Netbook freezing can anyone help please?

Skint_yet_Again

I had a look at other threads but couldn't find anything - sorry if this has been covered elsewhere

I have an Advent Milano Elite netbook and use AVG free anti-Virus

In the last few months it has started to freeze up. Windows will load but at any time from then onwards everything freezes, the cursor will not move (no buttons work have tried Esc and tried Ctrl Alt Del - and nothing works and I have to then force shutdown (holding power button) and then turn back on again. The time I get to use it before it freezes can vary from 1 minute to 1 hour

I have tried deleting history, system reset to before xmas, and used AVG 1 click fix, but this has not helped.

Anyone have any other suggestions please? I only have a basic computer knowledge so please be gentle with me

grumpycrab

Could be overheat? Look at the fan vents - switch off and hoover them.

dave_in_manc

Tough call without knowing quite a bit more, if you don't have anyone to take it to to have a look it could be a learning curve to fix it.... personally I'd start with something like a system rescue disc and run some of the utilities like anti virus to check your drives - this involves starting the machine from either a usb or cd/dvd that the rescue disc image is burnt to.

To do this you need to download the image from this site http://www.sysresccd.org/SystemRescueCd_Homepage

Then you need to burn it to a usb stick or cd/dvd,
http://www.pendrivelinux.com/universal-usb-installer-easy-as-1-2-3/

you would then need to find out how to change your computers BIOS to make it start from the usb/cd and boot your computer up from it -
http://pcsupport.about.com/od/tipstricks/ht/bootusbflash.htm

after that it would boot up into a desktop with a menu and a load of pre-installed software such as disc checkers,virus checkers, memory test software, all sorts basically. It does not install anything or make any changes to your system without help from you, so once the usb etc is taken back out, your machine would be exactly as it was before if you weren't sure and didn't do anything.
It runs off the stick/disc, not your machine, it's called a 'live' session and only runs within the pc's memory.

These are all free linux utilities that can rescue otherwise dud machines, but you'll have to do some homework and be prepared to learn a little.

First port of call if I were you would be to sign up on a help forum from your PC makers own website and post your machines model/spec' and symptoms and let someone help you that knows that model inside out.

Hope this helps. . . . . .

esuhl

^^ Good advice... but before running diagnostic checks it might be worth just seeing if you can boot into another OS (such as Slax -- link below) and use it without the netbook freezing (to determine whether it's a hardware or software problem).

http://www.slax.org/

henm2

dave_in_manc wrote: »

To do this you need to download the image from this site http://www.sysresccd.org/SystemRescueCd_Homepage

Some very good advice there.
Personally rather than use Systemrescue CD as a rescue system I prefer Falcon4UBCD http://falconfour.com/projects.php?pid=7
or the latest version of Parted Magic http://partedmagic.com/ They both have a lot more tools and are more clearly laid out.

Skint_yet_Again

Thanks for all your replies, I will give them a try.