BleepingComputer.com: Vista on Dell 1520 abruptly shuts down.

Hello,
I am running Windows Vista Home Premium SP2 on a Dell Inspiron 1520. This is a 3 yr old laptop and with the battery being completely dead since the past one year, I have been running the machine by plugging it into a socket.

Now, sometime last month, the machine started shutting down abruptly. This used to happen at random intervals, with no set pattern. Sometimes it would run fine for days, while other times it would shut down within 15 mins of startup. The shut down behaviour was as if someone had removed the power supply - the laptop would just go point blank dead.

I had the machine checked - the fan was found to have dust blockage so it was cleaned up. And the thermal paste was found to have dried up, so a new layer was applied. The machine ran well for some days, but then the same shut down problem started again. I had it sent back to the technician, but it supposedly runs fine when he's testing it (he loads the machine with video, audio and a couple of programmes).

So, I get the machine back home, and lo-behold the problem is back. And as before, its abrupt, with no set pattern.

I ran a Speccy: http://speccy.piriform.com/results/B3v3lzxGLT4FX2hn1maWZBo
and as you can see, the CPU is running at 60 degrees celsius (with one malware bytes scan and one firefox window running).
Is that too hot for a laptop? Or is it normal?

I have an authentic version of Kaspersky Anti Virus installed, and I regularly run Malwarebytes, Ad aware and Spybot, so I am pretty sure that I am not infected.


I am afraid that once I start using my regular programmes on it (heavy, intensive 15hr periods of Auto CAD, Photoshop and Sketchup) the machine will again start shutting down. Any suggestions anyone?

I would clean out your computer with a nice can of compressed air.