Need some help with my laptop

[Colin_T]

I have a piece of rubbish Acer Aspire7 craptop computer.

A few months ago the laptop just stopped working and the screen went black. I thought it went dormant/ inactive because it had not been used for about 20 minutes. It was completely unresponsive and I had to hold the power button down for 10 seconds to turn it off. I then turned it back on and it worked fine.

A few weeks later it happened again. It has been happening more and more frequently. I stop using the laptop for a few minutes and it just gets a black screen and nothing wakes it up.

This is random and can happen any time it is not being used. It might be fine for a week and then do it several times in the same day.

I have tried clicking the mouse, bashing keys, face rolling the keyboard and unplugging the mouse and external keyboard and plugging them back in. It doesn't make any difference. The only way I can get it to work is by turning it off and rebooting it.

This does not happen when I am playing wow or processing videos and I can hear the cpu fans running so I don't think it is over heating. The fact this happens when the computer is idle and not doing anything would suggest it is not over heating.

I have checked the hard drive sleep times and turned it off and it still happens.

I have checked the display sleep times and it is off as well.

I am thinking it's part of microsofty's stupid update they did a few months ago and reckon it might be time to reset the pc to factory settings.

Anyone have any ideas what is causing this?

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

...I am thinking it's part of microsofty's stupid update they did a few months ago and reckon it might be time to reset the pc to factory settings.

Anyone have any ideas what is causing this?

No idea re the cause, but is it safe to assume that you've cleared your hard drive of all superfluous content, including your cache, etc. and run a solid virus check?

"The only way I can get it to work is by turning it off and rebooting it." Ring any IT department and that's the first thing they'll tell you to do...it's in their Book of IT Law. Sad thing is, it often works.

Before you go for the factory reset, you'll be copying your wanted stuff onto a separate hard drive/dongle/type-thingy, won't you?* Re-sets sometimes have the unfortunate consequence of wiping things. (Please don't ask me how I know this ).

*Apologies if I'm teaching you how to suck eggs, I haven't a clue as to how tech savvy you are.

 

[The603]

Have you tried a Restore from Control Panel? This would undo any updates, that would tell you if updates are the issue.

 

[Colin_T]

I have run virus scans and deleted history and emptied cache files.

I can't restore the pc to an earlier time because the restore points disappeared with microsofty's last patch, which was shortly before this issue started.

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

I have run virus scans and deleted history and emptied cache files.

I can't restore the pc to an earlier time because the restore points disappeared with microsofty's last patch, which was shortly before this issue started.

Bugger!
To be honest, for similar reasons, I stopped relying on Restore functions and developed a habit of saving stuff on a separate drive.

 

[Fishmanic]

That's one reason I dumped windows PCs and now use a chromebook - unlike windows, you get quick updates, almost instant start up, long battery life, runs cooler, very light. You could pick up a cheap used one on ebay I bet for less than $100 - or a new one for like $200. Look for 4gb of ram.

 

[Avel1896]

Hey
Do you regularly :
- clean temprary files ?
- clean DNS ?
- defragment ?
- check health using Windows commands ?

 

[Colin_T]

Do you regularly :
- clean temprary files ?

yes

- clean DNS ?

no idea what dns is

- defragment ?

windows 10 does is automatically any time the pc is inactive for 5 minutes.

- check health using Windows commands ?

does a quick virus scan every time it is turned on and a longer scan every 2 weeks after virus scanner updates.

 

[Avel1896]

no idea what dns is

Domain Name System cache simply put it is temporary storage of informations. Needs to be cleaned/emptied to avoid bursting point.
Same for clipboard and registry.

does a quick virus scan every time it is turned on and a longer scan every 2 weeks after virus scanner updates.

I'm talking about these :
sfc /scannow
DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth
Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup
DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Scanhealth

 

[Colin_T]

I'm talking about these :
sfc /scannow
DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth
Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup
DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Scanhealth

no idea what any of that is.
the virus scanner is windows defender and comes with windows 10. I can't use another virus scanner because they conflict with defender and cause all sorts of problems.

 

[Avel1896]

These commands are specific to Windows©
They allow to check all file data health.
I encourage you to do them.
In addition you should do full windows defender scan.
Also clean HDD.
Use regularly Malwarebytes AntiMalware, ADWCleaner, CCLeaner. Thet are reliable softwares.
Do you clean your brower ?
And yes you can use another antivirus by disabling WidowsDefender while using the other

 

[Fishmanic]

These commands are specific to Windows©
They allow to check all file data health.
I encourage you to do them.
In addition you should do full windows defender scan.
Also clean HDD.
Use regularly Malwarebytes AntiMalware, ADWCleaner, CCLeaner. Thet are reliable softwares.
Do you clean your brower ?
And yes you can use another antivirus by disabling WidowsDefender while using the other

I still recommend buying a chromebook - it's perfect for websurfing...no viruses can be placed on hard drive - no virus scans ever needed - it simply works perfectly

 

[Avel1896]

I still recommend buying a chromebook - it's perfect for websurfing...no viruses can be placed on hard drive - no virus scans ever needed - it simply works perfectly

So you allow Google, the most intrusive of all, have the run on your PC and private life ?
I will never allow anyone or anything to get control on my PC whatever it is.

 

[Fishmanic]

So you allow Google, the most intrusive of all, have the run on your PC and private life ?
I will never allow anyone or anything to get control on my PC whatever it is.

you don't have to use Google as your search engine, even on a chromebook. There are other search engines with more privacy.

 

[Avel1896]

you don't have to use Google as your search engine, even on a chromebook. There are other search engines with more privacy.

I agree, but how many chromenook users change for another search engine ?