Sick Laptop - anyone help please?

[slipperman]

I'm experiencing real problems with my laptop* at the moment and I've not got the knowledge to resolve it.
Symptoms as follows:

1. Not long after I connect to the internet and log into a website (not just ARRSE), the laptop freezes up and I can't type or move around from one site to another. This post is taking ages to complete for example, as every second or third character I type doesn't appear on the screen.

2. It 'un-freezes' intermittently, but then goes back into freeze mode on a regular basis. This is sometimes accompanied by a text box at the bottom of the screen: e.g. "ARRSE is not responding due to a long running script".

3. I get so frustrated that I log out, switch off the laptop and log back in again. Sometimes this action seems to free up the laptop and it works normally, other times, the problem persists. When experiencing the problem and then trying to log off, I have to force a shut down, as there is " an open programme (Task Host?) preventing Windows from shutting down".

Anyone out there recognise these symptoms and able to provide advice on how to resolve the issue?
Thanks in advance.

*I have a three year old Toshiba Satellite L6700, which up until recently has served me well. I only use it for basic MS Office stuff and surfing the web, so I don't think it's a capacity problem.

 

[Thai_exile]

I'm not an expert, but my first action would be to scan for a virus using Malwarebytes. You can download it for free and it seems to dig a bit deeper than the normal AV apps.

 

[DesktopCommando]

download these; select the free options

https://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/download

www.glarysoft.com/

https://www.malwarebytes.org/

 

[SauceDoctor]

The OP doesn't say which version of Windows he's using, so just be aware that Glarysoft Utilities doesn't play nice with Windows 8/8.1.

 

[DesktopCommando]

I use it on 8.1 seems fine to me

 

[DesktopCommando]

To OP also it may be a basic cleaning option, get the hose pipe from your hoover and stick over every air hole around your laptop and suck the dust out, maybe the fans are clogged up and causing overheating.

ie. look at the extractor fan in the kitchen/toilet sometime you will see the dust build up on the fan blades

 

[bcsack]

If you're using Internet Explorer - there's your problem - reset it. In IE goto tools/internet options/advanced/reset (at the bottom of the tab). Other browsers have similar routines. Do that before running MWB - or it'll take all day !!

 

[Wordsmith]

What browser are you using? Some browsers like Firefox cache linked pages in the background so that when you click on a link, it looks as if the browser is responding quickly. This can clog up older computers if a website has a lot of internal links. Try Google Chrome - this doesn't cache as much if you turn off the Prefetch Resources to Load Pages More Quickly in the advanced settings.

I had a similar problem and found if I'm doing a big internet search Firefox had the same problems you describe and Chrome didn't.

Wordsmith

 

[slipperman]

To OP also it may be a basic cleaning option, get the hose pipe from your hoover and stick over every air hole around your laptop and suck the dust out, maybe the fans are clogged up and causing overheating.

ie. look at the extractor fan in the kitchen/toilet sometime you will see the dust build up on the fan blades

As bizarre as that sounds, one of the other symptoms is the fan kicking in and making some strange noises, just before the laptop unfreezes itself.
If this suggestion isn't a wind-up, is there anyway I can give it a good clean up, without the hoover option? Genuine question, as I'm a bit of a luddite when it comes to IT. The detailed responses from both Wordsmith and bcsack went straight over my head by about 5000 ft!

In the meantime, thanks for your responses - I'll show them to my son in law this weekend as he will certainly be able to understand the jargon.
Windows is version 7.

 

[Provost]

There are a number of hardware possibilities that could produce those symptoms. A failing PSU, overheating or a failing hard-disk. If the symptoms only occur when you are online these are less likely to be the cause.

You still haven't said what browser you are using or whether you have loaded an alternative browser to see if the problem persists. If it is a browser problem others will have suffered the same thing and I would suggest going to that browser's user forum. I have solved a couple of browser issues by this method.

Edit: If your laptop is making unusual noises, I would suggest that you are looking at a hardware problem.

 

[shiny_arrse]

@slipperman,

If you are feeling brave and are competent enough try cleaning the fan as suggested by @DesktopCommando .
is a starter for ten.
If you are not so keen on doing that, get a can of compressed air (from the man at Q and M or Staples, etc) and blast the fan ports. This should dislodge some of the crap but will not be as effective as actually opening up the Laptop to get at it from inside.

Follow the advice on this thread regarding software as well.

 

[slipperman]

There are a number of hardware possibilities that could produce those symptoms. A failing PSU, overheating or a failing hard-disk. If the symptoms only occur when you are online these are less likely to be the cause.

You still haven't said what browser you are using or whether you have loaded an alternative browser to see if the problem persists. If it is a browser problem others will have suffered the same thing and I would suggest going to that browser's user forum. I have solved a couple of browser issues by this method.

Edit: If your laptop is making unusual noises, I would suggest that you are looking at a hardware problem.

Thanks. I haven't mentioned what browser I'm using, as I don't really know!
I connect to the internet through Internet Explorer and then log onto my chosen website through 'favourites'.

 

[Provost]

Thanks. I haven't mentioned what browser I'm using, as I don't really know!
I connect to the internet through Internet Explorer and then log onto my chosen website through 'favourites'.

Internet Explorer is your browser, then.

It seems that you really need to let your son-in-law have a look at things. With the greatest of respect, it sounds as if most advice you are likely to get here would be largely meaningless to you.

 

[slipperman]

Internet Explorer is your browser, then.

It seems that you really need to let your son-in-law have a look at things. With the greatest of respect, it sounds as if most advice you are likely to get here would be largely meaningless to you.

Happy with that, but on the contrary, it has been useful getting all the responses, so that I have at least got a baseline to present him, rather than repeating my own clumsy descriptions to him!
Thanks for responding in a reasonable manner.

 

[Joshua Slocum]

Internet Explorer is your browser, then.

It seems that you really need to let your son-in-law have a look at things. With the greatest of respect, it sounds as if most advice you are likely to get here would be largely meaningless to you.

I changed to firefox after having similair problems with my internet explorer browser, and that is on a desk top, I also had problems viewing some sites until I changed over

 

[bcsack]

Hi guys - Internet explorer is famous for these issues - the fan kicks in cause the cpu is trying to process loads of
crap and heats up - don't get mislead by these well meaning posts - very unlikely that anything is clogged up.
Close any email programs down and follow my instructions to reset explorer - that will 99/100 clear your problem.

 

[RZer0]

If it is hardware related, check your fans. I had to clean this from a friends Laptop.

 

[Roadster280]

I agree with @bcsack , a software process is using 100% CPU. The laptop becomes unresponsive because there are no CPU mice left on the wheel, they are all busy doing something else. Whatever that is, it then stops and it works again. All the flash and HTML5 animations on websites will use lots of CPU. Some of these are badly written and will cause the browser (or a process called by the browser) to blow up. It might be as simple as a lack of RAM, causing lots of disk activity which uses the CPU, especially since it is Windows and therefore need periodic defragmentation of the disk.

I can't offer specifics on Windows, I don't really know anything about it. However, Safari for Mac has a feature that doesn't play the animations etc, they have to be clicked on to make them play. If the Windows version of Safari has that feature, you might try that. Not that all websites play nicely with Safari, but it would at least tell you if this is the issue.

Other than that, bin it or sell it to some other mug and get a Mac

 

[Harry Clampers]

Good of you to use layman's terms that the OP can comprehend.

'Bin', 'sell', and 'Mac', for example.

 

[llech]

Sick Laptop eh? I bet John Macallese' was a beauty!