Laptop Crashing/Freezing :(

[Mansoor Alam]

I have a dell Inspiron N5110 which I bought almost a year ago.
The main problem is, that my Laptop or the Windows Crashes/Freezes. It is actually quite a complicated situation. Here is the history of the problem.
1. This problem started when I had Windows 7 installed, and the problem was quite simple. A very deadly virus was usually detected by the Windows Microsoft Essentials, (I don't remember the name of the virus, but it was believed to be a quite deadly one). Now , I do not know how the virus got to my Laptop, but when I ever I tried to Remove OR quartine OR in any way try to touch it using my Microsoft Essentials, the process starts and during the process ( when the green bar was somewhere in the middle ), the Blue Screen shows up and I have to restart my computer. AND if I do not touch the virus, it doesn't crash for some time, but some time, it again crashes with the blue screen and when ever I restart the Laptop , the virus is still there.
2. I TRIED SEVERAL methods to remove the virus with other Anti-viruses, but same result OR the other viruses won't even detect the virus as the MSE did.
3. Finally, the Windows 8 came out, and I thought re-installing windows might take care of the virus. I did, and I don't know it worked but I assumed it did. Because the Windows 8 does't have MSE and and the windows defender (which according to them is now as powerful as the MSE, doesn't detect the virus), I even again tried a different Anti-Virus, but again not detected.
4.Now comes my Current situation: The Laptop/Windows is still crashing OR more like freezing because I think Win 8 doesn't have the blue screen anymore, and all that it does is that it gets stuck or freezes. Nothing works and the screen is stuck the cursor doesn't move and if there is a sound, then there is also a Infinite Sound loop.
5. Now before I can fix this, first I want to decide whether it is a Laptop Hardware Problem or a Windows (Virus ) Problem? Why I think it is a laptop problem is because this mostly happens when I am playing a video game , which cause the laptop to heat up, and I think it might freeze because of the very high temperature. BUT then again this also happens when I am not playing a Game and the Laptop is generally very quite, cool and calm.
So, this is my problem please try to help me identify the problem

 

[ryanrich83]

Try to isolate if the issue is hardware related first.

Try booting into the BIOS(F2), and there should be tests for the RAM and HDD. Run both tests. If either fails, replace failed part.

If they both pass, might be an OS issue. When you installed Windows 8, did you do a clean install or an upgrade from Windows 7 where it kept your old files?

If you did the upgrade route, try a clean install of Windows 8 and see if it clears it up.

Other than than, does the laptop feel hot? Try clearing the vents with compressed air. Sometimes that's all that is needed.

Good luck!

 

[markwp]

When you installed W8, did you reformat your hdd as part of the process so that you were working from a clean slate?

Did you upgrade your bios to the latest version? (I think it's THIS one.)

Did you download the latest DRIVERS from Dell?

Edit for driver link
Mark

 

[Prostar Computer]

If you ran the upgrade assistant for Windows 8 and you opted to keep your data from 7, there's a possibility the virus carried over. Even so, freezing usually indicates a hardware related issue. If you performed a clean or a full install of 8, it is less likely the virus carried over, although still possible if you got one that corrupted the MBR.

Try running chkdsk and have it check for file system errors and attempt recovery of bad sectors. The freeze could be related to system memory; you can see if running MemTest86+ picks anything up.