Laptop issue.

[Jess]

Every now and again my laptop turns itself off, sometimes it's once every couple of hours, or sometimes it more like once every 20 minutes. It's driving me mad, at first I thought it was probably a virus but I've ran a couple of virus checks and found nothing. Any ideas, anybody?

[Yamaneko]

Could be overheating. Could you give the specs of the machine? Do you know how to get into the BIOS and check your CPU temps?

[theundeadhero]

Does it flash to a DOS screen for half a second before shutting off, or is it like when your tv is on and the power goes out for just a second causing your tv to go off and then back on?

[Jess]

It's a Fujitsu Siemens Laptop, it's 64 bit, Processor 3700+ and it has 263 MHz, 896 MB of RAM.

I thought it could be overheating, as it does get pretty warm sometimes but it always has and I've not had this problem until recently.

I don't know how to do any of that, either.

EDIT: It's like a TV. The screen goes black and it just shuts down - it doesn't turn itself back on, though.

[Yamaneko]

Athlon 64 processors are designed to be used in desktops where they get better airflow, but many notebook manufacturers will use them (and P4s) regardless. It could be that it's getting slightly warmer than you noticed before because the thermal paste between the core and heatsink is thinning out and not conducting heat onto the heatsink as well as before. Even a slight increase in temps can trigger the BIOS to shutdown the system before damage to a component occurs.

Do you notice is shuts down quicker when you've been using processor-intensive applications? Like running a virus or spyware scan?

You can always enter your machine's BIOS by hitting a key while the machine is booting up. It should tell you what that key is. Try F2, Delete or F12 if you can't. The notebook's user manual should say. Once in the BIOS there should be a section that shows your cpu and motherboard temps. The cpu should idle somewhere around 40-65C. Anything in the 70's and definitely anything in the 80's is bad.

[Jess]

Thankyou very much, Yams.

Is there nothing I can do about it, then?

[The Summoner of Leviathan]

Could it be your battery/power settings? I know after being inactive for a while while on my battery my laptop will shut down too if I do not have the right settings on.

[Yamaneko]

Download SpeedFan. It's a program that accesses the temperature sensors in your machines. Post the temps you get when your run the program.

As for the battery, it could be the case, I don't know that much about battery settings. Does it still shutdown if you're plugged into the wall?

[Jess]

I don't think it is the battery. When I first got the laptop I had problems with the battery a few months afterwards, but that has been fixed, and my laptop is pretty much always plugged in.

The temperatures I'm getting are:
HD0: 39C
Temp1: 78C
Temp2: 61C
Core: 56-57-80C (it keeps changing)

I'm guessing that's not too good, and I've got my window wide open (it's freezing!) and I think that's helped so far a little as it hasn't shut down yet today and it has been up and running for 2 hours.

[Yamaneko]

Yeah, 80C is no good. If you're still under warranty Fujitsu should fix it 'cause if it is overheating you're not going to have a productive summer next year.

[Jess]

It hit 90C earlier. :o

Thanks for all your help, Yams! I will check if I'm still under warranty and get it fixed if I am.

[rubah]

I think 90 is approaching egg-frying temperatures.

[Jess]

I think I might actually start cooking using my laptop, it would save me walking to the kitchen.

[Yamaneko]

It's already been done with a 360.