HP Laptop keeps on freezing recently, any help?

Since it is my first post sorry if the title is bad.

I have been very concerned about an issue regarding my laptop lately, it keeps on freezing(stop responding) randomly, everything freezes, keyboard and mouse dont work, so does ctrl+alt+del. The likelihood of it to stop responding is the highest when I am watching youtube video, playing high-end FPS games like CoD, L4D2,etc. I'd been monitoring my laptop CPU Usage, usually it will stay at 40% when idle, and sometimes peak to 100% when I am using programs like games and browsers. I have tried some suggestions online: Untick some startup programs to reduce CPU Usage, but the CPU Usage of my laptop is still high, especially during hot day, so I am also thinking that I need to replace a better fan on my laptop.

I am not new to this issue, because I had been researching it for the past few weeks, I have taken certain procedures and measures such as chkdsk, system file checker, monitoring of laptop's temperature, checking of clashing of audio devices, clashing of Anti-virus programs, etc. All of them are OK, no serious problem found. I found that when I did the system file checker the message appears 'Windows Resource Protection found some corrupt files but was unable to fix some of them.' I am suspecting that my laptop was infected by malware or virus but I did a lot of virus and spyware scanning but to no avail nothing was found. I had been using different anti-virus programs. I also suspect that my laptop is encountering hardware problem(RAM, drivers or even motherboard). One thing to note about is that I could not perform Memtest86+ due to some private and personal restriction(the low accessibility of wireless)

Anyway, here is my system specs:
Model:HP G42 Notebook PC
Processor:Intel(R) Core(TM) i5 CPU M460 @2.53GHz 2.53GHz
Installed memory RAM:6.00GB(5.86GB Usable)
System Type: 64-bit Operating System


I am getting really fed up and frustrated regarding this issue, I've been making sure that all my drivers and programs are up-to-date, but still my HP Laptop is encountering this problem. I will probably be sending this laptop to the technician to repair if things are still not going to get sorted out, the freezes have been very disruptive to me as I have to save a lot of data inside my laptop. So if anyone has any idea on how to solve the freezing of the laptop, please kindly help me. Thanks!

(BTW, I am using this laptop to type this, so it means that it still work fine, at least I don't have to resort to using safe mode to gain access to this laptop)

What is the temperature of the hardware when you are gaming?

Use CPUID HWMontior and post a screenshot of the temperatures after gaming:

• CPUID - System & hardware benchmark, monitoring, reporting
• Screenshots and Files - Upload and Post in Seven Forums

Download Speccy, and then fill out all your System Specifications fully, by using the information from the Speccy program. Go to your UserCP, and then to Edit System Spec which is located in the left pane of the UserCP.

Run a Full Scan using:

• Microsoft Security Essentials - Microsoft Windows
• Anti-rootkit utility TDSSKiller

Have you got a Windows 7 Installation DVD?

85C is very high, overheating may be cause of the freezing, have you considered using something to lift the laptop (around few CM) and purchasing a cooling pad?

Your graphics card seems to (based on some YouTube footage) be able to handle games like COD.

Have you performed a memory test with;

RAM - Test with Memtest86+

Test each RAM stick individually, and if an error is found, then place the same RAM stick in a different slot, if an error is found within each slot of the motherboard then you have a faulty RAM module. If a error does not occur in a different RAM slot for the same RAM module, then you have a faulty RAM slot and therefore will need to get a new motherboard.

You may also like to stress test the graphics card with;

Video Card - Stress Test with Furmark

Please create a backup of any important data, just in case of any hardware failures, and also read the instructions within each tutorial very carefully; stressing the hardware is a good method for diagnosing bad hardware components but can cause damage if your not careful.

You may want to create a Windows 7 Installation DVD, by following the first few steps of this tutorial;

Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7

After creating the DVD, you can perform a Repair Install to attempt to replace the corrupted files, in which the System File Checker found.

To summarise the above points:

1) Create a Windows 7 Installation DVD and do a Repair Install (will provide a link)
2) Clean the laptop's vents and create a raised platform to create better air circulation
3) Perform Furmark and Memtest86+ tests

You would be surprised at how fast the dust can accumulate. I would clean out all vents on a weekly/bi-weekly basis.

Next, I agree with your assumption to virus and malware lurking on the system. It can't hurt to run any virus software and malware software you have. Then will proceed from there.

Hmmm, I think I should clean my vent then, but the question is, how do you clean it? The last time I cleaned it I sent this laptop to the technician to do the job, it is quite costly to be honest. I also asked that if I should buy a blower(they call it air-gun) to blow the dust out on a weekly basis, but the technician told me that it carried some risks as I might damage the leaves of the fan, so I am wondering how did you clean the vent? I do not want to dismantle and take off my cover to clean my fan as I am afraid that I might damage internal hardware due to carelessness.

Also regarding the virus and malware which might be present in the laptop, I am not sure if my laptop is totally free from viruses, but from what all the virus full scans I have performed using different Anti-Virus software I was told that my computer is safe and no threat detected, is there anyway to find undetectable virus manually?

You can use a can of compressed air which can purchased from most PC shops, it will help to shift any accumulation of dust from the vents and within the case.

For the stress tests, wait until you have some DVDs to save your data to, and then perform the tests. You also have corrupted Windows files, so when you can create a Windows 7 DVD then do so; run System File Checker again with the Windows 7 DVD or perform a Repair Install to fix the corrupted/missing files.

For the Daemon tools, I would uninstall the program completely from your system, even though it may not be strictly malware, it is known to cause problems such as BSODs; many of our BSOD specialists always recommend OPs to remove Daemon tools.

Googling your model + overheating to read how others have dealt with the issue. The most common solutions are to open the case enough to blow out (not in) the dust, replace the fan, clean and repaste the heatsink. Until you get there I'd elevate the back or use the cooling pad.

If you still have the HP preinstall you have the worst load of sponsored crapware and useless duplicate utilities in the industry. Most tech enthusiasts would not run such a compromised Win7, instead choosing to get the vastly superior Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7.

Once you have a baseline perfect reinstall if the overheating problem persists then you'll need to consider strongly cleaning the laptop, replacing the fan and if that doesn't bring the temps down repasting the CPU heatsink which is a major project but a great learning experience. Your laptop won't live long without it if the temps keep rising.