Laptop Freezes on Startup

MacConmheadha

Hi,

I've a Dell XPS L501X laptop running windows 7. My laptop freezes every time on startup and the only way to stop it from freezing is to go into windows mobility centre right as you get to the desktop and turn wireless off. If wireless connectivity is already turned off it starts up fine.

However, when I turn wireless back on it won't connect. To resolve this I've to troubleshoot the connection problem by clicking the red X between the "gateway" and "internet" icons.

I regularly run a disk clean-up/tune-up, anti-malware and threat scans in case any problem can come from them. When the laptop is running I can disconnect and connect from wireless no problem, I'm only getting this issue on startup. No other device on the same network has any problems and this happens regardless of the network I'm using whether it be home/college/etc.

Does anyone know anything that could help me with this?

One thing to note, earlier in the year my laptop was getting blue screened (IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL) due to using a molecular modelling software called Gaussian03 for college. I got my laptop repaired where the drivers were reinstalled and updated as well as many other things that are beyond me, it worked fine for a bit but I've been getting this problem for a while now.

Would updating to windows 10 when it's made available make any difference?

Thanks.

mordeith

You could always try reinstalling drivers for your wireless card.

waffleman

You could try:

System restore to before you had the problem

Download ccleaner and look at whats running on windows startup

MacConmheadha

mordeith wrote: »

You could always try reinstalling drivers for your wireless card.

How do I do that and where will I get the drivers?

I'm assuming from the disk as if I uninstall the wifi drivers I won't be able to reinstall them via the internet.

mordeith

MacConmheadha wrote: »

How do I do that and where will I get the drivers?

I'm assuming from the disk as if I uninstall the wifi drivers I won't be able to reinstall them via the internet.

You should be able to get it from the manufacturers website. You could download before beginning and you'd have the driver ready to go. Alternatively you could connect to the router wirh an Ethernet cable.
Worth trying system restore as suggested above first, if you have a rough idea when the problem arose.

waffleman

mordeith wrote: »

You should be able to get it from the manufacturers website. You could download before beginning and you'd have the driver ready to go. Alternatively you could connect to the router wirh an Ethernet cable.
Worth trying system restore as suggested above first, if you have a rough idea when the problem arose.

I agree with this - although the first thing i would do is look at your list of startup programs in ccleaner - only because it could fix your problem in 5 minutes without havin to restore or get the driveras. I had a similar problem on a friends laptop. A program called "pokki" was in his startup list - as soon as it was disabled and laptop rebooted he was back online.

MacConmheadha

waffleman wrote: »

I agree with this - although the first thing i would do is look at your list of startup programs in ccleaner - only because it could fix your problem in 5 minutes without havin to restore or get the driveras. I had a similar problem on a friends laptop. A program called "pokki" was in his startup list - as soon as it was disabled and laptop rebooted he was back online.

I'll try that. Would I be alright just going with the free version or would I be better off trying a free trial for one of the paid ones?

mordeith wrote: »

You should be able to get it from the manufacturers website. You could download before beginning and you'd have the driver ready to go. Alternatively you could connect to the router wirh an Ethernet cable.
Worth trying system restore as suggested above first, if you have a rough idea when the problem arose.

I checked the drivers in device manager and for Microsoft virtual wifi miniport adapter #2 it says "This device is not working properly because Windows cannot load the drivers required for this device. (Code 31)", but when I go to update the driver I get the message "windows can't verify the publisher of this driver software".

Sorry for the stupid question, but how do I find out the manufacturer of the driver? If it's Microsoft as per the name, well, this is a stupid question.

waffleman

MacConmheadha wrote: »

I'll try that. Would I be alright just going with the free version or would I be better off trying a free trial for one of the paid ones?

You can check the list of startup programs with the free version

waffleman

MacConmheadha wrote: »

I checked the drivers in device manager and for Microsoft virtual wifi miniport adapter #2 it says "This device is not working properly because Windows cannot load the drivers required for this device. (Code 31)", but when I go to update the driver I get the message "windows can't verify the publisher of this driver software".

Sorry for the stupid question, but how do I find out the manufacturer of the driver? If it's Microsoft as per the name, well, this is a stupid question.

Stick your service tag in here (should be printed on the underside of your laptop): http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/product-support/product/xps-15/drivers

then scroll down to the "Modem/Communications" section and see what drivers they give you