Background info: computer is a one year old toshiba laptop running windows XP home. Here are the problems with it: On occasions the computer will freeze and then just sit there and beep until you turn it off and back on, once it restarts winodws gives me a message about how the computer has recovered from a "serious error" and then asks me if i want to report it. Second problem is whenever i try to burn a CD the computer gives me a blue screen, and says that it has encountered a "kernal error" and to please check to make sure all of my devices are installed properly yada yada yada, once it restarts i get the same "serious error" message. Another puzzler is i tried to open up device manager, and the computer will sit and think for a minute but then not open anything. I have run adaware on it several times, i tried the free virus checking program "AVG" and it made the computer better instead of worse so i uninstalled it(when it was installed the computer BARELY worked at all, and very slowly). I'm about to type C: format if i dont figure this out soon, i hate it when things don't work properly.... Any advice before i just reset the whole computer? thanks guys,
Ryan

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83 300SD.......sold
96 integra SE....sold
99 a4 quattro....sold
2001 IS300.......sold
2002 330i.........current.
2004 highlander limited....current.

oh, and i just tried system restore and that failed......its being a dissobedient little bastard......
Ryan

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83 300SD.......sold
96 integra SE....sold
99 a4 quattro....sold
2001 IS300.......sold
2002 330i.........current.
2004 highlander limited....current.

All I would do, is reinstall windows.
Did you have a SP2 by any chance?

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http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...r/DSCF0493.jpg

i'm not familiar with what an SP2 is. I do have an external USB harddrive that i can back up all of my information on.
Ryan

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83 300SD.......sold
96 integra SE....sold
99 a4 quattro....sold
2001 IS300.......sold
2002 330i.........current.
2004 highlander limited....current.

as the victim of laptop meltdown here.. backup your data !!

sounds as if the hardrive maybe going south. make sure your fans are working. heat is the enemy of the laptop.
then you could F the hard drive and reinstall the operating system and see of that cures it.
even if it does i would still back up the data frequently.
good luck

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1984 300D Turbo - 231k....totalled 11/30/07 RIP

I had that exact error one day before the HD on my HP laptop dumped. I thought "oh, core dump. Happens all the time in Linux. I'll reboot and see what happens."

Wrong!

Turns out I was letting the laptop run and run and run without shutting it off. Put it in the bag, pull it out, have it sitting around for days without rebooting. My theory is that while running in the bag the thing generated tons of heat and literally burned up all by itself. You don't do that... do you?

Save your files now and go buy a new drive.

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You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows - Robert A. Zimmerman

Was the laptop sold to you with XP installed originally or has this laptop been upgraded from Win 2000 oe WIn 98? Do you have the original hardware driver CD for the laptop?

Heat is a serious problem with some computers. Do you have a program that lets you monitor the CPU and system temperatures?

I have windows XP professional, but doubt the two versions vari. SP2 is short for "service pack 2" which was offered recently by microsoft windows to replace the "service pack 1"

I updated to SP2 and it is like getting a new brain for your XP. It took half the day to download and install! BB

Home and Pro are very different. Pro is much more stable.

Well, that's interesting to know! I wonder now if SP2 is available for home?

I think the push from SP1 to SP2 had more to do about security and it offered better protection from spam and virus!

I disabled my firewall that came with SP2, as it was interfearing with staying on-line. Too much for my system speed. I need to upgrade to at least 256 or better but after upgraded to AOL 9 security edition, my speed is almost instant! BB

You guys may be on to something with this heat idea. The stupid fan for this computer has made all sorts of racket since the computer was 2 months old. Damn cheap parts... I'll definately back it up, the whole comptuer is still under warranty so if the hard drive goes south at least its under warranty. The computer was sold to me with windows XP. This is really frusterating, a one year old computer should NOT be having these kinds of issues. If it is hard drive /heat issue, why does burning a CD always make it screw up? I knew i should have stuck with a desktop instead of getting a laptop for daily use.....
Ryan

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83 300SD.......sold
96 integra SE....sold
99 a4 quattro....sold
2001 IS300.......sold
2002 330i.........current.
2004 highlander limited....current.

There is a reason one costs $200 and the other is just about free. I believe SP2 patches all versions. It fixes all kinds of stuff. If he applied that and any manufactured supplied updates after he ran a system restore, it might fix it.

is SP2 free? if so, where do i get it at? i'm game for trying just about anything before hitting the big F key.
Ryan

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83 300SD.......sold
96 integra SE....sold
99 a4 quattro....sold
2001 IS300.......sold
2002 330i.........current.
2004 highlander limited....current.

You can order the CD here. Its a freebee:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/updates/sp2/cdorder/en_us/default.mspx

or go to www.microsoft.com and choose "Downloads". Follow the instructions on the next page.

It will only help you if you have upgraded the laptop from a different operating system. It does not sound like that is what you have done - you mention a Restore CD - I am assuming this is the original one that came with the laptop. The laptop should run properly just by running the restore disk if it was the restore disk that came with the laptop when new. If it does not, then here are the possibilities:

1) You have developed surface defects on your hard drive

2) You have added some new device or some new card that is not compatible with the original drivers.

1 is most likely because no one uses a surge protector for a laptop and they plug them in to all kinds of power sources at plants and airports that are full of spikes and surges. Then they ***** about how unreliable this brand or that brand of whatever isn't any good, when the real problem is power surges. If you can get the computer to at least boot up, click Start, Run, type in CMD in the box and click ok. When the command prompt appears type chkdsk /r. You will get a message telling you that the drive is in use, asking if you want to schedule the disk check for the next reboot. Say yes, and reboot. You will get a blue screen showing the disk check is running. After doing that, it is a good idea to re-install the operating system.

2 is a lot easier - just unplug any card or disconnect any USB device that you have installed recently and see of the computer runs ok. If it does, then get both an updated driver CD from Toshiba and apply Service Pack 2, and then try running the new device again.