Crashing problem with Fujitsu Lifebook

Hey guys, my G/F's Fujitsu C-series Lifebook has been giving us problems of late. Whenever starting up the notebook, you log in, gets to desktop no prob, loads icons, but the last couple things it needs to do is load msn messenger, anti-virus, and system updates icon(not actual updates). At that point it seems to 'hang' and just sits there with hourglass icon, then after a few minutes it bluescreens and restarts again, requiring to log back in. Seems to do it at least once on every startup, sometimes 2 or 3 times(rare tho). I don't know much about computers, what could be causing this? Anything to fix it? Also it seems to be getting slow of late as well, run anti-virus scans and nothing there. What can I do to speed it up, if anything?

System specs:

Intel Celeron 2.4ghz
240mb Ram
40gb HDD
Some crappy integrated video card

Yes I know it is a slow and VERY low-end spec, but it used to be faster, just of late it seems to have slowed down noticably. Any help would be great, thanks guys.

 

The cooling systems tend to get clogged up with dust after a few years. Try running Mobilemeter as soon as Windows is booted and see if it displays the CPU temperature. That should not exceed around 75C with the computer on idle. If it gets up into the 90's then that's the likely cause of your problems. You may need to do some dismantling to get at the cooling system.

For the next test, I would get a Linux Live CD ( Ubuntu or similar) and boot from it and see if you get any problems. The Linux runs from the CD, so it won't change anything on the hard disk, but it will provide an opportunity to check if the hardware is working OK. You should be able to get on line and do some web browsing, for example.

If you get similar slowdowns or crashes when you are running Linux then the problem is likely to be the hardware. Memtest86 is a boot option on the Linux CD. You would need to leave it running overnight. If Linux runs fine for a few hours then the problem is likely to be some corruption in the Windows installation. It's time to backup all the personal files and do a reinstallation.

John

 

So if its a hardware prob then its pretty much pooched, am I right? Time for a new notebook at that point?

Thanks for the reply! Anybody else?

Running Mobilemeter and not going above 59C so far, so doubt heat is causing the bluescreen restart at startup.

See, it only bluescreens on startup, so could that still happen when booting Linux Live CD as well, if its a hardware prob?

 

The temperatures look fine.

The Linux Live CD is still worth a try. First try booting into Linux. If that crashes, try the Memtest86 option on the Linux CD boot menu. If that crashes or reports errors, try removing one RAM module (assuming you have two) and retest. Then try testing the other RAM module. It's possible that the RAM could have gone bad but may only cause a problem when the operating system tries to use the bad part of the RAM.

The only other trouble-shooting that comes to mind is to dismantle / reassemble in case a bad connection is causing the problem. However, those problems usually appear when you move the computer.

John

 

Well we do travel a lot with it, and I imagine a cleaning would help with dust. But it only started crashing on startup within the last...month or two, and it seems to do it every single startup now. Sometimes 2 or 3 times.

I'll try doing Linux, will have to wait until my G/F gets home since this comp is german...any Linux distro's you recommend? I'm thinking Ubuntu or maybe Xbuntu since this notebook only has 240mb ram...at least thats how much is shown in system specs.

Also, any help/links on how to download/burn a live cd? I am pretty newb with computers, so any help is appreciated...

Thanks for the suggestions so far!

 

The Linux Live CDs come as an ISO file which is a disc image. Ubuntu is a big (>600MB download) but you may want to try Damn Small Linux but it won't have the extra software of the bigger Linux installations.

If you already have a burner then the burning software should detect what to do with the ISO file.

John

 

Ok, one thing I am unclear of, if I download the ISO, does it ask me first where to save it to? I dont want it lost somewhere I cant find it...

 

The downloaded file location will depend on your browser's settings for saving downloaded files. The default is usually the desktop.

John