# My laptop has frozen......how can I switch it off?



## Dave7 (26 Sep 2020)

OK. Its a Toshiba laptop.
I use a cordless mouse.
The mouse stopped working the cursor.
I took the'plug in' gizmo out and used my finger on the pad. This worked for a moment then it froze again. And again.
I managed to get out of what I was on by pressing "control, alt, delete"......but.....
How do I close it down when the cursor is frozen ??
NB......I have tried the big button that I use to activate it but although it seemed to work the button keeps blinking/flashing every 10? seconds so its not fully off.
Thanks
BTW........ any ideas how to get the cursor working again ?


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## Lozz360 (26 Sep 2020)

Have you tried switching the mouse on and off? It works for me when the cursor freezes.


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## lazybloke (26 Sep 2020)

Dave7 said:


> OK. Its a Toshiba laptop.
> I use a cordless mouse.
> The mouse stopped working the cursor.
> I took the'plug in' gizmo out and used my finger on the pad. This worked for a moment then it froze again. And again.
> ...


Press and hold the power button (for anything up to 30 seconds) and it should power doen completely.


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## Dave7 (26 Sep 2020)

lazybloke said:


> Press and hold the power button (for anything up to 30 seconds) and it should power doen completely.


Will try that.
I did it for 10 seconds with no success.
BTW...... any ideas how to get the cursor working again (I will edit my post to ask that)


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## lazybloke (26 Sep 2020)

Or if ctrl alt del still works you might then be able to press tab until the shutdown button is highlighted, then enter


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## Dave7 (26 Sep 2020)

Lozz360 said:


> Have you tried switching the mouse on and off? It works for me when the cursor freezes.


Does the mouse have an on/off ?? There is a little black button which I can press but it doesn't say on/off.......I have no idea what it does.
Ohh.... the mouse seems to have died.
I will try a new battery.


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## Dave7 (26 Sep 2020)

lazybloke said:


> Or if ctrl alt del still works you might then be able to press tab until the shutdown button is highlighted, then enter


Not sure what you mean there..i can't see a button that says 'tab'.


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## Lozz360 (26 Sep 2020)

A cordless mouse will have an on/off switch underneath. I switch mine off when not in use to save the battery.


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## Dave7 (26 Sep 2020)

lazybloke said:


> Press and hold the power button (for anything up to 30 seconds) and it should power doen completely.


Right. Tried that and it is now switched off.
Next I need to get the cursor working


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## PaulSB (26 Sep 2020)

Dave7 said:


> Does the mouse have an on/off ?? There is a little black button which I can press but it doesn't say on/off.......I have no idea what it does.
> Ohh.... the mouse seems to have died.
> I will try a new battery.


If you take the battery out the mouse will effectively be switched off.

Another vote for holding the power button down - hold it down until the laptop switches off, it will.

If all else fails the nuclear option is to remove the laptop battery. On some laptops this is easy.........


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## Dave7 (26 Sep 2020)

Lozz360 said:


> A cordless mouse will have an on/off switch underneath. I switch mine off when not in use to save the battery.


No...... can't see one.
There is a light which used to come on when I used it but no switch.


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## Lozz360 (26 Sep 2020)

Dave7 said:


> Not sure what you mean there..i can't see a button that says 'tab'.


Top left of the keyboard, there should be a button larger than the others with two arrows on it pointing in opposite directions. That’s the tab key.


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## Lozz360 (26 Sep 2020)

Dave7 said:


> No...... can't see one.
> There is a light which used to come on when I used it but no switch.


It should be a tiny slider switch. But if you have changed the mouse battery, you have effectively done the same thing. Does the cursor work now?


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## Dave7 (26 Sep 2020)

Lozz360 said:


> Top left of the keyboard, there should be a button larger than the others with two arrows on it pointing in opposite directions. That’s the tab key.


Ahh..... I can see that.
Thanks.
The "press on/off" for 30 seconds has now worked.
Frightened to switch it back on now.
I will try shortly and report back.


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## Dave7 (26 Sep 2020)

Lozz360 said:


> It should be a tiny slider switch. But if you have changed the mouse battery, you have effectively done the same thing. Does the cursor work now?


I will have to switch the laptop back on and try again.
I will report back.


