Laptop rescue advice?

[Guest]

My 3-year old Asus A6000 laptop, appears, on the face of it, to be dying. It just switches itself completely off at random moments, and needs more and more attempts to be fully switched on and booted up before it does it successfully ...

A full scan with Norton reveals no evidence of viruses.

Does anyone have any idea what could be the problem, and, if so, whether it would be salvageable? Or is this symptom simply an indication that my laptop's time is up, and I should go out and buy a new one?

All hints and tips more than welcome.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

Laptop rescue advice?

I know less about computers than I do about playing the oboe, but have you got Windows updates running in the background from startup?

My home computer does this, and suddenly announces every now and again that it's got to shut down and restart.

The other thing I've noticed about laptops is that they shut down if you close them up, due to a mechanism a bit like the one that makes the light go on and off inside your fridge. Might there be something jammed or wonky with that?

There you go, the sum total of my IT knowledge suggestions. Don't worry, there are plenty of techies on OTF.

[Guest]

Laptop rescue advice?

Cheers Rogin - I do have some kind of Windows 'Live Update' thing going on somewhere, though one would imagine that, unless it's seriously malfunctioning, it shouldn't shut down my computer (it's not just restarting, it's actually shutting completely down) every half hour or so? Or is that a naive, too-logical statement from someone who knows little about computers??

I fear there may indeed be a 'wiring' or 'mechanical' problem inside the laptop, or something wrong with the on/off switch, which would clearly be beyond my talents to solve ...

Surprised I've got through this post without the thing conking out ...

[hobbes]

Laptop rescue advice?

Sounds like it's overheating.
Does your fan sound like it's running?

[Guest]

Laptop rescue advice?

Yeah, the fan's always quite loud. So the computer would switch itself off automatically and without warning if it was too hot??

If this is the solution, is there any way to cool things down?

[Cavalry Trouser Tips]

Laptop rescue advice?

This might help.

Are you using your laptop ...er... on your lap? If you are, have the laptop on a flat surface like a big book or something as the underside of most laptops have vents.

The Ergo-station they (Port) make is also magnificent.

[Moonlight Shadow]

Laptop rescue advice?

You might want to clean the fan, it does gather a lot of dust inside and there might be simply a blockage causing the CPU to overheat. You'll need to unscrew a few things but it should be nothing major.

Mine is having inverter's problems again, slight flickering of the screen when I open/close it. It's a daft problem, a part cost 15£ but it's finding someone who replaces it without charging you a bomb...

[Guest]

Laptop rescue advice?

The dust may certainly be an issue, as it seems to get everywhere here in Madrid. However, as it took me seven or eight attempts to turn the laptop on this morning, when it was totally cold after a night switched off, maybe the heat explanation is not the whole story ... Hmm ...

[EIM]

Laptop rescue advice?

Smoke just started pouring out of my laptops power cable - the plug bit that actually connects in to the laptop. I think it may be kaput.

Anyone know where I can get a cheapo replacement. Once the battery dies on this laptop (46 mins) that's me fooooooked.

[EIM]

Laptop rescue advice?

It's a dell, btw.

[Cavalry Trouser Tips]

Laptop rescue advice?

I can't believe you all let EIM die like that.