Mini Panic

[Aggers]

My laptop freaked out on me this afternoon, and had me feeling rather worried.

I had been using it for some time when it suddenly refused to do what I wanted.

I could click on the 'Documents' folder and the list of documents appeared, but when I
clicked on a document's title nothing happened, and I was unable to view any document.
Then I found that all the icons on my Home page refused to respond, and I was unable
to connect with the Internet. Panic set in. Then I had messages appearing from Norton
saying that certain of their protective tools were not now working. I then used System
Restore , going back a few days - but that didn't cure the problem. In disgust I closed
down my laptop, as it was meal-time. An hour or so later I thought I'd have another go
at it and, surprise, surprise, everything was then working correctly, back to normal.

Any idea of what can cause this kind of malfunction? It was somewhat worrying.

[Rodo]

You know, they do say that when laptops, phones etc start to behave peculiarly the first thing you should do is switch off and switch on again. Quite often it works - as you found out.

[Suff]

Sounds like overheating to me.

You didn't have it on a soft surface did you? Covered vents can cause this.

[Aggers]

Thanks Rodo. I have used that method before on our TV Hard Recorder, but I never thought of it this time.

No, Suff. i was using it on my hard-top desk. It is operating normally today. (touch wood).

[Suff]

There is, of course, one other option I didn't think of. We have been hit by a fairly active geomagnetic storm over the last 2 days. First by a M class flare which was a glancing blow then by a X class flare which was more direct and significantly higher impact. Which is why the Aurora was so far south.

It could very easily have been that.

[Edit]

Thinking about it my own Laptop had to be rebooted when I got back from France last night. It was totally locked up and would not let me in. Could be related.

[Workingman]

Aggers, my instincts lie with Suff's and overheating. There are lots of ambient reasons a laptop might overheat, a hot room, sunshine, blocked or partially blocked air intakes etc. A quick dust with a vacuum with the brush fitting held slightly away from the laptop case can help shift some dust, then give it a blow followed by a light vac again.

[Aggers]

Thanks, guys. I'll try what WM suggests should I have the same problem again.

Another funny thing happened today. I booted up as usual and when my home page appeared
all my icons (short cuts) had been mixed up and re-arranged. Of course, it was easy to move
them back to their former positions, but it made me wonder how they had come to be moved.
I was pleased, however, that a new short cut had miraculously appeared that took me directly
to the 'New Document' page of Libre Office, thereby speeding up my arrival at that much-used
function.

It's almost as through my laptop has a mind of its own.

[Suff]

It was probably partly corrupted before and had to recover itself Aggers.

That icon was probably already there but lost in the corrupted settings. It should be fine now.