Toshiba U205 Lock Up Problem

Within an hour of usage the u205 computer, screen and cursor lock up and the fan goes to full speed. Cnt-Alt-Del does not work and the only exit is to hold the power button down until there is a shut down.

After powering up again, everything is normal.

This happens randomly within one hour of usage. The frequency of the problem seems to decrease a little when the screen brighness is decreased a couple settings.

Any ideas on what the problem is and how to fix it ?

 

Unfortunately, I don't have the answer, but I have seen it. I can't say that it's not always an hour, either. Sometimes it is five minutes, sometimes it is three hours. Sometimes it doesn't happen in six hours. But it definitely happens.

I have another, older, Toshiba laptop that has fan issues, and I have tried to make sure that the fan always has clearance - but that doesn't typically make a difference.

I have tried to add memory, make sure that there are not too many programs running, etc. That doesn't typically make a difference, either. It also doesn't seem to matter if the laptop is running on battery or if it is plugged in.

But I'd love to find the problem, as it can be a royal pain!

 

Bring up the Task Manager on the "Processes" tab while it is working, then when it goes crazy maybe you can see if some process is using lots of CPU or RAM. It sounds like it could be something leaking memory and causing your machine to use the swap space constantly, that will make it unresponsive.

 

Thanks for the suggestion, trwrt, but I'm not sure how practical that is.

We're talking about a 12" laptop here. There isn't a lot of screen real-estate to begin with, and the condition isn't one that I can reproduce. It also isn't something that happens constantly (after every so many minutes of the laptop being on), meaning I'd have to leave the Task Manager running constantly in order to have a chance of seeing anything useful.

While it's possible to leave it open on part of the screen while I work - say in a browser window - it would several limit the usability of the laptop. Also, it pretty much means that it would have to be an application, and if it's hardware, it won't help.

Not to say it's not useful at all - but it's somewhat limited. Any other ideas?