Computer Locks Up

I'm assuming you are running Windows and probably the latest version; windows 10.

Try this; start up your computer in SAFE mode. Then do a graceful power off. Then start up your computer as you would regularly. See if that helped. My computer was doing some really strange stuff, running slow, etc. I started it up in SAFE mode, then powered down and started it again in regular mode. It's been working great ever since. Evidently there was something screwed up that SAFE mode was able to straighten out.

getting into Safe Mode in Windows 10 is to use the Shift + Restart combination. Open the Start menu and click or tap on the Power button.
Then, while keeping the Shift key pressed, click or tap on Restart.
Note that you can also use the Shift + Restart combination from the Sign In screen: click or tap Power, press and hold Shift and then click or tap Restart.
Then, Windows 10 reboots and asks you to select an option. Choose Troubleshoot.
On the Advanced options screen, choose Startup Settings.
Windows 10 says that you can restart your device to change advanced boot options, including enabling Safe Mode. Press Restart.
After Windows 10 reboots, you can choose which boot options you want to be enabled. To get into Safe Mode, you have three different options.
To enable Safe Mode press the 4 or the F4 key on your keyboard, to enable “Safe Mode with Networking,” press 5 or F5, and to enable “Safe Mode with Command Prompt” press either 6 or F6.

Really it's impossible to say what the problem is. There are sooooo many things that can cause a laptop to freeze, from mechanical like a dirty/non-working fan, to badly installed software, to out-of-date drivers, to a virus or malware. The only thing to do is a hands-on approach by someone familiar with laptops.

If your computer guru can't fix it, and he had it to work on, it's unlikely you'll be able to do much yourself relying on internet advice unless you're better at it than he is. :)

Edited spelling mistake.

A friend had problems with his.
It was fine after he disabled the touch screen 'feature'

It could be a bad spot on the hard drive if it has one ( versus solid state ). System may work fine up until it needs to write to or read from the bad spot. There are windows utilities than will scan the drive for errors.

Recent Win 10 update caused PC's to have that problem.

Windows uses fast start up mode by default so if you have the problem and it is associated with the fast start going into safe mode as above clears out the fast start and resets otherwise just restarting will not clear out the problem and just keep loading the same problem over and over.

Usually that indicates a driver issue.. But alas. With Windows it has grown and grown and grown and grown and is now so bloated there are thouands of suspects.

So far my HP's do not seem to be doing that

OH a good multi-malware-scan may help too (IE Run Avast, Malware Bytes, Fix-me_Stick . and than again,,, it might not.

Something quick and easy to try.

Call up Control Panel from the Start Menu. If you are Viewing the Control Panel by Categories, click Hardware and Sounds and then Power Options. Now click Change What Closing the Lid does.

Set it Sleep, both on Battery and Plugged In. I think you have to reboot for these to take affect.

Next time the machine locks up, close the lid. Wait for it to fully go to sleep. (I can tell on mine it is asleep when the logo light on the cover goes out). Open the lid. Everything should be as before and the mouse and keyboard functional.

Not a real "fix" but a reasonable "work around".

Think wildtoad may be looking in the correct direction.If your laptop has a "drive activity" light, check to see it it is on solid when the laptop freezes. Check the system error logs to see if there are disk read or write errors.
Another idea would be to transfer all your data to the new machine, then reformat the drive and do a fresh install of Windows. Doing upgrades to a new OS instead of a fresh install can sometimes leave strange bits of code around that can cause grief.

STBRetired wrote:
Another idea would be to transfer all your data to the new machine, then reformat the drive and do a fresh install of Windows.

Unless you have a hardware problem (probably the lowest probability), then STBRetired has one of the best solutions. Doing a clean install of Windows can work wonders if you don't mind reinstalling the applications you need. Getting rid of all the clutter Windows picks up over time is a good thing.

See this Microsoft website for instructions.

I did this on an older laptop with Win10 (originally Win7) and it came out perky and like it was originally. It wasn't hanging up, but was so sluggish that it seemed to.

I had the same problem a while back. Unfortunately, I don't remember the cure. I will search the net and get back to you.



Okay... Found it. This fixed my problem:

Mouse Freezing and Disappearing Cursor
A common issue relates to the Realtek HD audio manager, and it is one we have seen interfering with other drivers, too. Right-click the Taskbar, select Task Manager, and head to the Start-up tab. If you see Realtek HD Audio Manger, right-click and select Disable. Now reboot your system.