What happened to my laptop?

[Geek Squad]

Most locking up can boil down to one of two main problems. Software or Hardware.

Software issues are caused by a variety of factors including junkware /malware, Microsoft Windows issues, or maybe the computer just needs a really good tuneup.

Hardware issues are caused by the failure or malfunctioning of various physical parts of the computer. Hardware failures happen and the older a machine gets the more commonplace they can become.

Most of the time, a good cleanup of Windows will solve most issues, however, in this case, you have installed Ubuntu on the laptop and still have the same issue in this fresh install of Ubuntu.

With this information, I can safely say that the issue is more than likely going to be a hardware problem.

Now, proceeding with this assumption, let's look at the various pieces of hardware that can cause lockups.

The most common piece of hardware that fails is the computer's Hard Drive. This is where everything on the computer is stored including pictures, documents, music, even Windows itself. When this piece starts to fail, the computer has a hard time accessing information and causes massive slowdown or locking up.

Another common piece of hardware failure would be a RAM stick. Though failure in these can sometimes result in a lack of video or several beeps coming from the computer.

When the cooling system starts to fail in a computer, you'll usually be able to tell as the computer will start getting much hotter than normal and may even shut off at random times (to prevent fires).

My advice to you would be to look into running some hardware diagnostics on your computer. There are many free ones out there that come on the likes of Hiren's Boot CD and Ultimate Boot CD. If you are not comfortable with this, I would recommend taking your laptop to a local repair shop (Or of course, Geek Squad) and ask them to run hardware diagnostics on your computer. Unfortunately ASUS does not have built in diagnostics or I could tell you how to run those.

Short of that, fully reloading Windows on your computer (Usually hold down ALT and tapping F9 or F10 on ASUS laptops) would tell you if this is a hardware problem for sure. Keep in mind, this route will wipe everything off the computer and bring it to an "out of box" state. If it still locks up after the reload then I can say with certainty you have a hardware failure on your hands.

Good luck, I hope this helps.

Agent Ronnie V
Badge 44515
Advanced Repair Agent
Geek Squad Social Media Team

02/14/2014