Laptop freezes when picked up

[Grant Palin]

I have a Compaq Presario 1516US laptop which I bought brand new 2 years ago. Up until now I have had no problems with it freezing or crashing or such.

But today, when I started my laptop and set it on my lap, it froze. The screen froze, and the keyboard and mouse would not respond. I had to do a hard reset. This happened in Windows XP Pro initially, so I tried booting Mandrake 10; same result. My laptop has a single hard drive; the OS's are on seperate partitions.

So, I try Windows again. It works as long as I leave the computer on a flat surface, namely, a table. As soon as I lift the computer even an inch above the table, the darned thing freezes.

That doesn't sound like a software problem...I'm no expert on hardware, so does this sound like a hardware problem? If it matters, I move the laptop around a fair bit; I often take it with me to school or to work. But I daresay it hasn't had any abusive treatment...not getting knocked around or dropped.

[tboss132]

I suspect it's the laptop cooling fan. Some laptops are made such that the fan does not roll untill the temperature rises to a preset level then the fan blows for some time and stops again. If you're placing it on your lap, you might be blocking the vents for the fan and it might not be cooling properly (if the fan is situated underneath). I had this problem once. The solution was to keep it on a flat surface all the time.

[scroots]

be carful about suing your laptop on your lap it has some side effects, that affect an important part of your body.

scroots

[JamieR]

As it is freezing when it is put in a certain position, it could be the motherboard which has a loose connection or something...however cooling seems the most likely - how long is it on your lap before it crashes? I try to leave mine on my desk for as long as possible..

Jamie.

[Grant Palin]

<rant type="sarcastic">
Well, what's the point of having a LAPTOP computer if I can't use it on my LAP??
</rant>

Another problem that became apparent yesterday was that if I start the computer and leave it on a table, it eventually freezes, similar to when I was moving the computer. Sometimes it happens within five minutes of getting into Windows, sometimes I get an hour.

I did get a long period of usable time yesterday where I ran scandisk, which turned up no problems. But not long after it was done the computer was frozen again...grrrrr. :mad:

It's starting to sound more and mopre like a hardware problem to me...I mean, Windows shouldn't just freeze on it's own, should it? And I lose control of the keyboard and mouse too.

[Grant Palin]

As it is freezing when it is put in a certain position, it could be the motherboard which has a loose connection or something...however cooling seems the most likely - how long is it on your lap before it crashes? I try to leave mine on my desk for as long as possible..

Jamie.

It seems to freeze as soon as I move it any distance at all in the air...It doesn't even make it to my lap in a usable state.

Plus, read my previous post. Another twist. I'm just leaving my computer along until I figure waht's going on and get it fixed. I'm doing this from an internet cafe right now.

[JamieR]

My desktop PC was freezing within small amounts of time - in the end I had to replace the motherboard - as it is freezing when you move it, it sounds more like a motherboard fault than a cooling problem.

[tboss132]

Well, usually in times like this, i format and reload the OS. After that, if the problem re-occurs, then i'm (100%) sure it's hardware. Still sounds like a cooling problem to me though. Processors usually outlast their cooling fans, could be the fan is weak.

[sajw]

I had the same problem a year ago,
Exactly when I used the laptop on airplane.
After that, I realized that the RAM socket is faulty,
which means when I changed a RAM to another
socket, the problem disappeared.

And I bought another RAM and plug it to the empty
socket and it didn't happen again, which was a luck to me.
(for one year more!)

But the other day, the same thing happened.
I didn't know that exact reason before I pull the RAM
in the fault socket a little bit more with a finger.

When the system's RAM is not working, the system
doesn't boot at all because the RAM is shared by the
Graphic card.

I decided to open my laptop completely and I found out
that DVD-ROM is right above the back side of the mainboard
where the RAM socket is located.

This is really bad construction but I think they made it like
this because there are a floppy disk and battery near the
touch pad.
Usually DVD-ROM makes heat and the heat goes directly
to the RAM in this circumstances.

I used DVD-ROM for some time for playing mp3 files
before it crashed and the heat sink of the RAM was very hot
and I touched the heat sink several times.

I guess that it automatically affected the RAM and RAM socket.

So, in conclusion, I suspect my laptop's problems like this:

1. The RAM socket is faulty originally.
2. Or the heat of DVD-ROM goes to the RAM and melted
some part of the RAM socket and the connection between
motherboard and RAM is faulty. (By some force the laptop
works normally.)
3. Or the weight of the DVD-ROM makes a burden on the
main board socket and twist the RAM socket's connection.

To fix it :

1. Try some forces on the RAM socket.
2. When it works, stay as it is and use it.
3. Do not tighten the screw of the RAM heat sink since
it can push the RAM and change the position of RAM.
4. If you don't use DVD-ROM often, it's better to
remove it.
5. Change the motherboard.

Now, I removed the floppy disk and the DVD-ROM and
decided not to move this laptop but just use it like desktop.