Does it Harm anything?
#1
06-28-00, 07:25 AM
I have a HP 8140. I have had problems with it locking up. Some times it will not shut down with ctl-alt-del and I have to use power switch to shut down. Does this do harm to the hard drive or any other components? Also when doing a scan disc or defragment should you close all programs? Thanks for any help or advice you can give me in laymans terms. Robert
#2
06-28-00, 11:47 AM
Good Afternoon, Robertk:
In laymans terms, yes, it is possible to cause damage to the hard drive in a hard shut down on the computer. Also, file fragments will be in limbo and will get lost thereby causing problems with software operation.
When you do Disk Defragmenter and ScanDisk, it is best to shut down those programs that will interfere with the effort. For instance, a screensaver will slow down the operation. Others are anti-virus software and Real Music. In each case, you get a faster response by disabling these items during the tests.
Your problem with computer lock-up can easily be any software that exceeds the limits of your RAM. For instance, some video viewers require 50-60 Megs of RAM and will cause a machine to lock up. You might review what software you are running as opposed to how much computer you have.
Smokey
In laymans terms, yes, it is possible to cause damage to the hard drive in a hard shut down on the computer. Also, file fragments will be in limbo and will get lost thereby causing problems with software operation.
When you do Disk Defragmenter and ScanDisk, it is best to shut down those programs that will interfere with the effort. For instance, a screensaver will slow down the operation. Others are anti-virus software and Real Music. In each case, you get a faster response by disabling these items during the tests.
Your problem with computer lock-up can easily be any software that exceeds the limits of your RAM. For instance, some video viewers require 50-60 Megs of RAM and will cause a machine to lock up. You might review what software you are running as opposed to how much computer you have.
Smokey
#3
06-28-00, 02:01 PM
quote:<HR>Originally posted by Robertk:
I have a HP 8140. I have had problems with it locking up. Some times it will not shut down with ctl-alt-del and I have to use power switch to shut down. Does this do harm to the hard drive or any other components? Also when doing a scan disc or defragment should you close all programs? Thanks for any help or advice you can give me in laymans terms. Robert<HR>
Thank you Smokey for the quick response. This machine has locked up from day one. I thought it was due to my not knowing what I was doing, but have found out it is the system.In reading different forums I have found I just got a lemon.... I had 32 RAM and upgraded to 96 RAM( Ihad it installed at Best Buy). I have added a scanner,printer,and CDRW. I have upgraded to Win. 98 second edition. Other than that I have what soft ware came with the system. I use a dictionary but I do not have it installed, I run it off the cd.I run Scandisk and Defragment every couple of weeks and it helps, but I still get lockups.I can not get it to shut down with ctrl-alt-del every time.Some times when it locks up I can hit ctrl-alt-del and open the window and close the program and free it.Don't know if you can make heads or tails of this but this is what I have. If you can't help me I still got it off my chest. Thanks. Robert
#4
06-29-00, 07:31 AM
Good Morning, Robertk:
I can empathize with your frustration. I, too, was having lock up problems and pinned it down to two sources in the software. First, I had upgraded MS-Office 2000 and the upgrade caused all sorts of nightmares. Then it wouldn't run Defragmenter and would lock up. I tracked that down to Real Player 7.0 software and got rid of that, too. Things have been pretty quiet since.
So, while you may have a computer that has problems, it may well be one piece of software that does not shut down completely.
And, usually the problem software turns out to be something you downloaded and imported.
If the program does not shut down completely, the computer will stall while waiting for it to quit. Cont-Alt-Del doesn't work because the computer already has the shut down command. My advice is to keep looking and you will find the cuprit.
Smokey
I can empathize with your frustration. I, too, was having lock up problems and pinned it down to two sources in the software. First, I had upgraded MS-Office 2000 and the upgrade caused all sorts of nightmares. Then it wouldn't run Defragmenter and would lock up. I tracked that down to Real Player 7.0 software and got rid of that, too. Things have been pretty quiet since.
So, while you may have a computer that has problems, it may well be one piece of software that does not shut down completely.
And, usually the problem software turns out to be something you downloaded and imported.
If the program does not shut down completely, the computer will stall while waiting for it to quit. Cont-Alt-Del doesn't work because the computer already has the shut down command. My advice is to keep looking and you will find the cuprit.
Smokey
