Laptop shuts off suddenly

Laptop shuts off suddenly laptop keeps shuting off suddenly but differently in windows and linux

#1 essar

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Posted 17 November 2009 - 12:10 AM

I have a Lenovo 3000 N100 laptop. It has windows XP SP2 /Suse dual boot. It's battery went kaput long ago, so I keep on running it by mains power. The laptop is three years old and used heavily.

Today it suddenly stopped, while I was working in windows. I restarted and again it went off after 15 minutes or so after booting. The booting was perfect. I tried some more times in windows it boots perfectly and then died.

I ran Linux, it was all working fine and I worked for more than an hour before it died again.

The way it dies is similar to what happens if I suddenly remove the power source, it produces a similar kind of sound that way.

Is that a power issue?

Soliciting the opinions of the experts here

_essar

#2 garmanma

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Posted 17 November 2009 - 12:32 PM

If it just goes black and shuts down with no error message, I would suspect overheating
Get a can of compressed air and aim the nozzle in the vent holes, both on the bottom and on the sides
you might have to do this a couple of times

Mark

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#3 techextreme

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Posted 17 November 2009 - 12:50 PM

It is also very possible that you dc jack is broken internally and works when it is in the "right" position. But when you move the laptop a certain way, you break that connection for a second and down your laptop goes.

It is also possible that your power adapter has a broken wire internally. And it is also doing the same thing, cuts power when moved.

When the laptop shuts down, immediately look at the power light and see if it is still on or flickering.

Off and or flickering are indicators of both conditions.

Hope this helps,

Techextreme

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#4 essar

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Posted 17 November 2009 - 04:23 PM

Many thanks for your replies. I cleaned the fan and other vents with compressed air. There was dust but not that much I expected, considering the fact that the comp. stayed in a dusty place for more than two years and it got its first cleaning in 3 years.

I'm also ordering a new power adapter. I came across an old post in some other forum that in Lenovo 3000 computer keeping a dead battery while drawing power from mains is not the best thing to do as that might lead to some 'stability issues'. I was just doing that :thumbsup:

Now I've removed the dead battery and for the last one hour or so the machine is running normally. Touch wood.

So far I remember that the light just goes off without any flickering while blackout.

Thanks again