i received a laptop from a friend and i really need help!!!?

It definately sounds like the computer (or specifically the processor) is overheating. Usually this occurs when the thermal paste (a substance for transfering heat) that is between the fan and the processor gets old and inneffective.

The best method for fixing this is to buy a tube of thermal paste from your local computer store (usually about $10 - $15) and reapplying it.

To do this, you need to take the cover off the bottom where the processor is located, remove the screws on the fan, carefully scrape off the old dry and cracked paste and apply the new stuff then reattach the fan.

If you feel uncomfortable doing this, you could probably take it to any computer store and have them do it (likely for a fee).

One possibility is the battery. If you are running it on the powercord only, remove the battery pack and wee if that solves the problem. As for running slow, well its about five years old and probably has a much slower processor than the ones made today and has significantly less RAM. If the computer has been updated to Vista or even XP the system is too small to handle the larger platform. Contact the computer manufacturer or visit their website and see if you can get a copy of the original programming which was most likely Windows 98 - reformat and then load 98 back it. It wont have all of the current bells and whistles but will probably run much better.

You are correct, there is a high probability that you are experiencing overheating problems. Normally I will say that you take it to HP for servicing.

But if you are bold enough, you can try opening the base of your laptop and check if you can access the CPU and fan. If yes, check if the the cpu is connected to the fan (the copper heat sink connecting the fan and cpu), it may have a loose connection.

You can also try turning the fan to check if it has accumulated dust from the years of use. You can try cleaning the fan, and if it does not work you should replace the fan and your problem will be fixed.

nicely you may restoration it to production unit defaults via working the restoration application the two on he disks he gave you or on the platforms restoration partition. If he gave you some disks placed the resotre cd into the computing gadget, close it down and restart. it relatively is going to load the appliance and an hor later oyu have a sparkling computing gadget. If no cd's have been given, attempt presisng F11 or F10 at initiate. this might get you into the restoration partition and oyu run this technique to restoration the production unit defaults. If neuther is an selection, then you definately touch the manufactuer and ask for a resotre cd. desire this enables The insurrection is waiting

heat: get a cooling pad

speed: first off make sure it has XP and not vista

get rid of programs you don't use

virus scan and add ware scan

get more ram