Unfreezing Windows on a Laptop - Computer Advice

What to do when CTRL+ALT+DEL doesn't work!

During my years of laptopping, I've discovered a couple of tricks to unfreeze the system which are even more powerful than the 3-fingered salute! Maybe you think you need some 'crashguard' software to protect the system from hanging up - my advice is that such programs don't do much good. Instead, try the below:

1. Switch Power Source      Battery Power Cable

Change from battery to mains power or vice versa. I discovered this trick on WIN98SE. The power management code has to be at a pretty low level for obvious reasons. It seems it is at a level comprable with the code that catches CTRL+ALT+DEL and tries to unlock the crashed operating system. Anyway, about half of the time when CTRL+ALT+DEL didn't work to regain control, the combination of CTRL+ALT+DEL plus switching power mode once or twice did manage to shake Win9x to consciousness again. 

2. Ejecting or Attaching Hardware    Unsafe Removal Of Device

This was another idea I had after I had discovered the trick above and thought about why it worked. Typically, this was nothing more advanced than ejecting a PCMCIA card modem. Sometimes the 'shock' was enough to wake up the system although it appeared to have fatally crashed. It is not as effective as the trick above - if the system was still frozen after using CTRL-ALT-DEL & switching the power source then I found that this one worked about 5-10% of the time. Not great odds, but worth a try if the alternative is retyping that file from scratch! :)

Last modified: 16th March, 2003