laptop switching itself off

Oddjob

My laptop has started switching itself off with no warning. All of a sudden there is a click and its off, its not overheating, I've even raised it higher from the table to get more air to the vents, makes no difference. Any ideas what might be causing it?
The time taken for it to do it varies from half an hour to an hour, I switch it straight back on and its fine for a while till it switches off again.
Thanks in advance,

victor2

Presumably it does it when running off the mains and not just the battery?
If so, try booting it in Safe Mode and see if it still happens. If you don't know how to boot into Safe Mode, either google it for your operating system or say on here what laptop it is and what operating system it is running, and someone here will be able to advise.

That's the first thing I would try to find out where the problem may lie.

Browntoa

Can still be heat related , failed thermal paste on the cpu , fluff blocking the fan vents . Overheating does cause sudden shutdowns

Oddjob

victor2 wrote: »

Presumably it does it when running off the mains and not just the battery?
If so, try booting it in Safe Mode and see if it still happens. If you don't know how to boot into Safe Mode, either google it for your operating system or say on here what laptop it is and what operating system it is running, and someone here will be able to advise.

That's the first thing I would try to find out where the problem may lie.

Thanks, It does it when running on mains or battery.
Its a Toshiba L500-1XC on Windows 7.


When it comes back on it asks if I want to start normally or in safe mode, I pick normally, I'll try safe mode next time it happens.

victor2

In safe mode you'll have limited functionality, but if it is something heat related, the problem is likely to still be there. If it works OK, then try safe mode with networking, which should give you internet access.
BIt more info here on booting in safe mode:
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/force-windows-to-boot-into-safe-mode-without-using-the-f8-key/

GunJack

laptop sudden shutdowns like this are 99% heat-related. I'll bet you have a "furry slug" sitting at the back of the cooling vent fins where the fan is trying to push hot air out of the machine, but the rear of the vent has become blocked over time. This can also lead to the heatsink paste drying out and so becoming ineffective. The only way to sort it properly is a strip-down and proper cleanout, replacing the heatsink paste on re-assembly...

coffeehound

Mine's done this in the past due to: a) malware making the PC run overtime, and b) a media downloader extension in the browser making the PC run overtime. So still overheat related I guess.

AndyPix

GunJack wrote: »

laptop sudden shutdowns like this are 99% heat-related. I'll bet you have a "furry slug" sitting at the back of the cooling vent fins where the fan is trying to push hot air out of the machine, but the rear of the vent has become blocked over time. This can also lead to the heatsink paste drying out and so becoming ineffective. The only way to sort it properly is a strip-down and proper cleanout, replacing the heatsink paste on re-assembly...

^^ this


I can almost guarentee you have a big fluff ball sitting just behind the vents.
Use youtube to find "stripdown" videos for your model of laptop - remove the cover and clear out all the crap from the vents.
Be careful removing keyboards etc as they can be connected with very flimsy little wires that are easy to snap


Andy

paddyrg

And be cautious of using compressed air to clear it, if you spin up a fan the wrong way, it could throw some dirty EMF spikes onto a delicate board.

You may find it interesting to take an IR photo of the laptop (eg if you know someone with a new CAT S60 phone) as it'll quickly highlight any hot spots long before your sense of touch can tell (with mine you can see where someone walked barefoot on tiles a minute later, they're impressively accurate and sensitive)

analyticalglory

I think, overheating can cause also a laptop shuts down automatically or there's something wrong with your device. Based on my own experience, it happens all the time.

Oddjob

Thank you all for your replies, I took it to a friend who is good with electronic devices, they cleaned it for me and hopefully it will be ok now.
Thanks for your help.