xp hangs, won't respont to ctl-alt-delete

[Sharon]

This is a two year old sony laptop running XP Home. The
system will totally hang, won't respond to keyboard or
mouse and must be powered down. Doesn't seem to be heat
related, it will do it only minutes after startup. While
testing, it hung during virus scan, hung while loading
aol, hung while using explorer to look at disk. Disk is
less than half full, scandisk finds no errors. There are
no bangs in device drivers. No new devices have been added
recently. Any suggestions?

 

[Malke]

This is a two year old sony laptop running XP Home. The
system will totally hang, won't respond to keyboard or
mouse and must be powered down. Doesn't seem to be heat
related, it will do it only minutes after startup. While
testing, it hung during virus scan, hung while loading
aol, hung while using explorer to look at disk. Disk is
less than half full, scandisk finds no errors. There are
no bangs in device drivers. No new devices have been added
recently. Any suggestions?

There is no Scandisk in XP, so I assume you mean that you ran chkdsk /r
and it found no errors. If you didn't, then that is your next step. I
would also test the drive with a mftr.'s diagnostic utility. Definitely
do a RAM test with something like Memtest86 (www.memtest86.com). Just
because the lockup happens right after startup doesn't mean the laptop
isn't overheating. If the method of cooling the processor has failed or
the processor is failing, you would get these symptoms. Two years old
is still a good laptop - if your self-testing doesn't get you anywhere,
I'd definitely call the laptop's tech support or take it somewhere
local where they fix laptops and have it checked out.

Cheers,

Malke