Troubles with my Laptop

[conficiendo]

Hello all well I'm writing cause I have a rather pricey problem. I own a
TOSHIBA Satellite P105-S9722

It began with a slew of problems, initially it began shutting down at random times, running for hours, or just minutes. Also included with crazy messages on the blue screen of death, some we're to the effect of bad kernenls or something, or "Memory_Corrupt" others like "system/config/win32" needs to be replaced or something to that effect. I thought maybe it was over heating, so I bought a fan, same problems, possible ram problem, i purchased brand new ram for it, same problems. So I thought about putting in my recovery CD in it, when I did it locked me out at the BIOS screen requiring me to put in a password, when I never ever put one on to beging with. Now at it does is turn on at that screen, and im at my wits ends, can someone shoot me some info thanks in advance.

Here are my specs

Genuine Windows® XP Professional, Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T7200, 2048MB
DDR2 SDRAM, 200GB HDD (4200RPM), 17” WXGA+ TruBrite™, DVD SuperMulti
Double Layer, 802.11 a/b/g, NVIDIA® GeForce Go 7900 GS 256MB GDDR3 SDRAM
VRAM, Fingerprint Reader, Express Media Player
Memory5
height
Display8
Sound
• Keyboard

[wilberforce74]

I am by no means an expert, but did you try using memtest86+? It's a memory testing software that can be run from a floppy (or CD ROM if you don't have a floppy dive) and checks your system's memory on a number of levels. It's free and easy to run and is available at http://www.memtest.org/.

Also, have you determined that your HDD is free of problems? Have you booted from a CD or periferal device?

No doubt you have checked for viruses.

I have two Toshiba Satellite A75s and both have issues. One has bad onboard memory. If your machine has onboard memory as do mine, perhaps this is causing you grief. Memtest will help you determine that.

Good luck and if your machine is still under warranty...

[wilberforce74]

To add to what I said earlier, you may wish to try a Ubuntu (Linux) trial disk. It is a non-Windows based operating system, and you don't have to install it to try it as is runs off a CD. It is available free at www.ubuntu.com and once you have copied it to CD, youjust need to insert it into your CD unit, press F12 at the "Toshiba" screen, choose to boot from CD and you should soon thereafter see the "Ubuntu" welcome screen. I find it to be a very viable alternative to Windows and, like Mac, is not prone to viruses as is Windows. If Ubuntu works, then you may have a problem with Windows. If not, you may have a hardware problem.

To find out about your Windows password dilema, try http://pcsupport.about.com/od/toolsofthetrade/tp/passrecovery.htm for some free password recovery tools.

Once again, good luck.

[conficiendo]

Thanks for your help, yeah I did the whole memtest, well to check my RAM anyways. I replaced it anyhow, and that wasn't the problem. I'm suspetic a HD problem, but I have no way to confirm it, and sadly for me, my lap top isn't under warranty anymore, dam. well I'll try that software maybe it's that pesky windows

[sittas87]

Removing your cmos bat3 for a couple of hours might do the trick. if that fails can you tell me what last actions you did be4 this happened

[FragFighter]

I had the exact same problem with the same symptoms a few weeks ago.
Before I can completely diagnose what's going on, I need to know if the actual fan in your laptop, aside from an external one (like I have) is running.
I'm pretty sure I know what's going on, but I can give you the diagnosis once I know if the fan runs.
On second thought, try repairing Windows too. If you can't do that, then that will also confirm a diagnosis.

[FragFighter]

Also, check for the click of death... this is a horrible clicking sound the harddrive emits when it's about to die... When my harddrive went west (two HDs, actually) they both had that clicking sound... If you hear that, slave the drive into another computer and see if you can recover some of the files...
Good luck :)