For anyone here who knows a great deal about computers…
I have a laptop (that I am about to drop kick out the window) that will NOT shut off. I’ve been having issues with it for the last 6 months or so, and maybe I should address those first:
-The biggest issue; if I leave the laptop unattended for about 10 minutes, the screen goes black and it goes into sleep mode like it should. However, in the last 6 months, it tends to get stuck like this. It normally should “wake up” with a click of the mouse but now it just stays frozen on that black screen. The only way to resume use is by forcing a shut down by holding the power button. Really inconvenient, but it seems I can prevent it by going to the start menu and choosing “sleep” and somehow it won’t freeze if I tell it to sleep. I’d love to know why this is.
-Second issue: Last week I uploaded photos from my camera and as I was rotating the sideways pics, a strange file appeared among the pics and every time I tried to open it, a message stated it could not be opened and offered other programs to open it with. It wasn’t a picture, all those were accounted for. So I tried to just delete it…but my computer told me I didn’t have permission to do this. Even as administrator, I could not delete it. It refuses to go away. I did a scan with Web Root and it did not indicate any malicious qualities, that is to say, its not a virus.
Now…the current issue at hand, one I would really appreciate an answer to ASAP… I turned on my laptop tonight, but before it got to the desktop, the screen just went black, as if it were in sleep mode. The loud humming it makes while starting up went to a soft and steady sound, like it does when in sleep mode. Frustrated and confused, I went to hold down the power button, but the damn thing WON’T SHUT OFF!!! I figured I had no choice but to unplug the cord and just let it run out of battery power and slowly peter out. BUT- it has been over 4 hours and it still won’t die! The light on the side that indicates it is charging is still on, even with no electrical connection. WTF?!! Is my computer possesed or something? I just want to know how to shut it off and maybe even an answer to why this is even happening so I can avoid it in the future.
Sounds like your laptop is screwed. If it isn’t anything great, I would purchase a new computer.
I’m more of a hardware person, but that sounds like something Windows is doing instead of a hardware/firmware issue. If you want to keep it, try booting in safe mode and see if the problem persists. If it doesn’t, it is a program or additional service doing it. If it still does it, I would try reinstalling windows.
If you need help deciding on a computer if you decide to replace, shoot a PM my way.
BIOS issue maybe? Don’t know your skill level but may want to try disassembling the laptop and pulling BIOS battery for a minute, then putting everything back together. Another thing to do is get into the setup screen while it is booting and loading the “default” values. Maybe some setting got changed. As a final step, check out the manufacturers Web site and see if there are any updates to the BIOS.
As far as the strange file, may of just been a temporary file placed there by the program while you were working on the original. I know Word does this and sometimes those files get orphaned and don’t get automatically deleted when you close out the program. And you won’t be able to click on them and run anything because they are internal to the program itself.
Bit of warning, before you disassemble the laptop backup your important files! Or at least pull the hard drive and place it in a safe, non magnet place. Even if you brick your laptop you should be able to recover your files from the hard drive to a new computer really easy - as long as you protect the hard drive.
I have smething called Web Root. I have a “membership” if you want to call it that with the geek squad at Best Buy, so maybe I’ll bring it there. Web Root has always been good to me since it was put on my computer by geek squad and I haven’t had virus issues with it.
I’m not as worried about the computer or replacing it than I am about loosing pictures and files. F*** the computer, it doesn’t hold any sentimental value. Backing up the files would be ideal and it would be my first course of action if I can get it booted up. I left it running all night and it looks like the juice ran out at some point. So I’ll try powering it back up and see what happens. Hopefully it was a one time deal, but I’m not going to be falsely optimistic.
I wouldn’t think that best buy’s security software would be anywhere near the best. Sounds like it is only web security, correct?
I would, like Netscape suggested, try Malwarebytes, as it is one of the best. If you can’t boot it into windows, try to get into safe mode.
You can install Malwarebytes there if it will no longer boot.
I could always try it, I have used malwarebytes in the past, and it was okay. However, when I did use it, I had something called “Vundo Virus” or something on my pc and even malwarebytes couldn’t fix it. That’s what brought me to Best Buy and they were able to rid me of the virus. Not to say that they are the best or anything, but I’ve been surprisingly impressed by them in the past.
I never got a chance to look at the computer today, too many things to do, had to get my inspection sticker, etc. but tonight or tomorrow I’ll trying turning it on again to see what happens. All of the suggestions of safe mode to malwarebytes are great, but only if I can get the laptop to respond when I turn it on. Last night it didn’t even get up and working to a point where any of the suggestions could be used. I just ended up leaving it on all night as I slept and it eventually ran out of juice.
Do you see anything on the screen when you start it?
If you see even a flash of white text, then spam-pressing DEL, F8, or F12 could get you into the bios to check the settings.
If it’s really severe, you can try ComboFix. It’s sort of an atomic bomb for tricky-to-remove malware and shouldn’t be used often. It’s more of a one-time use thing, whereas Malwarebytes is meant to be a supplement to an antivirus.
I’m not sure how well Webroot’s detection rate is, so if you really feel like switching to another antivirus, I would recommend Avast!, Trend Micro, BitDefender, or Kaspersky. These are sort of the “elite four” of antiviruses that have fairly high detection rates. I think BitDefender has a free version, and I know Avast! does.
First issue: The wake up issues from sleep mode can be caused by the OS failing to load the data stored in memory back into the system to present it live to you. This can also be caused by the BIOS’s power management portion beginning to fail.
Second issue: It may be whatever image program you were using generates a temporary data file that goes away when the image is saved. What image program is this?
Third issue: If it’s refusing a forced shutdown command then I agree this is a BIOS related issue. Also couldn’t you have just pulled the battery? Sounds like the power management portion of the BIOS is messed up.
One thing that you could try is forcing a BIOS reset to load all the factory defaults but this is not good for novice users as it sometimes requires taking apart the computer. Without knowing what brand and model of computer you have it is hard to provide instructions on how to do this though.
I thought about pulling the battery, but I’ve heard conflicting reports on whether that could cause damage, so to be safe, I just let it burn itself out.
I haven’t used that laptop much this week, just really busy, but ever since that incident, I’ve turned it on about 2 or 3 times and the issue has not repeated itself. I’ll try again this weekend.