My laptop turns off without any reason
After I turn on my laptop it works fine for 25-30 minutes and after that just turns itself off without any warning. When I turn it on again, it works for some time and then shuts down again. What is going on? How can I fix it?
Most likely you experience a laptop overheating problem and it would be fixed by cleaning the cooling module – the heat sink and the fan. The notebook processor produces a lot of heat when the notebook is turned on. The cooling module helps to keep the CPU cool when the laptop is working. The cooling module includes two parts: the heat sink and the cooling fan. The heat sink is attached to the CPU and helps to conduct the heat from the processor to the radiator. The cooling fan blows on the radiator and helps to disperse the heat produced by the CPU. The laptop will overheat if the heat sink radiator is clogged with lint and dust or if the cooling fan stopped spinning.
If your laptop shuts down after some time without any reason and warning, check if the cooling fan spins. Usually it makes some noise and you can hear it. If the fan works fine, then check if the heatsink is clogged. In some cases you can clean the heat sink with compressed air, just blow inside the fan openings on the laptop bottom. If the heatsink is completely clogged, then it is necessary to remove the heatsink for cleaning.
September 18th, 2007 at 9:59 pm
Sasan,
Do you get any LED lights when you turn on the laptop? Can you hear any noise coming from the laptop when you turn it on?
September 18th, 2007 at 8:13 pm
Hi
My laptop won’t startup or shutdown properly. I have tried starting in safe mode and then shutting down but that still does not work. I have had some major overheating issues with my laptop but I am pretty I have taken care of it. Any ideas in whats going on?
Ron
September 18th, 2007 at 4:52 am
I have a sony vaio VGN-A115M. I was using the laptop with the battery (lots of battery power remaining) and the laptop just switched off suddenly and the screen was black. Since then I haven’t been able to turn the laptop back on. I have tried to contact Sony and they tried to get me to reset it by holding down the on key etc.. but this still did not work.
Please help because I’m going to university next week and need the laptop!!!!
Thanks
August 14th, 2007 at 4:00 pm
my compter aoutomatically restarts on it own what should i do
August 8th, 2007 at 8:05 am
hi i’ve been having similar problems with my laptop. i have an hp pavilion zd7160us and for about a year now its been shutting off unexpectedly. its really random about it but i have noticed it does it mostly when i do copy/paste actions. its strange. at first it would only do it when i used photoshop and would do copy paste or work on a large image so i thought it was something related to photoshop but then its done it while i’m using Word also and Excel. it just shuts down completely. nothing remains running, no lights, no fan running. the laptop has always gotten hot to the touch ever since i bought it but i figured that was expected since it’s such a huge laptop so i bought a stand for it to keep it cool underneath. but even with the stand its still warm and shuts down on me. it doesn’t do it constantly just randomly and not too often but i’d say 3 out 5 times i use it. i never know when it’s gonna happen which is actually more annoying. and when it does happen i can turn it back on right away i don’t have to wait like the other people on this site say they have to wait. i can just turn it right back on and it’ll work as if nothing happened.
any suggestions? thanks!
July 30th, 2007 at 9:06 pm
I have an acer laptop. its a little over a year old. of course the warenty is up. my laptop would turn off from time to time when running any type of game in the disc drive or at times at night, i thought it was over heating because it would always be extremely hot. i got a cooling system for underneath the laptop, and it seems to work, the laptop is not as hot and the air that the fan is blowing seems to be a lot cooler, but again it shuts off, its getting more and more frequent each day. it never gives a warning and completely shuts down screen, everything. i restart it and it works again, but i never know when it might just stop working again on me.. any thoughts?
July 28th, 2007 at 2:10 pm
Tyler,
Make sure the memory module/modules are seated correctly. Reseat the memory and try again.
July 27th, 2007 at 12:48 pm
I have an HP pavilion ze4400 and it was overheating so I cleaned out the fan, then when I put it all back I turn it on then shuts off and turns on again and repeats that over and over again.
July 16th, 2007 at 6:28 pm
My Gateway laptop turns off when it heats alot .. most probably while playing games but now it shuts down after about 30 minutes or 5-10 minutes if i turned on again without waiting for it to cool .. The fan is working .. but I feel of hot air from it .. While I touch the laptop where the fan located .. I can feel alot of heat ..
July 12th, 2007 at 9:48 pm
Kevin,
If the problem didn’t exist before the upgrade, apparently it’s somehow related to memory. Try installing the original memory stick back and test the laptop again. It’s possible that your new memory module is faulty.
