Vista HP Laptop stops responding!

Hi there!

I'm having a very annoying problem with my HP dv9575ep laptop on Windows Vista Home Premium 32bit!
The best way I can find to describe the problem is:
From time to time, my laptop freezes and windows stops responding to any command (even Task Manager)!
This seems to happen after some period of inactivity (laptop on, but not working on it) and the only way to "get my laptop back" is to force the shutdown by keeping pressed the power button!

I've tried to search within Event Manager and Error Reports and Solutions (I believe these are their names in english) for any clue about this issue, but can't seem to discover anything!

I believe I haven't done anything to "harm" my laptop, but one can never tell...
The only thing I've done that could cause some issues was to update my laptop via Windows Update and HP Update Page!

Somehow, I also believe that this issue is related to Hibernation and/or Sleep (althought I have them turned of) and/or Power Profiles and/or BIOS update I've done from HP itself!

I've already contacted HP Support and I'm waiting for an answer, but I don't have much hope on them... they'll probably tell me to send the laptop for repair wich doesn't solve the problem... It's just a way to run away from the problem!

I hope I have given a good description about the problem...
Would very much apreciate all the help I can get on this annoying issue!

What could be the problem?
Does any of you have this problem?
How could I find what's causing this? Any method? Any helpfull application?
What should I do?

Thanks for all the time spent in reading this and for all the help given!
Cumps!

--- EDIT ---

After 3 long Chat sessions with north-american assistants from HP, I conducted a test to the hard disks from within the BIOS, called "Hard Drive Self Test"!
The result of this test in the primary disk was not pretty: "#10009 - Replace Hard Disk"!

In fact, it didn't even let me finish the test and interrupted it with this unpleasent message!
Right after I saw that message, I connected again to HP Chat Support, and the assistant told me that I had to contact the portuguese HP so that they would send me a new hard drive to replace my obsolete one!
As the assistant said, the procedure of replacing the hard drive will be done by me!
I'll just have to wait for tomorrow (monday) so I can contact them!

From what I know about PC's, I belive it makes sense that this is the cause of the problem I mentioned! I sincerelly hope so!
What about you guys? Does this make any sense? Or did I just find another problem?

--- EDIT ---

Assuming that the problem I have with the laptop freezing is caused by the diagnosed malfunctioning hard disk, I'll leave here the tutorial with the steps to perform that " Hard Disk Self Test" so that anyone with the same problem, or not, can check if their hard drives are ok!

Use the steps below to test the hard drive in a Notebook PC using the HP Hard Drive Self Test.

1. Plug the AC Adapter into the Notebook PC.
2. Press and Hold the Power button for 5 Seconds to turn off the PC.
3. Press and hold the F10 Key . Then Press the Power button to turn on the PC releasing the F10 key after text is displayed on the screen of the PC.
4. After the BIOS Setup Utility is displayed, use the Right Arrow key to select the Tools menu.
5. Select Hard Drive Self Test
6. Press the Enter key to start the test.

The Hard Drive Self Test will provide an Estimated test time . A Quick test a Comprehensive test and a SMART test will execute when the Enter key is pressed.

If any test fails , contact HP service and support for instructions on how to order a replacement hard drive.

If all of the tests pass, the hard drive is not damaged. As a rule, HP will not replace a hard drive under warranty that does not fail the HP Hard Drive Self Test.

NOTE: Many PC problems are related to soft failures on the hard drive. The comprehensive portion of the HP Hard Drive Self Test will repair soft errors on the hard drive, but it will not report the errors. After the test is complete, be sure to restart the PC to see if test repaired the problem you may be experiencing with your PC.
NOTE: The hard drive built-in test feature was added to HP Notebooks manufactured after 2003.

 

It is very difficult to tell you what the problem is without some more information. Could you take a look at your Reliability and Performance Monitor and tell us about any significant issuesÉ

It can be found in Control Panel in the Administrative Tools.

 

Try a clean install. Right now, the problem could be absolutely anything.

 

I've generated a Report of the System's Reliability and Peformance and It only reports the following:
Workstation service stopped suddently (LanmanWorkstation) but it says that the service reinitialised!

I've searched on Microsoft's Knowledge Base, but there's nothing related to what I'm facing!

I am also hoping that restoring the laptop to its original factory state with HP Recovery solves the problem!
But didn't really wan't to do that before Vista's SP1 was released cause I'll restore it again when it's released!


THANKS FOR THE REPLIES!

 

Hi,
I am having the same problem with my HP DV9420US laptop! If anyone ever figures out what is causing this, I would appreciate an email. I will do the same if I figure it out.
I haven't asked HP yet but I don't expect much help there! I was wondering if it could be processor or network related?

 

Have you guys installed SP1? New updates break operating systems almost as often as they fix them these days...

 

After 3 long Chat sessions with north-american assistants from HP, I conducted a test to the hard disks from within the BIOS, called "Hard Drive Self Test"!
The result of this test in the primary disk was not pretty: "#10009 - Replace Hard Disk"!

In fact, it didn't even let me finish the test and interrupted it with this unpleasent message!
Right after I saw that message, I connected again to HP Chat Support, and the assistant told me that I had to contact the portuguese HP so that they would send me a new hard drive to replace my obsolete one!
As the assistant said, the procedure of replacing the hard drive will be done by me!
I'll just have to wait for tomorrow (monday) so I can contact them!

From what I know about PC's, I belive it makes sense that this is the cause of the problem I mentioned! I sincerelly hope so!
What about you guys? Does this make any sense? Or did I just find another problem?

 

You should replace the hard disk in my opinion.

 

No, have not installed SP1. Is the final release version out yet?
One thing I did do is to set the hard drive sleep control to 'Never' instead of the 20 min. setting in Control Panel. Will see if that helps.

 

Exactly what I'm gonna do first thing monday morning!

radioage:
Haven't you seen my PM?
You may be having the exact same problem...
Do you need a tutorial to perform that "Hard Drive Self Test"?
Let me know!

 

Actually, clean install means re-installing from a standard Vista disk DVD so the crap HP put of them is not installed