Laptop Help Please

[Minnie M]

My Toshiba laptop keeps 'dying' on me...........

It appears to over-heat, then dies .......... screen goes black and everything is turned off

It has been doing this for a couple of months now.

Strange thing is, when I turn it on again (after about 10 mins or so), it acts like nothing has happened, i.e. I don't get that screen to say rebuilding etc etc.,

Vegetable (who is a smart kiddy) thinks it might be the battery, but I have it plugged into the mains

Also, if it is the battery - can it be checked ? And if it is faulty is it worth being replaced, AND how much approx. would that cost (is it worth it)

Soooooooooo confused, and it is, sooooooooooooo annoying

Thank you for any help please

[Tessalicious]

I used to get this a lot with my Acer. A couple of things I tried, which usually helped for a while were:

- using a hoover nozzle to clear out the airways to the fan, to reduce the problem of overheating
- move most of your files (except program files) to an external hard drive to be used only when you need them, and remove any unnecessary programs, to speed up processor activity
- failing that, reinstall windows (a full backup is necessary first)
- and failing that, get the fan replaced by a computer shop.

If all of those fail, buy a new laptop - it worked wonders for me. They're just not designed to last forever.

[Minnie M]

Originally Posted by Tessalicious

I used to get this a lot with my Acer........

Funny enough I had an Acer before this one and had no trouble with it at all - shame I spilt my fizzy drink on the keyboard

Originally Posted by Tessalicious

- using a hoover nozzle to clear out the airways to the fan, to reduce the problem of overheating........

done that - and it is sittting on a telephone directory with a bit cut out where the fan is !

Originally Posted by Tessalicious

- move most of your files (except program files) to an external hard drive to be used only when you need them, and remove any unnecessary programs, to speed up processor activity
- failing that, reinstall windows (a full backup is necessary first)
- and failing that, get the fan replaced by a computer shop.

If all of those fail, buy a new laptop - it worked wonders for me. They're just not designed to last forever.

I only use it to prepare my list, emails and the forum - so don't have any large programs on it .

Not sure if it is the fan that is causing the 'dying' problem as it is working and clear for the air supply to flow

Might have to buy a new machine, but might be inclined to buy a desk top as it never leaves my house, and use this one if I do need to

Thanks for the help tho

[knightengale]

Possible thing to try. (To test if its the battery) .

Take the battery out and then plug the laptop into the mains. (Laptops still work this way) Switch it on and see if it still dies.
If not then there is a good chance its the battery. Don't now the price though.

If you move to a desktop you can get a very high spec one for around £500 or a average spec for less than £300.

[pmjd]

Minnie, the random shut downs are most likely down to the processor overheating, at which point the safety bits kick in and shut down everything to protect the processor from damage. This could be due to a faulty or blocked fan, so not enough heat is being dissipated . It could also be a case of the thermal paste (which conducts the heat from the processor and eventually to the fan) needing to be renewed.

The second possibility is that the motherboard of the laptop, the biggest circuit board in the laptop that connects everything to everything else, is on it's way out. In which case your laptop is going to go shortly and would be uneconomic to repair as mainboards are stupid prices. The mainboard on my first laptop went and I was quoted £450, not including vat, shipping or fitting, to get a new one installed It was better to get a new laptop.

That's the best I can suggest from experience. Tessa's advice about the hoover would be handy for unblocking the fan ports if too much fluff has got in there. You'd need to go to a laptop specialist to get the fan checked out, or thermal paste reapplied.

Also start backing up everything important, photos, music, documents to CD/DVD or an external hard drive just in case your laptop does go.

One last thing is the laptop under any warranty? Might be worth checking

HTH
Paul

[Brian Doolan]

Originally Posted by Minnie M

My Toshiba laptop keeps 'dying' on me...........

It appears to over-heat, then dies .......... screen goes black and everything is turned off

This might sound a bit obvious but do you use your laptop on a desk/table top or on your lap? I know they're called laptops but using one on your lap can obstruct the cooling ducts which will cause the overheat.

As Paul says, back up everything you need while you can, before you can't!!

[Minnie M]

Originally Posted by Brian Doolan

This might sound a bit obvious but do you use your laptop on a desk/table top or on your lap? I know they're called laptops but using one on your lap can obstruct the cooling ducts which will cause the overheat.

As Paul says, back up everything you need while you can, before you can't!!

as you can see from above - have tried that and, the fan area is not on the table, there is a gap to cool it down

Originally Posted by knightengale

Take the battery out and then plug the laptop into the mains. (Laptops still work this way) Switch it on and see if it still dies.
If not then there is a good chance its the battery. Don't now the price though.

Thanks - will try that

Paul's advice sounds most likely

Thank you all for your help

[bigdjiver]

I recall seeing something about a particular brand of battery over-heating. Try a google groups search on makers name and overheating. i.e. Google click on groups.

[David Franklin]

This probably isn't going to be helpful, but Bryony had problems with her laptop overheating - the fan never really seemed to be spinning. Anyhow, one day the hard drive died, so in an effort to save the data, I ran Knoppix (a live CD version of Linux) on it. Retrieved the necessary data (hurrah!), but an interesting observation was that the fan did run while running Knoppix.

So it's possible there's some obscure software problem - when I was researching the overheating, I did hear about an app to control the fan, but it had dire warnings about "if your laptop fries, we don't accept responsibility" so I never tried it. But given the laptop eventually fried of its own accord, maybe I should have taken the chance.

One major warning: If you hear your laptop making 'clicking' sounds, that is usually the hard drive reseeking due to errors or doing thermal recalibration. If this happens very occasionally, it's not cause for concern (HDs need very accurate tolerances, and a change in temp can cause them to need to readjust). If it's happening a lot, chances are your HD is not going to last much longer. Time to backup!

[Ste]

Interesting thread.

I have a fujitsu lifebook and when i was in Singapore (hot place) I fell asleep whilst it was on.

When I woke up it sometimes would not switch on and wha t I used to do was switch on the mains and at the PC to give it a powersurge. Strangely, this seemd to work a few times. Unfortunately it did eventually stop working even with the powersurges although when you plug it into the mains, there is a little panel that seems to come on (but not the unit itself0.

I think that I might have damaged it by not switching it off before I fell asleep and think that it must have overheated.