Solved HP laptop failing: black screen, programs not responding

[CaptainMikexD]

At first about a week ago, the laptop would take 5-10 minutes to turn on. Programs would work and it wouldn't be a problem. A few days ago no program requiring a lot of energy would work. Mozilla. Calculator. Microsoft programs. Nothing would work. The program would open and it would be an endless cycle of not responding. Task manager. Close it. Redo.

The laptop then would only work with safe mode with networking

Now when I try to turn on the laptop. It shows a black screen. I hear the fan, and the caps lock light blinks

Hp pavilion dv6 notebook
Product # Lw225ua#ab

Intel core i3-2310m cpu at 2.10 Ghz
Processor speed 2100 MHz

Windows 7 operating system

Bios version f.1B

Hardware and memory test both passed
With the black screen it would be 1 beep
So cpu not functional

I tried turning it on again and it turns on
But it's super laggy and slow
And EVERYTIME I try to use Mozilla or anything requiring Internet it freezes up saying not responding and it crashes

What's wrong with my laptop

 

[Mark Phelps]

Your initial comments sound a lot like a failing hard drive -- which is familiar to me because I have much the same laptop and it started exhibiting the same problems last year. I removed the drive, put it into a caddy for my desktop, ran the manufacturer diagnostics on it, and they indicated failing sectors. So, I replaced the hard drive with an SSD and have not had problems since.

I don't remember the brand of the drive (sorry) but Seagate and WD both have diagnostic routines you can download and run against their drives. You should check those out and see what they find.

Also, if the drive is failing, you need to backup important stuff ASAP and plan to replace the drive very soon. A failing drive can go from bad to totally failed in no time.

 

[CaptainMikexD]

Your initial comments sound a lot like a failing hard drive -- which is familiar to me because I have much the same laptop and it started exhibiting the same problems last year. I removed the drive, put it into a caddy for my desktop, ran the manufacturer diagnostics on it, and they indicated failing sectors. So, I replaced the hard drive with an SSD and have not had problems since.

I don't remember the brand of the drive (sorry) but Seagate and WD both have diagnostic routines you can download and run against their drives. You should check those out and see what they find.

Also, if the drive is failing, you need to backup important stuff ASAP and plan to replace the drive very soon. A failing drive can go from bad to totally failed in no time.

I'm not a computer guy. I know very little. How much is a new hard drive for kt

 

[gregrocker]

Have you run the onboard HP Diagnostics to go over all the hardware? Testing for Hardware Problems Using Hardware Diagnostic Tools (Windows 7) | HP® Support

Is this the original factory install which is the worst possible install of Win7 one can have, which no tech enthusiast would run. If so I'd strongly consider enjoying Win7 native perfect performance for the first time by doing a Clean Reinstall Windows 7.

On some HP's there is even a Minimal Recovery which is nearly as good as the Clean Reinstall so you can boot into F11 HP System Recovery to check if that option is there. If so you can use the tutorial to back up and then set up the install once completes it.