Laptop Shuts Down Randomly

#1 amu1130

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Posted 13 July 2007 - 11:54 PM

Hey everybody,
I have an HP Pavilion notebook (a somewhat older model with a PIII). I have never really had any problems with it until one night it just appeared to shut off randomly. The power LED remained on, the screen went basically black (I could faintly make out what I had been working on still). The only way to reset the computer was to totally remove the battery. Over time the problem became more frequent. Thinking it was a software issue (God only knows why I thought this) I reformatted. However, at this point, I could only keep the computer on for a maximum of about three minutes so I am currently without an OS. Tonite I took apart the whole unit looking for anything visible (ie busted capacitors, etc.) but found nothing more than dust. While I had everything dismantled, I tried re-installing my OS, only this time I aimed a hair-dryer on the 'cold' setting right at the CPU. This time I made it roughly 20-25 mins into the actually installation of the OS but it ultimately powered down again. I have no idea where to go from here.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!!!

#2 oldf@rt

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Posted 14 July 2007 - 12:05 AM

Since you have an idea of the inner working of this laptop, there are a couple of things to try first: replace the cooling fan, it may be difficult to find, but I have seen these on e bay. remove the heat sink, clean the cpu and the bottom of the heatsink, and reapply thermal compound, making sure that both surfaces are spotless. use no more than a grain of rice sized drop of the thermal compound let us know the results, please.

This post has been edited by oldf@rt: 14 July 2007 - 12:05 AM

The name says it all -- 59 and holding permanently

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#3 amu1130

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Posted 21 July 2007 - 10:12 AM

Hey thanks for the reply! Unfortunately, the methods you outlined failed to work for me. I wound up disassembling the fan and cleaning it out, as well as applying new thermal compound, but the problem persists (it actually seems to have gotten worse somehow lol). Any further suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!