Hello, Clever People!

I'm quite a stranger on this board because, being technologically challenged, I have no clue what you are all talking about most of the time! However, I'm hoping that somebody suitably wonderful can help me out here...

My laptop is misbehaving. It refuses to boot up when connected to the mains so I have to start it on battery power only. Also, when my son plays any online games, after about 20 minutes the whole screen freezes and it starts making a loud buzzing noise. There is no problem when I'm on FT, emailing, You Tubing etc.

Following the advice of some bloke I met at the petrol station, I've blown a fair amount of canned air into my laptop's innards and ran a malware program but, no joy!

Any ideas?

Thank you!

Oh, I've also raised the computer a little by way of an intricate clothes peg frame as said bloke said it was probably overheating...

Hello Gilli,

I was recently having a similar problem with my laptop, as was my daughter. When I played online games, there would be a serious lag, and then it would freeze up entirely. Overheating was definitely the culprit. I purchased cooling pads for both the laptops and neither one of them has had a problem since. They're not expensive and they worked like a charm. It was $24.99 I bought them from Amazon, this is the name and model number:

Cooler Master Notepal X2 Notebook Cooler R9-NBC-4WAK-GP.

I hope this helps you.

Thank you for your reply - that will certainly be my next move.

Another question: Why does this happen? Would it be related to the age of the computer as this is only a recent problem but I've had the laptop for about 3 years.

It could be the age of the computer - those games really stress the computers if you don't have a fairly new one...

If you see it happening with only programs that are graphics-intensive that's what happens.

Thank you both, I really appreciate it!

It could be two faults.

If the computer doesn't boot when powered by the electricity mains, that would seem to point to a power supply problem. It can't be heat-related if it does this even when the computer is cold. The games freezing could be related to the power fault too. Maybe the battery going down a bit after that time, or not charging properly?

If the games fault is due to overheating, maybe something like this will help. However, if they have been running properly in the past, then that would also seem to point to a fault, maybe the power supply or overheating. The air-duster might not be hitting the right spot(s). There could perhaps be dust on the processor or fans that the blast of air isn't reaching. The processor might ordinarily cope with the heavy demand some games put on it but possibly won't if it overheats due to dust.

On the other hand, if the games have always done this, then it could be that the computer isn't up to running them as has been suggested.

In any event, I think the bottom line is that the computer needs looking at by someone local to you who is experienced in sorting out computer faults. It's often difficult to be right about computer problems without actually being there. I'd suggest a trip to a repair shop.

No, TW, we have always been able to play online games without a problem. The battery is only a month old so I don't think it's likely to be that.

I think I'll follow your kind advice and take it to the shop.

Thank you.

Not the battery as such, more the power supply that charges the battery and should run the computer if you want to boot up using it.

Do you plug the power supply/charger straight into the AC? If so, that un-surge-protected situation could certainly damage a charger in three years of a lot of use. Suggest you invest in a small surge protector as well. In fact, damaged chargers pass a lot of damaging noise surges into the battery and the battery is like a capacitor and just passes the surges on into your CPUs supply, possibly damaging it. I wouldn't use the LP until you get a surge protector. (Is it plugged into the same line as a refrigerator or heater or a/c unit/ Fans, TVs? All noisy devices when turned off and on.)

Yes, I plug straight into the AC which is the same line as TV/DVD.

The 'freeze' is now happening during normal use, not just when playing games - I'm scared to play anything timed at FT, just in case!

Thanks, all, for helping a damson in distress!