Techies, help?

[Shards]

I hate asking you guys to deal with another whinny guy who doesn't know what he's doing with his technology, but I feel I must.

About a year ago, I used a large portion of the money left to me by my grandfather when he died to buy a laptop to take with me to college. It has seen it's fair share of punishment and then some, mostly due to my own clumsiness, but many times when I had assumed an accident had left it broken beyond repair, it would boot back up without issue and with only one or two minor annoyances lasting.

However, it has now moved past annoying, and onto: 'I think I may really need to fix something.' I wanted to ask if there was anything I could do before taking it to a specialty shop.

It is a Dell Insperation 1721, with above average specs, but I cannot remember specifics (Yes, I'm aware my lack of records is making me an SC, and I'm sorry.) It has a built in wireless detector, which automatically connects to my house system, which is lucky, because every time I try to open the manual connection application, it opens a blank window which I have to open the windows task manager to deal with, and invariably never opens. It also has two USB ports, however, it refuses to recognize any USB device I insert except my wireless mouse, which I've been using with it since I first got the computer.

Additionally, and this is the part that has made me decide that it needs serious attention, occasionally when I'm online, the entire computer will randomly freeze up and nothing will work, period. I will then have to perform a hard-reset, and everything seems fine until the next time it happens. Up until recently, it has been an annoyance, but I haven't paid it much mind, but in the past week, it has frozen once a day for 4 of the 7 days.

There are some minor issues with the keys (By which I mean the down key no longer functions), but there are only one or two of those, and if those remain, it's no big deal. The other three issues, however, I would like to fix. Again, I ask, is there anything I can do before taking it to a shop to be repaired?

[Pedersen]

To me, it sounds like reformat/reload time. Not just because of the malware issues (which I do believe you have, due to the IE freezes), but also because of the wireless connection issues.

Going from scratch will let you get rid of any bad installations of old drivers, get fresh new ones, and (hopefully) get everything working properly.

[Shards]

To me, it sounds like reformat/reload time. Not just because of the malware issues (which I do believe you have, due to the IE freezes), but also because of the wireless connection issues.

Going from scratch will let you get rid of any bad installations of old drivers, get fresh new ones, and (hopefully) get everything working properly.

Thanks. I know I sound like an idiot asking this, but... how exactly do I do that, or do I just go to a store and ask someone to do so?

[SteeleDragon78]

the easiest way is to use the disks that came with your laptop. should be a system restore disk along with a driver disk. there is an off chance that it has to be done from a partition on the hd. in this case when you boot it it will give you an option for system restore (eg. f12). before you do anything backup all your precious data. ill say it again for good measure BACK UP YOUR DATA. the instructions once you load the restore program are fairly straight forward usually. but it wouldnt hurt to go to dells website and print out the instructions for reference. if you run into any road blocks we are always here.

[Rapscallion]

Better placed in here.

Rapscallion

[CorDarei]

I would recommend a hardware diagnostic before reformatting.

If Dell did this way back when, when you boot and see the dell logo screen, there should be an option for a boot menu (most likely f12) and then you can boot to Utility Partition or Hardware Diagnostics, and if you don't have those options, you can boot to the driver cd. I would make sure that all your hardware is ok before you delete anything. If all passes then i would say you have a 90% chance that the issue is software and a format would fix it.

[LostMyMind]

Well, since it's a Dell. There might not be any disc...... (I really hate laptops with "recover" on the HD)

But yeah.... Sound very much like your OS is really loaded with malware. Since you admitted to not knowing much regarding computers. I would check out local computer shops (check out references, etc....) Find one that you can trust, and have them see if they can remove all the "issues" without a reformat (you might find it cheaper just to tell them to reformat it).

As far as the wifi connector, that's a dell program and it's probably corrupted but still working. If its really the OS wireless connection window that is "locking up" then, it's most likely reformat time.

[Mr. Rager!]

Sorry of this is formatted poorly, I'm typing this on my iPod. Anyway, I'd say it's probably software as well, but there's a small chance that it is also your harddrive as well. I had similar issues, but not with the USB ports. Anyway, I mirrored my harddrive onto a new one I bought and installed it. The issue has not come up again. So in my case, it was not software. Bonus, I got a 7200 rpm harddrive in my laptop... That made me most happy.

[lordlundar]

Hmm, the USB issue could be a BIOS config problem there.But unless you know what you are doing, don't go into it, as you can really mess up your machine.

The connection thing is most likely a corrupted code, a reinstall should fix that.

The last will best guess be too much junk on the machine.

A full reformat should handle issues 2 and 3, though the USB might still be there.

I would say back up any non-recoverable files (games saves, pictures, documents, etc) and take it in for them to reformat for you. If it's bogging down that much, chances are it will be the easier (and cheaper) solution.