Intermittent Issues

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kduniverse · #1 Post by **kduniverse** » Wed Oct 01, 2008 7:39 am

Ok, the last few weeks now I've been having startup issues with my T43p running XP. It will just hang at the IBM screen and never start up. The other day, it took about 20 minutes to eventually start up. I'm just having a lot of issues with this all of a sudden.

Does this sound like a bad hard drive? I've been thinking about upgrading to a faster, bigger drive, but haven't even started doing my homework yet.

Any help is appreciated.

Brad · #2 Post by **Brad** » Wed Oct 01, 2008 7:55 am

Download and run PC Doctor. You can download the ISO which you create a bootable CD from here.

A good diagnostic for your hard drive is the Hitachi Drive Fitness Test. That ISO can be downloadedhere.

Brad

kduniverse · #3 Post by **kduniverse** » Wed Oct 01, 2008 7:56 am

Running PC Dr. now. Thanks

kduniverse · #4 Post by **kduniverse** » Wed Oct 01, 2008 8:01 am

HD tests passed.

I don't understand why it freezes up and just sits there. I've tried to pull up task manager when it does that, and it never comes up, so I have to hit power to shut it down.

Any ideas, or things to check?

Brad · #5 Post by **Brad** » Wed Oct 01, 2008 8:11 am

If you can I suggest the Drive Fitness Test also to confirm that the hard drive is good. Having a good backup about now would be good also.

I would also run a OS from a CD to determine if this is hard drive related.

If there is still warranty you may need to call for service.

Brad

kduniverse · #6 Post by **kduniverse** » Wed Oct 01, 2008 8:19 am

Ok, I'm definitely not a pro at any of this, so please bear with me.

Also, where on LI are you from?

Brad · #7 Post by **Brad** » Wed Oct 01, 2008 10:13 am

Please take as much time as you need.

Western Suffolk. Huntington to be specific.

Brad

Cyberstudio · #8 Post by **Cyberstudio** » Wed Oct 01, 2008 6:34 pm

Try this:

1) Download the ubuntu livecd from http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download

2) Burn the livecd

3) Remove the hard disk from the machine

4) Enter to the bios and configure the system to boot from the cd, save the changes, exit.

5) Put the Ubuntu livecd in your cd drive and restart the pc.

Try to see if without hard disk the problem persist.

PD: The livecd are a bit slow by nature (Is running from the cd), be patient until the livecd loads.

Let me know.

kduniverse · #9 Post by **kduniverse** » Thu Oct 23, 2008 8:30 am

Sorry for the delay for those that were helping. I had to rely on not using this laptop for work because of these issues. I have also been extremely busy with work lately.

Back to business. Doing this startup cd will determin if my hdd is bad? I am definitely not advanced by any means. If I follow these directions to the T, I should be ok?

Thanks,

#10 Post by **Johan** » Thu Oct 23, 2008 10:33 am

kduniverse wrote:Doing this startup cd will determine if my hdd is bad? I am definitely not advanced by any means. If I follow these directions to the T, I should be ok?

First, you don't need to be concerned about not being "advanced enough" - remember that you have all these friendly forum-members eagerly ready to support you!!

Answers/suggestions:

1) In your post above (of Oct. 1) you wrote: "HD tests passed. " Question: What program did you use to test this?? Only the "PC Doctor" or also the "Drive Fittness Test" (DTF) program that Brad pointed to above? If not already having tested the HDD (also) using DTF, then download the ISO that Brad points to, and burn it to a CD using e.g. the free program ImgBurn. Run DTF!

NB: the DTF program only works on Hitachi HDD's - what HDD is in your T43p? (to find out this, open Explorer, Right-click on ""My Computer", select Properties, and open the Device Manager in the Hardware tab. What does it say under Disk Drives"? If your HDD is not Hitachi, you will need an alternative program, but we'll help with that.

2) A while ago I had a "somewhat similar problem" to that you describe here (with a T42p), and it turned out that it was a bad 1 GB RAM module that was the cause of the error. To investigate if you may also be troubled by bad RAM, do the following: Download, burn and run (multiple runs!) a bootable CD-ROM with memtest86+.

Then, please report back here!

Johan

kduniverse · #11 Post by **kduniverse** » Sat Nov 08, 2008 5:53 pm

Thanks Johan.

Ok, so download that Ubuntu cd, and uninstall my hdd and run it?

My drive doesn't say Hitachi, but it does start with HTS then a few numbers. Is that Hitachi?

Also, which memtest should I download and use?

Ralf Hutter · #12 Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Sat Nov 08, 2008 10:05 pm

kduniverse wrote:

My drive doesn't say Hitachi, but it does start with HTS then a few numbers. Is that Hitachi?

Yes.

kduniverse wrote: Also, which memtest should I download and use?

Memtest 86+

kduniverse · #13 Post by **kduniverse** » Mon Nov 10, 2008 9:33 am

Ok, today I am not even able to start up my laptop. It just goes black or hangs on the IBM screen. I'm not really sure what's going on, or what my next move should be. Any help is appreciated.

Edit: After just bumping it slightly, the hdd light came on and it started up. I'm going burn disks to what was provided and report after.

thanks

ryan1212 · #14 Post by **ryan1212** » Mon Nov 10, 2008 12:16 pm

Sounds like the GPU Issue to me, which is unlikely considering its a T43.

Use the search or look at the sticky on this topic. You will find hundreds of threads full of info on this topic.

Intermittent Issues

Intermittent Issues

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