You can test laptop memory with Memtest86+ utility, you’ll find a link to this utility on the right side of the website in Useful Links.
BTW, check the heatsink/fans. Make sure that fans are not clogged with dust. If they are, clean them with compressed air and test the laptop again. It’s possible that the laptop shuts down because it overheats.
July 11th, 2007 at 5:05 am
Hi there, Currently Im using HP DV6000T. Its keeping to turn off in around 30-45′ or so. But after it turn off, I can instantly turn in on. And its run around 30-45′ and off again. But sometime its run like ages and never off. Like when I watch movie, its run smoothly, but when I play game such as Lineage 2 its run around 30′ and off. And 1 side note, I just upgrade RAM from 1GB to 1.5GB with replacement of 1×512MB. I wonder if there is a problem with RAM that I replaced. Because before upgrade the problem is not existed
. So what do you think is the problem?
April 15th, 2007 at 6:17 pm
My laptop is a prestigio 109, and it produces 11 short beeps then shuts down automatically.. my brother used this laptop and when it got back it became really slow so i tried to format it.. but everytime i format it, either on the boot menu or anywhere near the system inspection of the windows xp installation it would then beep and shuts down (mostly after the loading of all the components needed for the installation) in adition to that i cannot delete the partition on my drive as it says “boot sector virus: overwrite y/n” … i thought using fdisk/mbr would work.. but the problem is still there… i managed to install windows 98 (from time to time the beep-shut down stil happens) at this point when i format any floppy disks it also goes into the beep-shutdown process… what seems to be the problem????
April 11th, 2007 at 12:32 pm
Dear laptop freak,
I forgot to mention I have a Hewlet Packard DV 6000 as my laptop so can you get to me back ASAP how can I fix the problem and tell me what the problem is?
Thank you again
April 11th, 2007 at 12:23 pm
Dear laptop freak,
Somebody try to hack into my computer last night and they jammed my keyboard system and they also put a virus that I can’t turn on my laptop anymore, do you know how to fix the problem. My laptop was working fine till last night when somebody try to hack it, now my laptop will just turn on for a second not even for a minute and then show me a flash and turn it of by itself automatically, do you know what the problem is and do you know how to fix it?
I’m also having problems with my keyboard, somebody try to hack into my computer last night and now they jam my keyboard and I can’t make it work and I can’t type anything, the letters and the numbers on the keyboard doesn’t work when I try to press it to type something, do you know what the problem is and do you know how to fix it?
Is my broken keyboard the problem that my laptop isn’t working or is it a different problem, please tell me.
Thank You
March 7th, 2007 at 8:28 pm
I can not open my NEC laptop since few days. I forget to check the available space in hard drive. when I try to unzip one big file (containing number of files) may be remaining space in the hard disk is not sufficient. During unzipping process the laptop shut down suddenly after then I try to reopen but I can not open the laptop. How can I solve this problem?
March 6th, 2007 at 2:41 pm
My Dell D600 shuts down with no warning. This may be a clue. When I plug the power adapter into the wall the green power light comes on the cord but when I plug the cord into the laptop the light goes out.
Thoughts?
February 26th, 2007 at 10:35 pm
Walter,
That’s me. I’m glad that you like my sites and I enjoy developing them.
Sounds like a really great idea!
February 26th, 2007 at 10:16 pm
Dear Laptop Freak,
Are you the young man holding the laptop and the tool bag at the Toshiba disassembly site?
I am impressed with your knowledge of laptops and general use of deductive reasoning in your diagnosis of computer problems. Your maturity of expression when responding to inquiries are much admired by me.
I have looked at your site several times and used it when repairing an A65. I intend to make a small donation every time I use your site for disassembly.
Keep up the good work.
Walter
February 16th, 2007 at 6:20 pm
My problem is similar. I have Gateway 600ygr and a week ago when tried to turn the power button on it nothing happened. But, when I unplugged the power cord and then pluged it back in, the lights and fan sarted going. Unfortunately only for 2 seconds and then the laptop died. Eventually I have discovered that besides the trick with the power cord, I could power on the laptop by presing the little button that puts the computer in the stand by mode when closing down the screen, unfortunately for only 2 seconds. When I press this litle button and hold it down, laptop starts normally, but the screen does not lights up. I can see a little under the right lights, but cant manage to see the mouse to get into the windows. External monitor does not work either. I even changed the little circuit board on which this little “sand by mode” button is located with no change. I don’t know where else to look. I hate this Gateway, but that is all I have. Any help I will appriciate very much.
