Laptop freezes when left idle

Question

I've already read a couple of threads on this but I have set the laptop to never go to sleep and the screen never to turn off, and it still happens. I've even left iTunes playing music, but it still freezes. I don't know after how long that happens, it's not too long. I can move the mouse but apart from that it doesn't respond.

I have an HP HDX 16 laptop running Windows Vista.

Answer 1

OK, your mentioning iTunes tells me it's probably running Windows, but you might edit your question to say which version.

Two ways to proceed:

1. Leave the Task Manager running, on the Processes tab. This will show you what program, if any, is monopolizing the system. Start Task Manager by pressing Ctrl+Shift+Esc.
2. Boot the laptop off a LiveCD, e.g. the Ubuntu or Knoppix CDs. (They're both free to download and use.) Does the system freeze running Linux off a CD? Then the problem is hardware. Does it not freeze? Then the problem is in Windows or one of your other programs.

Once you know at least the broad category of the problem, it will be possible to continue trying to figure out what's happening.

Answer 2

Check your power settings to see the idle time needed for it to go into sleep/hibernation and turn those settings off.

Answer 3

Check the power saving setting for the HD. I've seen this issue before on machines that would freeze up whenever the HD shutdown for power savings.