Windows won't start up unless you shake the laptop ?

  • Thread starter Thread starter montygraham
  • Start date Start date
M

montygraham

A relative has had a Toshiba Satellite laptop for just over two years,
with no problems. Now, when XP Home SP2 starts ups, the bars that
move across the startup screen freeze up, and will just stay that way
unless the laptop is given a little shake. Then the bars start moving
again and it starts up normally. What could this be? TIA.
 
Bad hardware?

:A relative has had a Toshiba Satellite laptop for just over two years,
: with no problems. Now, when XP Home SP2 starts ups, the bars that
: move across the startup screen freeze up, and will just stay that way
: unless the laptop is given a little shake. Then the bars start moving
: again and it starts up normally. What could this be? TIA.
 
Only speculation, but might be a fractured or slightly cracked
circuit trace on the motherboard. Jostling the notebook may
cause the circuit to close and allow it to continue booting. One
test is to boot the PC using Safe Mode. If it boots normally it's
probably not a trace/hardware issue.

Toshiba notebooks generally run very hot. I'd suggest you add
a monitoring app such as SpeedFan 4.38 to the notebook. Pay
special attention to the disk drive's temp. Many Toshiba's run
at or near the thermal limit of 131-F.
 
DL said:
A faulty connection inside the laptop
Click to expand...

Could be the hard drive not making a reliable connection. Remove and remount
the hard drive a couple of times. Check the connection pins as best you can
when the drive is out. Any corrosion, tarnishing of the metal, or other
contamination could be interfering with the connection. A long shot, but a
free fix that you can do. It might help.
 
montygraham said:
A relative has had a Toshiba Satellite laptop for just over two years,
with no problems. Now, when XP Home SP2 starts ups, the bars that
move across the startup screen freeze up, and will just stay that way
unless the laptop is given a little shake. Then the bars start moving
again and it starts up normally. What could this be? TIA.
Click to expand...

Ask that "relative" when the last time it was that the laptop was
dropped. Then recommend a good repair shop.
 
yes, this is what
is known as the
Elvis affect.

the worry should be
that if it doesn't work
after it's shaken

then its time to take
it to a specialist.

--

db·´¯`·...¸><)))º>
DatabaseBen, Retired Professional
- Systems Analyst
- Database Developer
- Accountancy
- Veteran of the Armed Forces
- Microsoft Partner
- @hotmail.com
~~~~~~~~~~"share the nirvana" - dbZen
 
I asked about possible causes, and there was no drop but they do keep
it running for a while and it might get quite hot (they don't use a
fan device or anything like that).
 
Tell your relative to take the machine to a local, reputable and independent
(i.e., not BigBoxStoreUSA or Geek Squad) computer repair shop.
 
montygraham said:
A relative has had a Toshiba Satellite laptop for just over two years,
with no problems. Now, when XP Home SP2 starts ups, the bars that
move across the startup screen freeze up, and will just stay that way
unless the laptop is given a little shake. Then the bars start moving
again and it starts up normally. What could this be? TIA.
Click to expand...

Uh, are you certain it's a laptop with XP?

Could it be an Etch-A-Sketch?
 
It froze up when there was an attempt to start it after it started
successfully in safe mode. I opened the CD/DVD player and closed it
again when it was frozen, and that seemed to get it unfrozen. Is this
indicative of anything in particular?
 
It froze up when there was an attempt to start it after it started
successfully in safe mode. I opened the CD/DVD player and closed it
again when it was frozen, and that seemed to get it unfrozen. Is this
indicative of anything in particular?
 
It froze up when there was an attempt to start it after it started
successfully in safe mode. I opened the CD/DVD player and closed it
again when it was frozen, and that seemed to get it unfrozen. Is this
indicative of anything in particular?
 
montygraham said:
It froze up when there was an attempt to start it after it started
successfully in safe mode. I opened the CD/DVD player and closed it
again when it was frozen, and that seemed to get it unfrozen. Is this
indicative of anything in particular?
Click to expand...

Sounds like you may be on to something. Remove the CD/DVD drive and try the
boot again.
 
Back
Top