Laptop only working in safe mode?!

Pthree

Evening,

I have an Advent (6553 I think!) which has been playing up for a few weeks mainly Firefox crashing and lots of window explorer errors.

I ran all my Avast anti virus and it didn't find anything and I tried a System Restore but there is no set point to go back to, even though it has been set before.

Last night (and tonight) it will only let me use the internet in safe mode (with networks) I have a feeling I need to reinstall windows, but I am 99% certain the discs are at my mothers where I wont be visiting for a few weeks :eek:

I looked here http://knowhow.com/article.dhtml?articleReference=597&country=uk and downloaded the file saved it to disc etc.. but it doesn;t say what to do afterwards!! I have tried restarting my laptop with the disc in but the screen just goes blank and I left it a good 20 mins to see if anything else happened.

Any help would be very much appreciated.
Thanks

P3

Notmyrealname

Chances are you've got a blocked heatsink causing the laptop to get hot which was the start of the problem.

Pthree

I am guilty of using it on my lap and it does sometimes get hot sometimes.

Is there anything I can do about?

Thanks

GunJack

yep, take it apart and clean out the whole fan enclosure, including the inevitable furry slug that's probably caught between the fan housing and the heatsink vanes

oh, and use it on a hard flat surface, like a book on a cushion on your lap

Pthree

GunJack wrote: »

yep, take it apart and clean out the whole fan enclosure, including the inevitable furry slug that's probably caught between the fan housing and the heatsink vanes

oh, and use it on a hard flat surface, like a book on a cushion on your lap

I dunno why they call it a laptop if thats not where supposed to use it

Is taking it apart a bit risky.... might I be better taking it get done somewhere I dont want to stuff it up?

P3

Pthree

Ok I tried this, a bit fiddley and got rid of lots of gunk and fluff but still having the same problem any more ideas?

Thanks
P3

waddler_8

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929135

TakeThis

Pthree wrote: »

Evening,

I have an Advent (6553 I think!) which has been playing up for a few weeks mainly Firefox crashing and lots of window explorer errors.

I ran all my Avast anti virus and it didn't find anything and I tried a System Restore but there is no set point to go back to, even though it has been set before.

Last night (and tonight) it will only let me use the internet in safe mode (with networks) I have a feeling I need to reinstall windows, but I am 99% certain the discs are at my mothers where I wont be visiting for a few weeks :eek:

I looked here http://knowhow.com/article.dhtml?articleReference=597&country=uk and downloaded the file saved it to disc etc.. but it doesn;t say what to do afterwards!! I have tried restarting my laptop with the disc in but the screen just goes blank and I left it a good 20 mins to see if anything else happened.

Any help would be very much appreciated.
Thanks

P3

Did you follow the instructions exactly, in order to burn the image to disc? It is not the same as simply burning data to disc.

If you don't have suitable optical disc burning software....download and install ImgBurn(No need to install the Google Toolbar. Remove the relevant tick). Burn the Image to Disc. Use this as a guide(skip step 2b)


You can try to run the repair procedure here under Hard Drive Recovery before you proceed further.
Also make a copy of your Drivers, located at C:\Applications\Drivers

Pthree

Hi,

Yes I did burn it to disc well I think I did as soon as it downloaded the software to burn it opened and I followed the info so I assume it was done - any way I can check?

I took a look at your link (thanks for that) I have tried the hard disc recovery but when I chose the repair your computer option, it just takes me to the starting in safe mode screen and the options there, with no reinstall windows choice.

p3

king_of_google

Hi, I am new to these forums but run my own small time business fixing laptops and the like, I would recommend getting a laptop stand in the future, there are ones available on ebay which you can buy which have an external fan upon the bottom, this will cool your laptop in the future. May be worth to help cool the system.

As with safe mode only, go on safe mode, go to the Windows/RUN/then go to msconfig and disable everything on the startup tab there, THEN - re-start into windows normal mode and let me know how you get on, you can inbox me for more help

waddler_8

king_of_google wrote: »

As with safe mode only, go on safe mode, go to the Windows/RUN/then go to msconfig and disable everything on the startup tab there, THEN - re-start into windows normal mode and let me know how you get on

You'll notice post #7 already links to the MS support KB article giving detailed information for a clean boot.

king_of_google wrote: »

you can inbox me for more help

It's preferable to use the open forum then others referencing this thread in the future for a similar problem may benefit from any advice given.