So, the inevitable happened today. My dog was running around and knocked my laptop off the table. So, it fell about 2.5-3 feet. Now, in safe mode it runs no problem. However, soon as I go into normal mode everything freezes within two minutes.

Anyone have any explanations.

probably knocked loose some of the connections. Open up the case and see if your RAM plugs into the motherboard securely.

It unfortunately wasn't that.

The good news is that it was probably something else silly that an hour of poking around didn't find, because a factory reset did the trick.

Yes, I backed up the important stuff.