02 Jan 2009, 12:24 am
I have a couple of questions involving computers, and I was hoping someone who has a better idea than me can tell me what is going on. 
First question is about my daughters laptop. It is only one year old, but it has crashed and had to be restored to factory settings.
She has done this but now it just keeps freezing after about 10 minutes and she has to restart it to use it. Then she will only get about 10 mins before it freezes again.
Anyone have any ideas on what it could be?
The second question is in relation to my laptop. I am pretty addicted to sims2, but I am finding that I am having trouble loading the games. I get as far as the final stage of loading, and it just will not open to the game. Sometimes it does, sometimes not. I can make new sims, and sometimes the game will let me continue with them, but sometimes it will not open. I have downloaded objects, sims, lots etc from the sims2 site, but I have done this before without a problem. I have uninstalled and reinstalled all the games recently, but today it has happened again, and it is getting very frustrating. There is nothing wrong with my laptop, it is basically new, as my son dropped it and it had to have the hard drive replaced and was completely restored.
Could it be because of have the custom contents on it? I hope not, because having different things is what makes it more fun, I just wish I could play it with them! 
I am really hoping some of you will be kind and helpful and if you have any ideas on what is going on or how to rectify the problems I would be really grateful! Please forgive if these are stupid questions but I am pretty lame when it comes to knowing what is going on with comps. 
02 Jan 2009, 12:30 am
First question is about my daughters laptop. It is only one year old, but it has crashed and had to be restored to factory settings.
She has done this but now it just keeps freezing after about 10 minutes and she has to restart it to use it. Then she will only get about 10 mins before it freezes again.
Anyone have any ideas on what it could be?
Overheating.
Make sure the vents and fans are getting enough air (don't cover them) and don't use the computer in hot areas/rooms. If that doesn't work, try using the computer near a large fan and see if it works then.
02 Jan 2009, 12:37 am
Overheating sounds like a possibility, the fans tend to clog up with dust after awhile. If you can blow it out with a bit of canned air, that might help.
However, if you're getting error messages, etc., you might want to write them down, and use a reliable PC to look them up on the internet.
Your PC, however, could be several things. Since you spend a lot of time with Sims, have downloaded a lot of resources etc., it could be that you're just clogging up available memory with the program. It is a graphical program, which takes up more memory than more text-based systems do.
If you have Windows, press CTRL+AL+DEL, and pull up Task Manager. You'll see a list of programs at the top, and PC utilization at the bottom. If this reads 100% a lot, then chances are memory is your problem. If you flip over to the Processes tab, you can see what module is causing the problem (whatever you do, don't shut down a process unless you absolutely know what you're doing. I'd recommend not doing it at all, in fact)
If you can bump up the memory on your laptop (memory is cheap nowadays. I should know, I get paid to install it...
, see if that helps.
02 Jan 2009, 11:21 pm
Thanks for your answers guys.
I have a cooler that my laptop sits on with three fans, as we are in a hot climate, and the laptop would just switch off if it got too hot, very annoying when you are in the middle of something!
Pakled, I did have a look at what you mentioned and the memory is at about 47 percent, I think, if I got it right.
So, I guess that's not it?
