Laptop Help Please (physical issue, i think)

[FoxWriter]

So i'm having a bit of a panic attack because i think my laptop is dying and i can't find anything to hellp me.

this morning i got the most wild error message i've ever seen. my computer had completely frozen so i force rebooted and got a blue screen that said "Default Boot Device missing or Boot failed. inert recovery media and hit any key. then select boot manager to choose a new boo device o to boot media recovery"

not knowing anything about it, i googled it and found step by step instructions on how to reconnect my hard drive... i... think?

only now it's making a terrible sound and every time it makes this sound my entire computer starts freezing. sometimes just for a few seconds, sometimes for several minutes. it sounds like a lour whirring sound, which i can only assume is the fan? followed by what sounds like a... scratchy sort of beep or a click, i can't really describe it. it's almost like when the needle of a record suddenly skips.

it'll do this off and on and i don't know what it means or how to fix it.

please send help.

computers are terrifying and i know literally nothing about them.


i dunno if you need to know but it's a Lenovo computer running on Windows 10 and it's refurbished and just short of 4 years old.

[Inkidu]

Sounds like you've got an unbalanced fan. Not a problem in and of itself (though annoying). How hot does the laptop get when doing your average work on it? Constant freezing could be a heat issue.

[Vekseid]

Do you have the model number?

Are you backing up your critical data?

I'm guessing it is temperature/fan issues as Inkidu suspects but even still.

[FoxWriter]

i don't know how to check model numbers i'm sorry.  but it did get really hot last night. if it's the fan, can i just take apart the laptop (i'll use a youtube tutorial for that no doubt) annd clean it?

it's not doing it yet this morning but i've oly been up for ten minutes so....

also, uh.... i don't know what critical data is? how do i back it up?

sorry that's probably gonna anoy a lot of people. i did say i don't know anything about computers.

[AmberStarfire]

I'd say the most critical data is the files you don't want to lose. If you can get in now, back up everything you can because you might not have that much more opportunity if the hard drive crashes.

It could be something in/on the fan, yeah, or something with the fan. My husband's computer was doing something a bit similar to this recently and after he cleaned the fan it came good.

I'd look into checking out the fan etc, but not until you've saved everything you want to (if you can). If you don't have a portable drive, cloud storage might be an option.

[Peripherie]

The model number is usually on the bottom of most laptops. I found an example image from a Lenovo but they probably vary to some degree depending on the specific laptop:



There are a few ways to backup data so you can access it on other devices just in case - on an external hard drive, on a flash/thumb drive, on a virtual cloud of some kind (like Google Drive).

I'm not an expert on laptops or computers beyond the basics but I hope you are able to find a solution!

[FoxWriter]

ooof it's doing it really bad now.

as for critical data, i have all my pictures and writing saved in other places. so that should be fine. i'll back it all up onto a thumb drive too just in case. that's about the only thing i have on here that i'd be devistated to loose. i'll have to take it apart tomorrow and see what i can do. i REALLY hope it's not the hard drive.

i tried to upload a video of the sound it makes, but i can't play it, just keeps wanting me to download the file. which, i don't get because if i uploaded it, why in the blazes would i want to download it?!

[Vekseid]

Just point us to the file anyway?

i don't know how to check model numbers i'm sorry.  but it did get really hot last night. if it's the fan, can i just take apart the laptop (i'll use a youtube tutorial for that no doubt) annd clean it?

it's not doing it yet this morning but i've oly been up for ten minutes so....

also, uh.... i don't know what critical data is? how do i back it up?

sorry that's probably gonna anoy a lot of people. i did say i don't know anything about computers.

Make sure you're somewhere where you won't lose screws. >_>

It's not difficult, per se, but having sewing machine oil (to lubricate the fan) and canned air or a proper blowing device on hand is handy. If you're too nervous about removing the fan, just getting the dust out of your machine should help.

[FoxWriter]

Well it’s dead. I was able to save all my files but it croaked. Thanks for trying to help guys! I’m taking it to my pc guy, they’re still open in altered hours so I’ll just have to hope he can fix it.

[AmberStarfire]

I'm sorry to hear it died on you, FoxWriter. Hopefully they can fix it for you. At least you got your files off it.

It might be worth looking into how much another one would be, if getting it fixed works out to a lot.

[FoxWriter]

I was wrong!!!! She still lives!!!! Dunno for how much longer. Friend identifies the sound and issue as a dying HDD so it’s only a matter of time.

[FoxWriter]

Good news! it WASNT a physical problem!

i was able to get some help froma  cumputer repair freind who walked me through how to do a disk check. turns out something wasn't firing ight in the software and had affected how the hardware was functioning. it took like 12 hours but my computer is working fine now.

thanks for all the help everyone!