February 15th, 2007 at 4:06 am
i have HP nx9110 laptop. it turns off, when i put the battery. it works fine without battery. what can be the problem? can any one please help me.
February 11th, 2007 at 8:44 pm
I have a Dell Inspiron 9100 notebook. Today it just shut down by itself and it won’t start. It isn’t the adapter because when that is plugged in the green light is on. I have tried to turn it back on and the lights flash, but then it just shuts down. I actually got it to load my desktop, but then it froze, again. I called Dell, but they weren’t much help. They had me take my battery out and push buttons. Nothing worked. They want me to ship my laptop to them, but I have school work that I need asap. Any suggestions??
February 9th, 2007 at 9:10 pm
Nas,
After the notebook shuts down do not turn it back on for 15 minutes and then test it again. Will the notebook work longer if you let it cool down for a while? Isn’t it hot if you touch the bottom? Can you hear the fan running?
February 9th, 2007 at 7:01 am
I have a Sony Vaio VGN A140P
Problem: I was running on battery(100% charged) and my laptop just shut off by itself. Then I pressed the power button and nothing happens. So I take out the battery and put it back on, the laptop turns on but turns of during boot up.
So I think it may be the battery and remove the battery and began to work on the AC and it was working fine. Then unexpectedly the Laptop turns off by itelf without warning, and it did not turn on immediately after that. So I put the battery back in and I am running fine on the battery.
What do you think the problem is?
February 8th, 2007 at 8:37 pm
George Fernando,
How much time the laptop works without shutting down? Try booting the laptop in safe mode and check if the laptop still shuts down. If the laptop works fine in safe mode you might have a software related issue.
February 8th, 2007 at 8:34 pm
Magni,
Sure, take apart the laptop and replace the fan.
February 7th, 2007 at 8:51 pm
Hi, I have a dell inspiron 8200. I removed a couple of unused application, did a disk clean-up through systems tool, and a disk defrag. Then I reboot my laptop and all of a sudden, it just start shutting down for no reason with no error message. Does it have something to do with the disk clean up or defrag after the software uninstall? I wasn’t sure since it works up until the reboot. Please help
February 7th, 2007 at 12:33 pm
Hi,
I’m having the same problems. Fan just died, and i’m pretty sure it’s the processor fan. And yes, this is a laptop. I was thinking maybe some drivers or something were gone really bad, but everything seems to be working fine. But the fan just won’t move.
It’s not stuck, i’m sure about that! Recently cleaned the entire thing. Any possibility for fixing it with yor own hands? I might be pretty good at it
January 9th, 2007 at 7:14 pm
Ray,
Start minimizing the system. Remove the battery, DVD drive, hard drive, wireless card, etc… Try turning on the laptop after each removed part. Reseat the memory modules, move RAM stick from the slot A to the slot B (if you have two memory slots and one module). Disconnect the keyboard and test the laptop again. In short, minimize the system until you have only three parts: motherboard, memory and CPU (with the cooling module). If the laptop still shuts down even after you completely minimized it, you might have a bad motherboard. From my experience a bad CPU or memory module will not force the laptop to shut down after 3-4 seconds, you just cannot start it but it usually stays on.
BTW, here’s one more thing. Disconnect the video cable from the motherboard and test the laptop with an external monitor. A few month ago I had an HP laptop with a similar problem and I solved the problem by reseating the video cable on the back of the LCD screen.
January 8th, 2007 at 7:38 pm
I have a compaq armada M300, You try to turn it on, it will go off in 3 – 4 seconds. Disconnected battery and tried A/C and still same problem. this is done at a cold start up. Any ideas ?
December 5th, 2006 at 12:20 am
Hi,
I have a Gateway 7330GZ Laptop. Pentium 4 3.2GHz with 992MB RAM. Its a year old, its got windows XP, Lately its been shutting down on its own after running for about 30 or so minutes. It doesn’t turn on if I try to turn it on immediately but if I let it be for 15 or so minutes then it turns back on and runs like normal(for another 30-45 minutes). I can follow the link in this post and try to make sense of them( I have no idea where heat sinks , cooling fans etc are)provided you can tell me that the directions for my computer are no different from that for a Toshiba.
Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks