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My laptop turns itself off (and on!)

adamfairs

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Posted January 30, 2012 at 8:28PM

A few days ago my Toshiba Satelite Pro A120 turned itself off after a few hours of me working on it. I turned it on again. It switched itself off almost straight away. Sometimes it switches itself off after a few seconds, sometimes minutes, sometimes hours. It also switches itself on.

The battery hasn't been in the laptop for months. The cat knocked some water over it a few months ago but I dried it out and it's been fine since.

Does anyone have any ideas of any tests I can do to narrow down the problem? Or could anyone suggest which part could be the cause?

Cheers

Adam

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Fruit Bat /\0/\

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Posted January 30, 2012 at 8:50PM

The turning off sounds like an overheat problem, make sure all vents and grills are clear of fluff, and good airflow round and under it, may be use a laptop coo;er to help keep it cool.

Switching on is usually because Wake on LAN or Wake on Ring is enabled in the BIOS, boot to BIOS and make sure they are disabled.

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adamfairs

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Posted January 30, 2012 at 8:57PM

Thanks very much for the reply.

I should have said; at the moment, the cover is off and there's plenty of airflow so it shouldn't be getting overheated.

I'll check the bios, thanks.

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lotvic

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Posted January 30, 2012 at 9:06PM

"the cover is off"

On a laptop??

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adamfairs

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Posted January 30, 2012 at 10:05PM

Yep. Sorry. I've taken the monitor and top bit of the case is off so that the fan and motherboard are exposed.

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robinofloxley

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Posted January 30, 2012 at 10:43PM

The fan usually sucks in vertically from bottom and blows horizontally out through fins in the side.

By taking the cover off, you have broken then expected air flow path.

Try putting the cover back on. Or lay a book or coaster or something on and feel if air starts coming out the side properly.

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robinofloxley

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Posted January 30, 2012 at 10:45PM

Also try Core Temp to see what your temp(s) are.

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