My laptop is shutting down mysteriously :S

[Tuomas]

Hi.

It seems, that the only reason I start threads here is because I have problems with my Acer-Vista laptop nowadays But I've found this to be a great source of know-how on this matter, and after all, we all learn when we read these threads, and I reckon there are people who are interested in computers as much as I am or even more.

Well anyway. Last night, out of nowhere, my computer just shut down. This has never happened before, so I was a bit alarmed. I thought maybe it was because the battery ran out, but I checked, and the power cord was attached and the battery was full. Also, it should give a notice. My brother suggested a power outage, but how would that make it shut down, when there's a battery attached too?

Usually when there's a fatal error, on the next start-up, the computer goes to BIOS and notifies it, suggesting starting in safe-mode. This time it started just normally, as if nothing had happened.

The thing is, it happened again. This time after some, 15 minutes. I was watching a... krhm... movie on the internet at the time, and I thought to myself; could it have been a virus that was causing this? Well, Avast Home Edition went through the whole HD during the night and found nothing.

Notice: it went through it during the night without a stop, but while watching the "movie" the computer shut itself down twice without me doing anything! And I didn't have any powersaving settings applied.

Today I've been trying to configure spybot, thinking I downloaded some malware from the movie, but it keeps getting jammed and freezing my computer. I had to uninstall it in safe-mode, and now I'm currently re-installing it to see if that is the problem... Still, spontaneous shut downs are not that fun. And I'm clueless. Any idea what it coul be?

-Tuomas--

[Nacho]

Hi.

It seems, that the only reason I start threads here is because I have problems with my Acer-Vista laptop nowadays

It does!  Good luck with your research.

[Misj']

You describe something similar to the laptop of my parents-in-law....except for the vista and the movie-watching thing. Anyway...in the case of their laptop it was the fan that was broken and as a consequence the apparatus shut down at inconvenient times (or (semi) labour intensive times like watching a movie) due to overheating. Of course there are other options too, but this one isn't that illogical considering what you describe. So my first question would be: do you hear something strange (fan not working properly) or is the machine even more silent than usual (fan not working at all)?

[GarageGothic]

I agree with Misj' that it sounds like overheating. Next time it happens, check if the computer feels warmer than usual. If that's the case, try vacuuming the laptop's inlet/exhaust grills, and make sure air flow underneath the machine isn't obstructed in any way (I see way too many people putting their laptops on soft surfaces like beds or couches but they always get annoyed when I tell them "you know, you really shouldn't be doing that").
Many laptops have poorly designed ventilation and there's really not much to do about it, but you could try blocking up the rear end of the laptop on something to allow for better airflow. Also, as a diagnostic help, some computers can sound an alarm if they sense overheating. This usually has to be activated in the BIOS or possibly in the Windows power management settings.

[Mr Flibble]

Random restarts are a bitch to identify, I ended up replacing an entire computer before I located the cause. The bad news is that it can be caused by literally any component failing.

The most obvious causes would be the connectors between the laptop and the battery but you could also have bad ram or a broken graphics card. The latter seems to make sense given you experienced restarts during a movie.

[Leon]

Is it a shutdown, a reboot of a freeze? You use all expressions here but have different causes. A loose connection would cause a reboot, low power a shutdown and electrical interference a freeze. My guess is a software problem, being driver or virus/nagware.

The fact that you can scan all night without a problem but can't install anti-spyware makes me wonder. I bet that the machine developed more heat while scanning than while installing sw so I'd scratch the heat/power thing. Maybe try a good combination of scanners (www.hitmanpro.com). I've used the free version 2 many times. I'm not sure what the commercial version does but I know that version 2 is still functional and available through torrents.

[Mr Flibble]

I've never known a virus to cause hardware issues. Also if it was a software thing, it'd probably happen in a more regular pattern.

[Leon]

I've never known a virus to cause hardware issues.

Who says it's failure of the hardware? The virus can address hardware and thus cause trouble.

Also if it was a software thing, it'd probably happen in a more regular pattern.

That's why I asked if it's a reboot, shutdown or freeze. But believe me, they can do the most irregular things with your hardware and even cause shutdowns and reboots. It's not always that you have to perform an action to get the result. Once the virus(application) is active, it can cause trouble, if you're working on it or not.

You might want to check in your registry at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run to see what gets started automatically and if there's an application that shouldn't run automatically. Just delete the ones you don't want to startup with (after you've made a backup). If unsure, just check the web to find out what these apps do to your system.

[SpacePaw]

overheating for sure. Acer laptops tend to have problems with the fans and overheat. Disassemble and clean the fan (or just blow really hard). I have acer myself, had the same problem

[Tuomas]

You know what. I thought about overheating, but completely fogot to mention about it. I also thought there would have been a sound there. But that must be the reason to it. I don't even want to tell you where my computer was placed at the time, but lets say the air didn't quite go round as supposed to.

Anyway, the little pads they have on the bottom of these are rarely enough to provide even decent ventilation, and I've been thinking of building some sort of a stand to bring it up a bit from the stand it's on. And on a bed I won't keep it. But I bet that's' the problem. I hope nothing got permanently damaged when I restarted the computer.

Oh and yeah, to some people asking, it didn't reboot, just shut down. And, I reckon this problem I'm having with Spybot is unrelated, but a bit scary. I might try some other program instead since it just freezes the computer. Any suggestions? I hope this problem is solved with a raised "ventilation system"

[Akatosh]

I had this sort of problem with my last laptop. A raised ventilation pad can help a bit, but it depends on the severity of the problem - it didn't do the trick for me, but it may work just fine for you. And no, there is no sound or anything - just a momentary freeze, two knacks from the speakers and shutdown.

[SpacePaw]

Also one of the vent holes is probably covered with some kind of spoonge. Try taking it off - helped a lot in my case. No overheating problems now

[Matti]

Meh! Now I have the same problem - Overheating!

I can't even play a shooter anymore, after 10 minutes the laptop is hot as %&$/§ and shutting down... and it's only 7.5 month old.

Hopefully it can be repaired..

[rharpe]

If you KNOW it's a heat issue, (which it usually is with laptops,) buy a laptop cooler!
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&Description=laptop+cooler&x=0&y=0