# need immediate computer help, big problem. **URL:** \ **Category:** NYSpeed Off Topic\ **Created:** [December 6, 2006, 8:19am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/need-immediate-computer-help-big-problem/21244 "2006-12-06T08:19:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dex](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/dex/32/7210_2.png) [@Dex](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Dex)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2006, 8:19am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/need-immediate-computer-help-big-problem/21244/1 "2006-12-06T08:19:59Z")
on sunday i woke up to my computer freezing. so i rebooted it. no big deal. froze within a minute or two of reboot. reboot again…freeze again. i called the apple store. went in, and of course, it wouldn’t freeze. i explain to the guy exactly what happened. he says if the problem continues, reinstall the OS. i get home, and i am able to keep it running long enough to back up me entire semester’s work onto a flash drive. commence reinstall. i archive my username so i hopefully don’t lose my programs and settings. 2 hours later, everything is running great and NOTHING is lost. i’m thrilled. i get to school today. i open the computer and it freezes shortly after i open it. reboot, same thing. i’m guessing something could be wrong from something in my settings on my user account. i could reinstall everything again, but i’m worried the problem will continue. i could just start over fresh, but i’d hate to lose everything. most of the stuff i could recover, and the important stuff is backed up, but it would be a pain in the ass. i have an appointment at the apple store today at 5:00 and hopefully i’ll get some answers. can you guys think of anything that could be malfunctioning on the computer that would cause this from a hardware standpoint? i’m currently running OS 10.4.8. all updates are done on it. some stuff came out last night that i didn’t get a chance to download, but nothing major. also i use p2p networks (limewire) and bit torrents. the tech at apple told me that shouldn’t affect anything, but i’m worried it might. someone please give me some advice. i’m in deep shit here because it’s the end of the semester and i have a ton of stuff to get done. i’m open to options here. ---
**Author:** ![Locutus](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/locutus/32/7574_2.png) [@Locutus](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Locutus)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2006, 8:33am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/need-immediate-computer-help-big-problem/21244/2 "2006-12-06T08:33:32Z")
do you keep you laptop in the car at night? hrmmm wierd are you on battery when this freez happens? ---
**Author:** ![Dex](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/dex/32/7210_2.png) [@Dex](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Dex)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2006, 8:37am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/need-immediate-computer-help-big-problem/21244/3 "2006-12-06T08:37:45Z")
it happens battery or power adapter. i take my computer a lot of place with me, but it NEVER sits in a cold car. it’s always in my backpack, so it’s rarely in the car for more than about 15 minutes. further reading has indicated a possible logic board problem. it’s covered under a recall so i might be ok. ---
**Author:** ![Locutus](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/locutus/32/7574_2.png) [@Locutus](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Locutus)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2006, 8:40am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/need-immediate-computer-help-big-problem/21244/4 "2006-12-06T08:40:38Z")
at what process of the boot does it crash? ---
**Author:** ![Dex](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/dex/32/7210_2.png) [@Dex](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Dex)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2006, 8:42am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/need-immediate-computer-help-big-problem/21244/5 "2006-12-06T08:42:06Z")
it’s directly after rebooting and everything is loaded. i go to open something and within a few seconds of opening a program…frozen. ---
**Author:** ![brent\_strong](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/brent_strong/32/7203_2.png) [@brent\_strong](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/brent_strong)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2006, 8:43am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/need-immediate-computer-help-big-problem/21244/6 "2006-12-06T08:43:36Z")
Did you add ram recently or anything? ---
**Author:** ![Dex](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/dex/32/7210_2.png) [@Dex](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Dex)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2006, 8:45am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/need-immediate-computer-help-big-problem/21244/7 "2006-12-06T08:45:09Z")
no. i want to, but i have to fix this problem first. ---
**Author:** ![sureshot007](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/sureshot007/32/7345_2.png) [@sureshot007](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/sureshot007)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2006, 9:00am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/need-immediate-computer-help-big-problem/21244/8 "2006-12-06T09:00:09Z")
Powerbook g4 or macbook pro? G4 -\> while turning it on, hold down option-command-O-F at the prompt, type: reset-nvram set-defaults reset-all and it will restart. While it is restarting, hold down the option-command-P-R keys and let it restart 3 times. Try that. ---
**Author:** ![Tunerfreak](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/tunerfreak/32/7427_2.png) [@Tunerfreak](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Tunerfreak)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2006, 9:05am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/need-immediate-computer-help-big-problem/21244/9 "2006-12-06T09:05:55Z")
possibly overheating?? by the description u gave it sounds exactly what happened to my laptop a while back, it was overheating cause something broke but i dont remember what ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Stevil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/da6949/32.png) [@Dr.Stevil](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Dr.Stevil)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2006, 9:22am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/need-immediate-computer-help-big-problem/21244/10 "2006-12-06T09:22:56Z")
> [@Dex](#): > > apple found the probem 😃 j/k… no ideas though, hopefully you can figure it out. Nothing more annoying than a computer thats not working properly ---
