Random Lock-ups, Anyone else?

I've been having problems recently with my CTO DV4000 locking up. It almost always happens when I am trying to multitask, i.e. I might have several browser windows open and maybe a word doc. The CPU fan will spin up and then the window I'm in will freeze. The whole machine won't freeze, but I will lose the window I am in. It's really really pissing me off. It's only been doing this for two weeks now. I'm running a 1GB stick of OCZ DDR2 PC4200. Pentium M 1.86GHZ, Hitachi 80GB 5400RPM. Any help would be appreciated before I brave HP tech support.

 

Their tech support is pretty good, but it sounds like you're using Firefox build 1.06 or so. Have you upgraded to 1.5 yet? I don't seem to experience the random Firefox screw-ups very often any more.

 

No, Using I.E. lastest version with the latest patches. I keeps doing it even now, as I type. It will start to load a page, then just stops progressing, if I hit refresh the whole page will load. I should mention that mine CTO DV4K has the broadcom adapter, I made the switch to broadcom, after having to deal with the intel PRO 2200 POS adapter. I took the memory access panel off to see if something was overheating and the there's a chip on the radio set that incredibly hot. Maybe it's overheating?

 

Well i would first try and put a couple books uner the laptop (not under the fans) and try and get a little more airflow through the system. If that works you should think of a cooling solution like a laptop cooler.

 

If your notebook is overheating, that'll cause the problem you're having. You're going to have to call HP, I think. That's assuming that, since you're willing to open it, I'm assuming you've checked to see if you've got a major dust build-up anywhere and blown it out with canned air.

 

Sorry, but what does 'CTO' mean? The only CTO I know is 'Chief Technology Officer' but somehow I don't think thats what you mean

 

HP & many manufacturers allow US customers to custom order a laptop. These are generally reffered to as CTO(configure to order) laptops.

back on topic, Have you tried to check the temperatures by using some software like Mobile Meter. It should give a good indication whether your lockups are due to overheating or any other software issues.

 

I think your system might just be spyware or virus infested. Anoth possibility is there is a bad pluggin hooked to your browser.


But for those using firefox 1.5, this is worth to read.

 

I have the 12-cell battery, and I usually use it on my notebook, so it's getting plenty of air. I believe I've nailed the problem down to the WiFi radio. The broadcom chip on the radio set gets incredibly hot. Also looks like it's doing a lot of re-transmits. I ran ethereal and captured a lot of bad packets. Happens on any AP I connect to. No idea what's causing this, since the problems been very recent. Anyone else have the Broadcom WiFi card?

P.S. It's spyware free, according to Ad-aware and Avast! anyway.