My laptop keeps shutting off during xp install

[Guest]

I have an Averatec 3200 series laptop. The hard drive crashed about 2 wks
ago, so I bought a replacement hard drive. When trying to do an xp install,
it will shut completely off just about at the very end of the process (the
screen says "saving user settings" when it does this). I first assumed
overheating, so I blew out the cooling fan (not much dirt). When looking at
the fan housing though, I noticed a little bit of a black substance on the
part that covers the area my cpu is in. The top of my processor chip also had
this substance on it. It was somewhat greasy. It looked like someone had
wiped this substance off before. Was this something that should be there?

This fan is the only fan I see on the laptop, so no other cleaning options
there. The laptop does seem to be pretty hot on the bottom at the point it
shuts off too. I tried to do the install with just the battery running too
(thinking the AC adapter was bad). This provided the same end result. I'm
thinking the next step is either the fan needs replacing (even though it
seems to be running); or somehow the memory may be effecting something. I
don't get any Black or blue screens; so I don't seem to think it's a memory
issue.

Please help!!! I am a college student who needs this laptop daily

Paul

 

[jg]

You should buy some"thermal paste or gel" and apply liberally between the
cpu and the cpu fan. ASAP.
Otherwise you may find yourself more problem and possibly having to replace
the CPU burned from overheating.

Radio shack or other electronic hobbyist shops should have some for sale at
a few dollars. The thermal paste I got last time was white. There may be
something else, now like the new AMD sticky pad that turns to gel on
heating.

 

[John Wunderlich]

=?Utf-8?B?RGVycnR5YmlyZDk3?=

I have an Averatec 3200 series laptop. The hard drive crashed
about 2 wks ago, so I bought a replacement hard drive. When trying
to do an xp install, it will shut completely off just about at the
very end of the process (the screen says "saving user settings"
when it does this). I first assumed overheating, so I blew out the
cooling fan (not much dirt). When looking at the fan housing
though, I noticed a little bit of a black substance on the part
that covers the area my cpu is in. The top of my processor chip
also had this substance on it. It was somewhat greasy. It looked
like someone had wiped this substance off before. Was this
something that should be there?

This fan is the only fan I see on the laptop, so no other cleaning
options there. The laptop does seem to be pretty hot on the bottom
at the point it shuts off too. I tried to do the install with just
the battery running too (thinking the AC adapter was bad). This
provided the same end result. I'm thinking the next step is either
the fan needs replacing (even though it seems to be running); or
somehow the memory may be effecting something. I don't get any
Black or blue screens; so I don't seem to think it's a memory
issue.

Please help!!! I am a college student who needs this laptop daily

Thermal grease is normally applied to the CPU before the fan is
mounted. This is normal.

Although overheating is a cause for shutdown, I would be very
suspicious if this happened at exactly the same time after several
tries. It might be something other than overheating. Try it
outside on a cold morning where the cooling fan would be more
effective. If it dies in the same place, I would look elsewhere for
a solution.

Good Luck,
John

 

[Guest]

John,

Where would you suggest I start looking at? Because I put my desk fan
right next to the laptop, let it cool the laptop; and it did the same
thing!!!!

Any help would be apprieciated....

Paul

 

[John Wunderlich]

=?Utf-8?B?RGVycnR5YmlyZDk3?=

John,

Where would you suggest I start looking at? Because I put my
desk fan right next to the laptop, let it cool the laptop; and it
did the same thing!!!!

Any help would be apprieciated....

I don't know. It possibly could be something to do with your new
drive. I would be tempted to boot with a BartPE disk and run some disk
formatting and testing programs.

-- John