PC juzt turns off

[Guest]

I have a user who's Windows XP laptop keeps turning off. One minute it is
working away fine, the it just goes off as if the plug has been pulled. There
is no shutdown just off. It can happen at any time, but if your run a virus
scan or an add-ware scan it always goes off during it.

I can't see what the problem is, I have run scan disk in case of a bas
sector, and checked what is being installed at startup, but all seems well.

Anybody got any ideas, before I just wipe the whole system?

 

[Og]

Classic sign of over-heating.
Steve

 

[Guest]

Unfortunately that doesn't seam to be the case. I booted the machine and ran
a can. It shut down after about 10 minutes. But when I ran a full drive scan
that required windows to reboot and stay in DOS for the length of the scan it
didn't go off once and that was constant disk access for almost an hour.

 

[RobertVA]

Unfortunately that doesn't seam to be the case. I booted the machine and ran
a can. It shut down after about 10 minutes. But when I ran a full drive scan
that required windows to reboot and stay in DOS for the length of the scan it
didn't go off once and that was constant disk access for almost an hour.

Any difference between operating on battery power and operating with the
AC power supply?

STILL could be overheating. It takes more CPU cycles and possibly GPU
(GRAPHICS Processing Unit) cycles to run Windows. This could make those
chips use more electricity, thus generate more heat. Between the higher
CPU rate and greater demands would discharge the battery quicker too.
Will the system run for a reasonable time (hours) while on the battery
in DOS?

Make sure fans are operating. See if the computer will run longer if
propped up on something that allows air to circulate under it.

Has the interior been cleaned out to make sure dust hasn't accumulated
inside it?

Check to see if there are any temperature monitoring applications
installed on the computer or available for installation on the media
that was included with it. Sometimes that sort of thing is available in
the support or download section of the computer, motherboard or video
card manufacturer's web site.

During the period you are able to operate the computer check the event
log to see if it records any faults at the time of the cutoff.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I have a user who's Windows XP laptop keeps turning off. One minute
it is working away fine, the it just goes off as if the plug has been
pulled. There is no shutdown just off. It can happen at any time,
but if your run a virus scan or an add-ware scan it always goes off
during it.

I can't see what the problem is, I have run scan disk in case of a bas
sector, and checked what is being installed at startup, but all seems
well.

Anybody got any ideas, before I just wipe the whole system?

Wiping the whole system and reinstalling is a knee-jerk reaction to a
problem, and is seldom the right thing to do. In this case, almost certainly
if you did that, you would still have the same problem.

This is very likely a hardware problem, and I would think that overheating
is the most likely source of the problem. Open up the box, and blow it out
with a can of compressed air. That alone may fix the problem, but also check
that all fans are operating correctly.

 

[Guest]

Hi, both yourself and Robert were right. The more I thought about it, I
remembered that the fan was always on when it shutdown. I got the user to
move it to the kitchen table where there was plenty of circulation, and it
worked great. Since it's a Laptop I don't want to start opening it up unless
I have to. For the mean time it's going to sit on a wire rack and after pay
day they are going to get a laptop stand with the built in fans for it.

Thanks for all your help. Thats another tip I'll remember next time.

Keith

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Hi, both yourself and Robert were right. The more I thought about
it, I remembered that the fan was always on when it shutdown. I got
the user to move it to the kitchen table where there was plenty of
circulation, and it worked great. Since it's a Laptop I don't want
to start opening it up unless I have to. For the mean time it's
going to sit on a wire rack and after pay day they are going to get a
laptop stand with the built in fans for it.

Thanks for all your help. Thats another tip I'll remember next time.

You're welcome. Glad to help.