I have a Laptop I am working on. After a feww minutes [5~20 minutes] it will just power down. Seemingly for no reason. I check every setting I could think of in Cmos and in the Control. I cannot find a reason it is shutting down. it does not seem to have any heat issues. . none that I can feel. It is running Windows ME [I suspected that this maybe part of the problem] but trying to put in Windows 2k and it will not stay on long enough to install. So I concluded that software may not be the issuel. At this point I'm at a loss. I can only think maybe a Heatsink or something wrong with the motherboard. any suggestions would be greatly appreciated Rocket River
Go into the BIOS on boot up and monitor the temperature to see if it's a heat issue. Also, you can test the fans while you're in there. Make sure and remove all peripherals and PC Cards, in case it is a power supply issue. Also tighten all screws!
I concur, it is most likely a heating issue. If that isn't it is is either a battery or power supply problem. Does it act differently when you run it on battery power, as oppsosed to an outlet? Heting issues can occur even if the actual laptop doesn't feel any hotter than normal. Most machines have built in thermostats that will shut things down if temps reach certain points. Oddly enough I have been having a lot of trouble lately with heating issues at work. One of our buildings has very poor ventilation and all the machines in the building are collecting a huge piles of dust and lint. I have been cleaning out 3-4 per week for the last month. I guess it is too much to ask for maintenance to actually change out the air filters every now and then.
my computer also shuts off suddenly. I think mine is probably a heat issue. does anyone care to go into a little more detailed procedure to correctly diagnose and perhaps even solve the problem?
Does it shut off suddenly after it has been on for a while or does it shut off after being on only a few minutes? Usually heat related problems cause shutdowns after the machine has been on a while. Fixing it may be as simple as pulling out the box, opening it up, and blowing it out with a can of compressed air. We have a blowing vacuum cleaner we use but you have to be careful that it doesn't have too much force. Make sure to blow out all fans and fan vents and then blow out the interior of the case including the cpu fan and heatsink areas. Another helpful tip for prevention is to not store it in a confined space. Give it a little room to breathe. A lot of the old computer desks that came with an enclosed tower space were ok a few years ago, but with heating issues becoming more prevalent they can sometimes contribute to overheating. It has become an unwritten rule at work that your machine goes on your desk and not under it. If cleanign it out doesn't work check to make sure all your fans are functioning normally.
What kind of laptop is it? Usually you just look at the splash screen on POST (when you first turn it on) and it will tell you what key to press to enter the BIOS (or setup). Then locate the thermometer section in the BIOS and see how high the temp gets. If it keeps rising and rising until it turns off, then you got a heat issue. Also try and locate a fan test and test the primary and secondary fans.
The odd part is. . . . their is not set time before it goes off. If I'm in DOS mode. . sometimes it will go for a while I suspect the more CPU power it uses the shorter the time frame [when I start doing things one it it goes out as oppose to when I just let it sit there . .it will stay on for a while] It is a Compaq Laptop. I can blow it out with canned air and see. I will even check the Fans. It is out of warranty so finding parts at a decent price maybe a hassle. [New Heatsink, Fan . .perhaps] Rocket River thanks guys
Well, if it's not on a set time, then something is probably wrong. What laptops and windows usually do is have a default power saving option, meaning it'll turn off after being idle for so long. Here's the question: I'm not too sure about ME, but if it's XP, when you turn it back on, your opened windows will still be there. Is that the case? (better hope it is) If that is the case and everything was the way it was, then it's probably not a temperature or power issue, but just minor settings
could it be a virus issue? we had a desktop at work that reboots itself every hour. it stop doing it after the virus scan took out a trojan virus...
I finally opened the machine up . . .I feel silly now 3 out of the 4 screws on the heat sink were missing [on the processor] Now I have to find a place to get those particular screws Compaq is so propietory . . .went to Fry's and they did not have them they had some that are similar. . i will try them . . but would prefer to get the compaq type Rocket River thanks again
