Dell Inspiron 1525 randomly shuts down

Philip624

I have a dell laptop which keeps randomly shutting down a few times a day. It doesn’t appear to be overheating. I ran a diagnostics in safe mode and no errors showed aside from a message during the check which said warning charger not detected please attach the charger now. I don’t think this is related as the charger is connected and works fine charging the laptop. Also the sudden shutting down happens even if used without the charger and when on battery power

[Deleted User]

Hi,

a google search suggests that either it's over heating because the fan is clogged up, or the heatsink is the problem.

J_B

Maybe download and install 'core temp' to see the 'real' temperatures??

arciere

It could be a problem with the mainboard. Is this an 11-year-old laptop?

MinuteNoodles

I'd say it's overheating and the CPU heatsink is blocked. It's fairly easy to get at it on the Dell 1525. You need to clear out the small gap between the fan and the copper radiator as it'll likely be full of fluff. Usually they're heading towards well blocked at 3-4 years old on most laptops so if you've never cleaned it out you'll probably find there's a carpet lurking there.

letsbehonest

Good advice already given,I too would plumb for an overheating problem and considering it's age have you ever had the back off to check up on fluff build up?

poppellerant

Check the heatsink, it only takes a few minutes on these laptops, so you would be silly not to - from memory, all you need is a pozidriver (positive headed screwdriver) to undo the large plastic section underneath the laptop and a few more screws to remove the heatsink. 

If the heatsink is clear, then I would be looking at a suspect charging port or charger.

[Deleted User]

Hi,

here's a wee vid shows you how to get to heatsink, try giving it a clean out.

Browntoa

Dell's are also notorious for using cheap thermal paste , stops the heatsink doing its job properly