attempts. Lost the keyboard and touchpad control recently (think the driver disappeared?) and had to remove the battery and drain the power to get it back.

It has about a week of it's one year warranty left, so any advice appreciated please.

He got it from PC World, unfortunately.

Thanks:)

The ' ambulance / police siren ' is just that noise for a very particular reason it almost always means stop do not continue !

It's usually an indication that the CPU / battery is overheating, example most people use a laptop on their lap, big mistake, on your lap you starve it of airflow.

.1. Test the info, lift the laptop by putting it on a stand and put a fan blowing cold air underneath and the siren will stop.

.2. "" It has about a week of it's one year warranty left "" stop thinking start doing. Prise it from your screaming son's reluctant to let go hands, and get it in for repair while it's free !

ih8stress

Thanks for the reply, richie.
The laptop is usually on a table or chest of drawers but I will check with my son when he returns.

With regards to the repair - the only problem is that it was from PC World and I am loathe to take it in for repair unless it is unavoidable. Not being very techie, I would hate to take it in if it is something minor that could be fixed with advice from this knowledgable forum.

HO87

When you switch it on can you actually hear a fan running? If you can't get it back to PC World.

ih8stress

There is a constant 'background' noise if I put my ear to the keyboard. Will this be the fan?

Garetha

ih8stress wrote: »

There is a constant 'background' noise if I put my ear to the keyboard. Will this be the fan?

Could be the hard drive

Richie-from-the-Boro

"" background' noise ""

- in addition to the hard drive which also makes a humming noise yes !

"" ambulance / police siren ""

- almost always indicates a serious hardware overheating issue !

"" loathe to take it in for repair ""

- don't blame you, go into the shop without the lappie and try to get a returns / repair number dated & recorded before ' term ', tell them your son's in Newcastle UNI and won't be home for thee weeks etc - see if that works !

ih8stress

Spoke to my son and apparently the 'alarm noise' has happened on 2 separate occasions - both times whilst the laptop was on the table.

He has got a seagate external drive and wants to back-up everything he can but is away for a couple of days.

Is it just a case of 'plug and play' if I have a go at doing it, and then copying and pasting things over?

Richie-from-the-Boro

"" Is it just a case of 'plug and play' if I have a go at doing it, and then copying and pasting things over? ""

- don't know- it depends on the software interface on that particular Seagate model
- but I don't see why not
- it's very unlikely you are going to do any damage if you try your drag & drop
- when you plug it in you should get a small window saying open [ yellow ] folder to view files
- just drag & drop

"" ambulance / police siren ""

You know there are a few BIOS's that have a stupidly low setting that cause unnecessary alarm, so it may turn out to be a BIOS setting, trouble is if your not conversant with these setting people like me should not encourage you to mess with them.

ih8stress

The touchpad/keyboard froze again today and I had to remove the battery again to get it reinstated.

Apart from trying to back up photos, music etc onto his new external hard-drive (I'm waiting for my son to do it when he gets back), is there anything else to try before my son takes it to the dreaded PC World next week?

I've done a couple of malwarebyte scans but it wouldn't let me update it first - got this message:-
An error occurred. Please report the following error code to the malwarebytes anti-malware support team - error code: 732 (12007,0)

I've also just defragged it.

Thanks

fiddiwebb

ih8stress wrote: »

The touchpad/keyboard froze again today and I had to remove the battery again to get it reinstated.

Apart from trying to back up photos, music etc onto his new external hard-drive (I'm waiting for my son to do it when he gets back), is there anything else to try before my son takes it to the dreaded PC World next week?

I've done a couple of malwarebyte scans but it wouldn't let me update it first - got this message:-
An error occurred. Please report the following error code to the malwarebytes anti-malware support team - error code: 732 (12007,0)

I've also just defragged it.

Thanks

What antivirus are you useing?

Try disabling your antivirus first before trying to update Malwarebytes and see if that works.