My W3J is really F*$&%#ed up!!! HELP PLEASE!

OKay I'm not sure whats causing this but its happening almost every other day now and getting more and more frequent.

When I turn on my lappy, it boots until the blue welcome screen (note: this is NOT BSOD, just the welcome screen).. then I hear my CD/DVD Drive shut off (stops spinning) and then NOTHING happens.. it says like that. If I look at the Hard drive LED, it blinks once every second and thats it..

Restarting it manually (holding power button till shutoff and then turning it back on), same thing happens.. generally I have to do this 3 or 4 times and disconnect EVERYTHING from it and still restart manually a couple more times. THEN i can finally get in.. otherwise it freezes at the SAME screen.

WHAT IS GOING ON!! This is killing me! I'm really regretting the W3J... I've had WAY too many problems (not hardware.. but software.. which makes me want to believe its not the W3J's fault but I've never seen it happen anywhere else)

 

Could be so many things-
This is what I would do tho I'm not sure if youve tried this already.
1. Take off norton if you have it and install something like avg.
2. Use msconfig to take off all unnecessary programs from startup
3. Safe boot to windows, run avg, spybot, and hard drive checker (or some program that will do that).

Try those things sequentially and then restart your computer each time to see if it works. It could be a virus therefore completely software.
I find it kinda wierd that your w3j is acting up so much because i havent had any major problems like that at all.

 

1. restore to one partition
2. convert to ntfs

i had major troubles until i did this too

 

All of the mentioned suggestions have already been done! It's definitely not a virus because I am VERY protected (or so I believe ) but anyways I've ran all of the checks and i'm clean

I've already restored to one NTFS partition.. no help

 

Its either memory or harddisk failing. Run memtest and harddisk utility. Contact your reseller if nothing works

 

Oh I had this problem once. I soaked my laptop in water for about 4 hours and then took it out, it was all good.

The guy above me is probably right though . I'm guessing you've tried reformatting completely and reinstalling windows? Though hey, if you really don't want the W3J, throw it my way =D

 

Are you able to get into the BIOS?

 

yes I can get into the bios.. i'm running memtest and hardisk utility now.. i'll let you know of the results

and yeah I completely reformatted and reinstalled windows onto a single NTFS partition

which Hard disk utility do you guys recommend using?

 

Are you familiar with Linux? Can you try intalling it? Maybe you have a damaged Windows install cd or restore partition...?

~ Brett

 

Depends which hard disk you have installed. Each HD manufacturer have their own set of utilities. But i like to use gateway's gwscan utility
http://support.gateway.com/support/drivers/search.asp?st=pn&param=GWSCAN511

 

okay I just ran both memtest and Hard Drive utility stuff and everthing checks out!! what is wrong with this!!

I actually wouldn't mind installing linux.. but it would be at least a week before I would get around to it.

I have a feeling there's some driver that has issues with windows xp..

 

Did you install any programs right before it started hanging? Also are you using the factory drivers, or drivers that have been modified (like the video drivers). I'd restore the drivers to the factory versions and see if that works...

 

Try downloading Knoppix (its a full Linux OS that can be booted from a CD or DVD). After you download it, burn the iso to a disc and boot it up (no install necessary). If everything loads up, then your windows setup is the culprit. While in Knoppix, you can use the QTParted software (included) to reformat and fix your partition tables. This should solve any problems. I use this a lot whenever my computer gets screwed up.

http://www.knoppix.org/

 

1. I think that you can temporarly fix the problem if you remove the battery and put it back (I had this with some older laptop of mine and this is how I used to do in order for the laptop to start). This only if it suits you better than rebooting many times.
2. I did lots of test and in my case the problem was generated by the .sys driver installed by software like alcohol and daemontools...

 

... unless the issue is with the hard drive. In that case, since live CDs run off RAM, he probably wouldn't encounter the problem while using it. He would have to go through a full install onto the hard drive to see if the drive is at fault or Windows itself.

~ Brett

 

a friend of mine had a similar problem but im not sure if its the problem ur'e having. Did you by any chance install any antivirus softwares? My friend installed around 3 of em w/o uninstalling the others and got the blue screen issue. After that he just restarted in safe mode and uninstalled em.

 

Quick question, is 3 hour battery life with screen at 93% brightness, wi-fi on, doing normal websurfing normal? People seem to be able to get up tp 4 hours on 9-cells.

 

that life is normal, 4 hours is with max power management

 

okay sorry I didn't respond to the previous posts.. I'm sure you can guess why LOL

@variant7 - I don't think that would really help because windows does occasionally start normally (about 60% of the time it does work properly)

@Dalantech - No the hanging started even after the reformat...

@Houdini - I do have Daemon Tools installed....

@Sirius - The only antivirus software I have installed is Symantec AVG Antivirus (which is required if I want to access my internet through my universities connection.. and I'm living in residence so I pretty much HAVE to use this), mind you this is NOT norton.. although its made by Symantec.. it seems to be very quick and does the job well

@mew1838 - yes thats normal.. I get 3 hours as well

 

I'm afraid it might be a motherboard issue. Take your laptop to the nearest ASUS service center and let them fix it. That's what warranties are for

 

.. nooo i NEED the laptop everday!! I'm guessing they would probably reformat the hard drive again?

 

Can you take a screenshot of the BSOD and post it here?

 

its not a BSOD its the Windows Welcome screen! I will take a pic right now and post it here..

 

It freezes at this point of the startup