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## lazybloke (26 Sep 2020)

Other options.... move the receiver 'dongle' to a different USB port.
New battery in mouse?


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## alicat (26 Sep 2020)

I'm on the edge of my seat. Is your laptop working now @Dave7?


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## Dave7 (26 Sep 2020)

alicat said:


> I'm on the edge of my seat. Is your laptop working now @Dave7?


Alicat.
TBH I have not had chance to try it yet. Will do so asap and report back.
Being a true technaphobe I am actually scared to try it.......but I promise to do so


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## stephec (26 Sep 2020)

There's only one way you're going to find out Dave, light the blue touch paper and stand well back.


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## Cycleops (26 Sep 2020)

Don't you just hate laptops? Fills me with dread every time every time I have to use my wife’s HP. Even Toshiba are fed up with them and have recently stopped making them after thirty odd years.


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## Pale Rider (26 Sep 2020)

Get a Chromebook - they are much more even tempered.

But it's still good practice to turn them off completely now and again, rather than leaving them on standby.


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## tom73 (26 Sep 2020)

It's the age old problem "computers are like air conditioning they stop working when you open windows"


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## sight-pin (26 Sep 2020)

Do you have a key that turns it off & on, as my (F6) key on the laptop stops my mouse pad and cursor working.


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## Dave7 (26 Sep 2020)

sight-pin said:


> Do you have a key that turns it off & on, as my (F6) key on the laptop stops my mouse pad and cursor working.


I really have no idea.


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## Dave7 (26 Sep 2020)

alicat said:


> I'm on the edge of my seat. Is your laptop working now @Dave7?


hahaha......just tried it and..........battery is dead .
I will charge it and try again.


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## Mr Celine (26 Sep 2020)




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## Dave7 (26 Sep 2020)

@alicat 
Latest installment .
Can now switch laptop on/off
Cursor works UNTIL I go on internet... then it just freezes. Tried maybe 6 times.....same result.
TBH its been a pain since day one.
I will try again tomorrow. If it fails again I may just put it down to experience and buy one of those chrome book thingies.


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## Stephenite (26 Sep 2020)

Which internet browser do you use?
Google Chrome?
Microsoft Edge?
Internet Explorer? For example.


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## Dave7 (26 Sep 2020)

Stephenite said:


> Which internet browser do you use?
> Google Chrome?
> Microsoft Edge?
> Internet Explorer? For example.


Internet explorer.
Its the only one I have ever used


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## lazybloke (26 Sep 2020)

If you press Alt and F4 together to close the current application (the web browser), does the cursor reappear?


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## Stephenite (26 Sep 2020)

@Dave7 A quick solution may be to install Microsoft Edge or Google Chrome or Firefox and see if it works.


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## Jenkins (26 Sep 2020)

Simple test to see if it's the mouse that's causing the problem - try another one.


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## Dave7 (27 Sep 2020)

Jenkins said:


> Simple test to see if it's the mouse that's causing the problem - try another one.


But, as I said, if I remove the dongle and use my finger it still freezes. The cursor moves ok for a few seconds then freezes.


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## icowden (1 Oct 2020)

It sounds as though it isn't the mouse that is the problem.
The difficult bit is that there are quite a few different things that could be causing the problem.

Which browser are you using? If you are still using internet explorer, it is notoriously slow and can use a lot of resource. Using Edge or Chrome may be worth a try.

Have you recently had any system updates applied? For older laptops or laptops with a small hard drive, Windows 10 updates can cause you to run short of space. It may be worth checking your disk space on the C drive - if there isn't much left this can cause all sorts of lags and problems.

Are you using an antivirus - if not, there may just be something occupying your processor when you start web browsing.

Another thing you could try (although it may be too techie for you to be comfortable with) is right clicking on your "start" button on the task bar and select "run". Type in "Taskmgr" and press return. Task Manager will open. Go to the performance tab and open "resource monitor". Open your browser in a small window so you can see resource monitor and the browser on the screen. This should give you an indication of what is happening when the mouse freezes. You are looking for a spike in processor usage or memory usage, or disk usage, and whether it is coming from a particular application.

Finally, probably the easiest way to resolve the issue may be to find a good local computer shop* and ask them to take a look. They should tell you their charges up front so you can decide whether fixing the machine is worth it.

*i.e. not PC World - they will rip you off


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