9 replies to this topic

[Peter80]

My laptop recently started freezing on boot when i leave it a longer time powered off. For example, if i turn it off in the evening and power it on in the morning it never boots from the first time. It freezes before the bios screen appear and i have to power it off and turn it on again. And sometimes it boots successfully from the third or forth time.
But if i power off the laptop and after few minutes turn it on it boots normally. So, the problem happens if i leave the laptop a longer time powered off.
What does it mean? Is it a problem with the bios or some hardware part is failing, maybe the hard disk?

[steve6375]

The BIOS screen should appear before any hard disk access is made. Make sure you disable 'Fast Boot' in the BIOS Setup menu and enable as many diagnostic messages as possible (enable POST, etc.) . The more messages you can see at start-up, the more you can understand where the problem lies.

 

This type of problem is usually due to the temperature of the internal components.

It could be due to semi-conductors working faster at lower temperatures and thus failing at faster speeds or due to thermal expansion (e.g. BGA chips).

For instance, your RAM (SO-DIMMS) may be faulty and only work when the components are warm or you have a bad solder joint somewhere which only makes connection when the components are warmer.

I would take off any 'inspection covers' and make sure the memory, etc. is firmly seated (maybe clean the contacts). Then run a memory test (e.g. Windows 8/10). If possible, remove or replace one or more memory cards to see what affect it has.

 

To see if it is temperature related, put the laptop in a sealed plastic bag and place it in the fridge (not freezer) for 30-mins to a few hours. If it then takes a lot longer to get it working (e.g. 10 tries), then then this points to it being temperature related.  I would then use a freezer spray to try to identify which part was temperature sensitive, but that is really a job for experienced engineers because you can damage it if you are not careful due to condensation, so I won't recommend that to you!...

 

P.S. Just in case it is not a temperature problem but something else like power, remove the main battery pack and just power it from the AC adapter and see if that makes a difference to the cold boot problem. Also try it with just the battery connected but no AC power adapter connected. Each time you test, use the fridge trick to cool it down so it shows the problem reliably if it is present.

Edited by steve6375, 06 October 2015 - 10:15 AM.

[Peter80]

I entered the BIOS setup but i couldn't see option for "Fast Boot" and also options to enable diagnostic messages. I don't think my BIOS have such options.
This is my laptop:

http://www.pcworld.com/product/1327951/toshiba-satellite-a205-s5812-notebook.html

I have Windows 7 installed on it. It is an old laptop, i have it from 5-6 years, and some of the hardware parts are probably starting to worn out.

This is information about the bios:
 

    BIOS Properties:
      BIOS Type                                         Phoenix
      BIOS Version                                      1.80
      System BIOS Date                                  12/18/07
      Video BIOS Date                                   02/05/07

    BIOS Manufacturer:
      Company Name                                      Phoenix Technologies Ltd.
      Product Information                               http://www.phoenix.com/pages/products

      
I will run a memory test and then try some of the other suggestions. Thanks!

[alacran]

It is an old model, there is not fast boot in it, that started with Win8 and UEFI Bios, and your Bios is from 2007, before doing anything turn totally off (not hibernate or sleep) the system and remove external power and the battery, then as steve6375 said extract the memory boards and clean the contacts (you may use a soft eraser to do it, as those white erasers Pelikan), they must be shiny, not opaque, relocate them first and also battery and external power and boot again. If that solved the problem you don't need to do anything else. If problem persist run a memory test. And comment your findings.

 

alacran

[Peter80]

I run memory test but it didn't find errors.
I also made another test. Yesterday instead of shutting down the laptop i put it in stand by mode (sleep) and today it came out from the stand by mode without problem. I think from now on instead of turning off the laptop i will put it in stand by mode.
I haven't check the memory slots yet, will do that soon.

Is it possible the power button on the laptop to be causing this problem?

[steve6375]

Did you run a health check on the hard disk and check it's SMART results?

[Peter80]

I check the health status with CrystalDiskInfo and it show the health status as good. I also run sfc /scannow and it didn't find any errors.

[Erik_FL]

My laptop recently started freezing on boot when i leave it a longer time powered off. For example, if i turn it off in the evening and power it on in the morning it never boots from the first time. It freezes before the bios screen appear and i have to power it off and turn it on again. And sometimes it boots successfully from the third or forth time.
But if i power off the laptop and after few minutes turn it on it boots normally. So, the problem happens if i leave the laptop a longer time powered off.
What does it mean? Is it a problem with the bios or some hardware part is failing, maybe the hard disk?

 

Check to see if your laptop has a small coin sized battery inside for the clock and CMOS (settings storage).  I have seen the symptom you have when the CMOS battery is going bad.  With power off overnight the battery discharges enough to lose the CMOS settings.  When you leave power on for a while the battery has a chance to recover (it is not used when power is on).  On some laptops you have to open a door on the bottom or fold the keyboard up to access the battery.  Check online for information about your laptop and CMOS battery replacement.  This is very likely to be your problem if the laptop is old.

 

Here are a few other things that can cause the computer startup to hang during Power-On Self Test (POST).

 

The hard disk may be going bad.  The BIOS may have a hard disk time-out (30 seconds or more).  Try waiting a long time (a minute or more) when the computer appears to hang.  If the computer eventually gets through the BIOS then you will probably get some kind of disk error instead of the normal boot loading.  You can set the hard disk-time out to be lower (10 seconds) or use software to look at the SMART failure data from the hard disk.

 

The SODIMM modules (memory) may be plugged into sockets.  Make sure that the memory modules are seated securely and the contacts are not dirty.  You can temporarily remove the memory modules to check the contacts.  Remove the laptop battery before removing the memory modules.  You may also be able to run the computer with one half of the memory modules installed.  That will tell you if the memory is failing.  After using the laptop for a while switch memory modules with the other half you removed.  If the laptop behaves differently then the memory could be failing.

 

Computer keyboards sometimes fail with a stuck key.  That can cause the BIOS to hang.  Troubleshooting this is difficult because you may have to temporarily disconnect the keyboard, leave the computer off overnight and then try to boot without the keyboard.  You should get a keyboard error instead of a BIOS hang.  Disconnecting the keyboard is difficult because you have to partly disassemble the laptop.

 

Graphics chips in laptops go bad because of excessive heat.  If your laptop has a separate nVidia or AMD/ATI graphics chip it could be failing.  In that case you may eventually see graphics problems during normal use.  Sometimes chips become temperature sensitive and stop working when they are at room temperature.  After applying power for a while they warm up enough to start working.

 

The main-board could have bad solder connections or a broken foil trace that goes bad when the laptop is completely cold.  Usually this kind of problem happens when the laptop is hot or you tap or flex the laptop case.  Still this kind of problem could cause the symptom that you see.

 

If you have anything plugged into USB ports or other connectors on the laptop, disconnect those.  Your BIOS startup could be waiting for a USB device, network boot, or some other external device.

 

When your laptop hangs, try pressing Ctrl Alt Del.  If that resets the laptop then the BIOS is probably waiting for something.  If that does not work then the BIOS is not running because the hardware stopped working.

[Erik_FL]

Here is a link that explains how to replace the CMOS battery.  Unfortunately you have to disassemble the laptop a lot to do that.

 

http://replies.guru/...id54KZKdnBQMcVU

[Peter80]

@Erik_FL Thanks, for the suggestions. I will try to disassemble the laptop when i have more free time. I did this once, some time ago, but it wasn't easy at all. For now i am dealing with the problem as i am putting the laptop in stand by mode instead of turning it off.