Laptop keeps shutting down.

Terry

It starts up, goes through the boot dealy and then turns off. Roughly 20 - 30 seconds.

The fan runs for about 10 seconds and then stops.
My initial thought was that this was the problem, so I replaced the fan and heat sink.
The same thing is still happening.

I swapped out the RAM and HDD. Tried running it with Ubuntu on a USB flash drive. Same thing every time.

Any ideas?

wush06

Just talking about this on a computer build the other day.
It defo sounds like overheat and the motherboard kicking into to stop damage.
Any more info on spec could be the processor

Happyman42

Had something similar happen with a Dell, turned out to be the CMOS battery was dead or dud. Replaced it and booted fine, had to reset a few thing in the bios after as far as I remember.

wush06

Happyman42 could be CMOS battery but would that stop it from starting.
Bit more info needed

Happyman42

wush06 wrote: »

Happyman42 could be CMOS battery but would that stop it from starting.
Bit more info needed

I think it started mine but because the battery was dud rather than depleted or dead it got enough to fire up and then died when the CMOS couldn't start the Bios(or something like that,it was a while ago and I tried many variables before getting to the battery). Replacing it fixed my problem anyway, battery was only a few squids and was an easy replace. Laptop is still going 4 or 5 yrs later. Worth a try if all else fails.

Overheal

how old is the unit? any evidence of failing, bulging, or blown caps?

Terry

Celeron C900
Advent Roma 1000

Happyman42: I'll root out a CMOS battery and give it a go.

Overheal: It's about 3 years old. Motherboard seemed fine when I was changing the fan.

Wush06: I cleaned it and new thermal paste on it. The pad for the graphics seemed fine.

It's the pad, isn't it?

Can you get into the BIOS?

wush06

Terry just having a read on the net and it might be your windows is corrupt.
Do you have a windows disk that you can run windows repair.
I do hope you have your stuff backed up cos you might have to do a format.

maki

wush06 wrote: »

Terry just having a read on the net and it might be your windows is corrupt.
Do you have a windows disk that you can run windows repair.
I do hope you have your stuff backed up cos you might have to do a format.

He already said the same issue arises when booting into Ubuntu. Not to mention that if it's abruptly powering off (as opposed to shutting down) it's almost certainly a temperature issue.

A dead CMOS battery shouldn't cause any issues. You can boot without one at all if you like. You'll just lose any settings you've tried to save.
In fact, if the laptop is in any way modern, the BIOS settings will be in EEPROM and not in CMOS. The battery will literally only used for the clock, nothing else.

A quick way to get to the bottom of it is to go to the BIOS temperature page (if it has one) and see if the values are creeping up to a high value before it switches off.

Terry

Maki: It doesn't have a temperature page.
First thing I looked for when I got into the BIOS.

I just tried another heat sink and the same thing happened.

I'm lost at this stage.