I own this laptop and need it for college, but I can't afford professional repair right now. After installing Steam and Apex Legends, the computer started working for only a few minutes before crashing with a critical error that seems related to the hard drive. I tried uninstalling the programs, but they kept reappearing or the system crashed before I could finish. I also attempted a full reset, but it failed at around 7%. What can I try to repair it or determine whether the drive or memory is failing?
3 Answers
Try starting Windows in Safe Mode. If it stays stable there, remove Steam, the game, and any recently installed software, then restart normally. If it still crashes, the problem may be hardware-related rather than caused by the games. A failing system drive or defective RAM could produce symptoms like this.
Check how much free space is left on the system drive as well. A nearly full drive can cause crashes and failed resets, although a critical drive error or repeated installation failure makes a failing SSD or hard drive more likely. If you can access your files, copy them off the laptop before doing more repairs.
Since the reset also failed, I’d test the hardware before repeatedly reinstalling things. Check the drive’s health and run a memory test if you can. If those tests look okay, create a Windows installation USB using another computer and perform a clean installation. You’ll need a USB drive with at least 8 GB, and a clean install may erase your files, so back up anything important first if possible.
The laptop is mine, so there aren’t any school management restrictions involved. I mainly need a way to recover it without paying for a repair shop.