My laptop is poorly :(

Kelly

Kelly

Member +
If anyone could shed any light on what to do much appreciated :)

The other day my bro knocked my laptop off my sofa and it fell on the floor. Since then it had an error message when turning on about a device module being loose and it took forever to load up.

We have since run the error check thing which you do on/in the startup mode it took 5 hours to do found a few faults but said it had corrected them. Also defragged the comp and run spybot etc etc

I no longer get the error message but my laptop is just mega slow now. It takes ages on the windows xp loading page where the bar scrolls and then takes ages to load the startup screen where you type in password for the main admin account and then ages for the startup of everything else.

Also my speakers are very crackly so im guessing that he damaged them too.

Any suggestions? once loaded it works fine and isn't slow at all.
 
Glanza_cl

Glanza_cl

Member +
what is the spec? do you know, like is it a dual core? as they run separate slots or ram could have potentially made one loose? cant say i relay no, bumping around the processor and mother board are never good things to do and can effect the running of the system.
 
T

Toby@ToyTuning.com

Banned - DO NOT BUY FROM TOYTUNING
Yeah maybe something has come loose in side, I'm good at advising Starlet issues just not PC. I did have the problem you described though of a really slow start up, took up to 5 mins. I did a virus check, cleandisk, defrag and all those other cleaning things and now it's quick again.

Hopefully someome like Dylan can advise as he is good with computers and helped us fix our issue.

Toby
 
Glanza_cl

Glanza_cl

Member +
do you know how it ran before? early Dell models always take yonks to load up.

how long does it take to load exactly? if it's about 1-2 minutes that probably is normal for it.

but it does say it runs a two slot ram (512mb overall but it is divided between two slots so it would be 2x 256 if that makes sense one might be damages or loose causing it to run on only 256mb of ram which is nothing lol.

hope that is understandable in anyway, also a virus can slow down the running speed but you said you ran a virus scan.
 
Kelly

Kelly

Member +
It ran fine before its drastically gone slower! Might have take it the local computer shop near me just hate those places!

Last time my bro broke it and he snapped the connection to the power lead at the back but inside the laptop everyone wanted £160 plus VAT to fix it!! Luckily bens dad managed it at his works!
 
Glanza_cl

Glanza_cl

Member +
yeah probably the best bet. anything could go wrong with dropping one there so fragile and there are millions pieces inside which could be at fault,

sorry i couldn't be of any more help.

once it's fixed just dont let your brother near it! lol
 
Dub-Se7en

Dub-Se7en

Lifer
i wonder if it's disldged a stick of ram? makes sense as performance would decrease etc, although maybe not as drastically as yours seemed to.

usually the memory is located under an access panel on the bottom of the unit. make sure the system is off and ensure each module is tight in it's socket and both locating pins are in place :)
 
Cornish-Glanza

Cornish-Glanza

Member +
Kelly said:
The other day my bro knocked my laptop off my sofa and it fell on the floor. Since then it had an error message when turning on about a device module being loose and it took forever to load up
Click to expand...

It's told you the problem clear as day.... a component is loose - just take it apart and make sure everything is connected securely.
 
Sheldon

Sheldon

Malta Area Rep.
you know how much memory should your notebook has? if so go to my compter right click and choose properties and see how much ram is displaying... if a ram cam loose and your running on 1block of ram or onboard ram will show you less ram.. :)
 
W

wezzel98765

Fresh Recruit
It does sound as though the RAM has become dislodged within the laptop however it could also be the IDE/SATA cable that connects to the hard drive that has come loose.

More chance of it being the RAM though ;)
 
Kelly

Kelly

Member +
Cornish-Glanza said:
It's told you the problem clear as day.... a component is loose - just take it apart and make sure everything is connected securely.
Click to expand...

yes but if you read the rest of what i wrote you will see that i said that error message has since disappeared! whereas it use to come up everytime you tried power up.

Took apart un trained eye cant see anything that looks loose but will get it checked over by someone else.
 
Sheldon

Sheldon

Malta Area Rep.
Kelly said:
yes but if you read the rest of what i wrote you will see that i said that error message has since disappeared! whereas it use to come up everytime you tried power up.

Took apart un trained eye cant see anything that looks loose but will get it checked over by someone else.
Click to expand...

checked what i said?:)
 
munday

munday

Member +
I'm going to say its a hard drive issue...

I've had a similar problem and it was the hard drive at fault
 
Sheldon

Sheldon

Malta Area Rep.
but why it takes ages to laod and then its fine? surely if the hard drive is foked wont boot up or if it boots slowly it will be slow all the time? not just on startup?
 
J

John757

Member +
Go to Start>Run> Type CMD >Press Ok> Type chkdsk C: /f

This will check the disk for errors and fix them. Take note this could take a long time if you have a large hard drive. Mines 750gb and takes yonks! lol This may or may not fix the problem, I do know hard drives don't like being dropped though. Still worth while doing either way.
 
Last edited:
gv1.3

gv1.3

Admin
alot of new laptops will have an accelerometer built in which detects drops and pulls the read write heads away from the hdd to prevent damage. Mine does and Ive dropped it a couple of times without issue.

I would say it is more than likely a loose miniPCI card such as the modem or wifi card etc.

It could be a dodgy hard disk but Ive never seen a machine throw up a loose hardware warning for a faulty hdd. If your hdd is smart compliant it may throw up an error on boot advising the geometry of the drive is off or something like that but it wont say anything about something being loose.

If your machine is in warranty call up and play dumb advising it just happened and dont mention it was dropped.

If your machine is not in warranty then get the screw drivers out... even the least experienced person is better than some of the lads Ive seen working at PC World etc.
 
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