After startup on laptop everything freezes up after a couple of minutes except for the mouse, and even the programs that do start take about 5 minutes to startup. When I am able to get into the task manager the CPU usage is really high. I have not installed any new programs or anything like that, it just started doing it on its own. I have tried restoring it at a different point, but that did not work. Any help would be much appreciated. I also forgot to mention that when the Windows XP startup screen comes up, it seems like it takes a really long time to load.
This could be due to a number of possible causes chadk79. it may be a hardware or software issue.Some initial basic things i would try first would be, Hardware Try another stick of memory if you can get hold of or borrow one (bigger capacity if possible, ensure its the same type), leaving the origional stick out initialy. Remove any additional external hardware connected to laptop like printer, hard drives etc for elimination purpouses. Software (try below in SAFE MODE if you have to by pressing F8 when booting up and selecting SAFE MODE) Click Start\Run\then type "cmd" without qoutation marks. when command prompt opens type "chkdsk C: /f /r" with the spaces (without quotation marks and let the program check your hard drive (will require conformation and rebboot) and fix any errors it can. Ensure hard drive space is not approaching limit (right click C: and check pie chart) Run Virus\spyware scans (free AVG and espacially malwarebytes are decent free programs you can download if you don’t have protection already) Run disc clean up. (start\all programs\accessories\system tools\disc clean up) Uninstall any unused programs in add and remove programs (especially toolbars), don’t uninstall anything you do not recognise without googling it first as you could end up uninstalling an important driver etc. Run defrag as already mentioned above when all above is done (start\programs\accessories\system tools\disk defragmenter). This can take a long time to complete if your drive is badly fragmented, so run this when you do not need to use your PC. Most newish laptops have a restore to origional setup options, usually by pressing F9,F11,F14 button or the like at boot up (see your laptop documentation) worse case scenario would be to back up your photos, documents etc and use this option if available. This would sort out any software problem.
