Toshiba A205 Freezing Problems

[seanmcc]

Hello everyone,
My Toshiba A205-S4629 has been freezing without warning lately in an odd way. It never had before, but now it does about twice a week without any seeming pattern. It will freeze and display something random such as a black screen with a large white square, many colored lines, or simply shut down.

I ran chkdsk and an AVG virus check to no avail. My computer expertise is moderate at best, but I would guess this to be a hardware issue and likely either the motherboard or the hard drive.

My question is, which do you guys think it is? And what tests could I do to determine the cause? I am hoping the hard drive as I was going to replace it and give the computer to my father. But if it is the motherboard I fear that I don't have many options.

Thank you

 

[EnderWiggin]

Unfortunately with laptops there is not much that we can fix except for changing the HDD or RAM unless you can actually purchase and replace the motherboard (search Google, you will find some available). But that is probably a bit more difficult with a laptop than with a desktop so I wouldn't bother especially since you can get a new, faster laptop with Windows 7 for as low as $450 USD.

 

[seanmcc]

Yeah, that's exactly what I was thinking. I was just curious if anyone knew of a way to test whether or not it was the hard drive or the motherboard before I chose to replace either of them.

 

[EnderWiggin]

Is it possible to boot that laptop from an external USB hard drive or memory drive? if so, you could remove the HDD, and then re-install Windows on the USB hard drive or memory drive as then test it to rule out the motherboard. But this would require having a spare USB hard drive or a larger enough USB memory drive (32 or 64GB)...

But you can also remove and test the laptop's hard drive on another computer (format, re-install Windows), and you can also run a memory test for the RAM.

 

[luisfelipezz]

The problem I have is at the component level, as there is under microprocessor capacitor, called NEK TOKIN, must be replaced with four 330UF SMD capacitors.
regards