**Author:** ![Dex](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/dex/32/7210_2.png) [@Dex](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Dex)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2006, 10:05am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/need-immediate-computer-help-big-problem/21244/11 "2006-12-06T10:05:32Z")
> [@sureshot007](#): > > Powerbook g4 or macbook pro? > G4 -\> > while turning it on, hold down option-command-O-F > at the prompt, type: > reset-nvram > set-defaults > reset-all > > and it will restart. While it is restarting, hold down the option-command-P-R keys and let it restart 3 times. Try that. it’s an iBook G4 i tried what you said, but it didn’t work. thanks for the advice though. i think the problem has something to do with the dashboard. once the widgets have had enough time to load, it seems to freeze. when i open the dashboard, it will definitely freeze. everytime, it happens. i’d disable the widgets, but it locks up too fast for me to disable it. i’m running 3 widgets. a weather widget, istat nano, and istat pro. any ideas? any way to disable the widgets without loading dashboard? ---
**Author:** ![Dex](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/dex/32/7210_2.png) [@Dex](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Dex)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2006, 10:25am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/need-immediate-computer-help-big-problem/21244/12 "2006-12-06T10:25:39Z")
actually, i just tried again. i think i screwed up last time when i was resetting it 3 times. i thought i had the command key down, but i also had the space bar down too. so then i rebooted it and did what you said and it didn’t work. i tried again from square one, and now it’s working. i went into the dashboard and disabled the widgets. seems to be working ok. i’m posting from it now, so here’s hoping. sureshot, thanks so much for your help. ---
**Author:** ![Poose22](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/poose22/32/7252_2.png) [@Poose22](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Poose22)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2006, 10:30am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/need-immediate-computer-help-big-problem/21244/13 "2006-12-06T10:30:12Z")
must be a virus hahahahahah. just kidding ❤ ---
**Author:** ![itsJim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@itsJim](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/itsJim)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2006, 10:34am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/need-immediate-computer-help-big-problem/21244/14 "2006-12-06T10:34:06Z")
Look in /Library/Widgets or /Users/yourAcctName/Library/Widgets and try deleting or moving them. ---
**Author:** ![Dex](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/dex/32/7210_2.png) [@Dex](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Dex)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2006, 10:39am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/need-immediate-computer-help-big-problem/21244/15 "2006-12-06T10:39:46Z")
done deal. thank you sir. and fuck off adam. \<3 ---
**Author:** ![Dex](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/dex/32/7210_2.png) [@Dex](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Dex)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2006, 5:05pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/need-immediate-computer-help-big-problem/21244/16 "2006-12-06T17:05:24Z")
if anything, resetting the non volatile ram was a temp fix. shortly after making my last post in this thread, it froze again. if you want an exact time, it was literally as i was hanging up my phone from calling apple to cancel my appointment. read: redial and sound like an asshole and reschedule. fast forward to 5:00. go to apple store, thankfully it froze again. the techs looked pretty surprised. we discussed and i told them everything i had done so far. Tech A continues to talk to me and my gf. Tech B types away at his computer. Tech B says, “We’re ordering you a new logic board. when it comes in, we’ll replace it on your computer. you’re looking at about a week with no computer.” i say, “how much are we talking” he says, “typically to install a new logic board, you’re looking about about 700 dollars.” i say, “isn’t there a recall or something on these logic boards” he says, “no, but you’re three weeks outside warranty, it’s so close, we’ll replace it under warranty” i promptly got on my knees to give him a BJ, but he told me that wouldn’t be necessary. so i thanked him 1000 times and was on my way. cliffnotes: computer fixed under warranty, but just barely. it was a good day. ---
**Author:** ![Sc1chik](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/sc1chik/32/7243_2.png) [@Sc1chik](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Sc1chik)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2006, 6:13pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/need-immediate-computer-help-big-problem/21244/17 "2006-12-06T18:13:17Z")
thanks…I was on the edge of my seat awaiting the outcome. \<3 ---
**Author:** ![Dex](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/dex/32/7210_2.png) [@Dex](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Dex)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2006, 6:14pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/need-immediate-computer-help-big-problem/21244/18 "2006-12-06T18:14:47Z")
ha. you should have seen me. to be honest, this couldn’t have happened at a worse time (i’m sitting in the computer lab now), but i’m not going to complain. ---
**Author:** ![ryanmcell](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/ryanmcell/32/7510_2.png) [@ryanmcell](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/ryanmcell)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2006, 7:05am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/need-immediate-computer-help-big-problem/21244/19 "2006-12-07T07:05:12Z")
:thumbs up: to apple for at least giving you the warranty, i know my experiences with dell and alienware they never give you the go ahead even 20 minutes out of warranty ---
**Author:** ![Fry](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/fry/32/7284_2.png) [@Fry](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Fry)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2006, 7:15am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/need-immediate-computer-help-big-problem/21244/20 "2006-12-07T07:15:52Z")
That’s impressive. As much as I think Apple’s gay, their hardware and software really is better. I never knew their customer service is good too. I’ll never buy another HP product because their service is such crap. My monitor crapped out under warranty and they kept sending me refurbs that didn’t work until the warranty was expired then they tried to claim that they would no longer replace the monitor because the warranty expired, even though I they never fixed the issue I brought to them under warranty. I had to bitch my way up their service management ladder until they sent me a brand new monitor. [Next page](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/need-immediate-computer-help-big-problem/21244.md?page=2)