Laptop keeps switching off.

C

conny

Joined
30 Jun 2008
Messages
16,765
Reaction score
2,300
Location
Suffolk
Country
United Kingdom
I have a Dell Inspiron 15 3000 laptop which suddenly, and without warning, switches itself off.
It's around 18 months old and generally used for surfing the net, (News, emails, FB, DIYNot etc).
As it is only a 100Gb hard drive I store all my photo's on a separate external HD so it is not cluttered. On one of the rare occasions it stayed on for a while I ran a deep Norton scan but it found nothing.
Last night when it started doing it again it suddenly popped up with, "Windows failed to load correctly. Click Shut Down/Restart/Diagnose etc"
So I clicked Diagnose and it said some files MAY be corrupted. It then gave the option to back up all my files to a different drive so I saved them to the external one. It then proceeded to re-format my drive wiping it clean of everything and re-installed it back to the factory settings.
This morning I tried to re-load my AV and various other things such as E Mail, FB etc but it switched off again.
I removed the mains lead in case tat was the problem but it still did it on full battery power.
Sometimes I was able to re-start it by pressing Enter but other times I had to use the power button.
Running Windows 10

Does anyone have any pointers as to what the problem may be, such as a bad joint, overheating, duff processor etc?
My son in law is going tohave a look at it for me tomorrow but just looking for some suggestions for him to look at.
Thanks in advance.
 
Hi Conny, is it completely going dead, or is it perhaps just the screen? I would agree with you, sounds like a weak solder joint in the power feed from either battery or mains. If so, would probably need a new main board, which would cost as much as a new laptop, unless you're lucky enough to find one for spares/repair with just a dodgy screen.
 
Thanks for the swift reply Chalky.
I've just seen a post firther down from Mottie where one of the suggestions was to check the sleep/hibernate times in settings.
Managed to keep this awake for enough time for me to check mine. Some were set to 5 mins and other to 10 or 20 mins.
Have now set everything to never so am testing to see if it stops doing it.
I will let you know how it goes.
Thank you.
 
Has the fan been behaving normally lately, not unusually noisy?
 
Alec_t, it doesn't seem any to be noisy but that was one of the thoughts I had. Maybe a component over heating.
I'm scared to undo the screws underneath because last time I did that to a laptop I severed a ribbon cable from the board.
Have left it on a table beside the sofa for a few hours and thought the settings had cured it but as soon as I tried typing it switched off and on a few times again.
 
When you say switches off, what do you mean exactly? Does the fan cut out and all lights turn off? Do you still bear the disk drive or fan?

How long does it stay awake for roughly before dying and if it dies, does it die even faster if you boot up again?

Random hard power loss can lead to corrupted disk drives. So the windows error may be a symptom rather than a cause.

The prime candidate in these cases is heat. Laptops can get their cooling system clogged with dust which means it can't cool properly. That should result in your CPU slowing down as it gets hot and you should be able to feel hot air or hot parts of the laptop.

Latitudes are very common, there will be a disassembly video on YouTube.
 
Sometimes it switches off completely and I have to press the power button, other times it will come back to life if I hit enter.
I've looked on YT to see how to take the back off safely but all their video's show models with removable batteries and access to the HD/Ram areas.
The base of mine is one piece with no compartment covers.
 
You should be able to find your laptop's model number. That's the key item to use when searching for disassembly videos or guides.
 
This is the label on the keyboard.

Dell Inspiron 15 3000

When I typed that into Google all the models they were disassembling had removable battery covers and access plates to the HD and RAM slots.
 
conny said:
This is the label on the keyboard.

Dell Inspiron 15 3000

When I typed that into Google all the models they were disassembling had removable battery covers and access plates to the HD and RAM slots.
Click to expand...
That's the range but not the model. In car terms it'd be like saying you have a VW Golf. It's true but it doesn't tell you if you've got a Diesel engine or a petrol one or even an EV.

On Dells theres normally a model number or serial number on the bottom on another sticker.
 
My son in law has it at the moment so I can't get any more info.
Thanks for the heads up though.
 
Sorry to bring this back up but it has started again. Suddenly switches off without warning and sometimes comes back after 1 or 2 tries but sometimes have to leave for a while and try again.
I popped the back cover open this morning and gave it a good blow out but didn't notice and dust/cobwebs etc, however, it does now seem to be working.
What I did notice was I turned it on whilst having the cover open and the fan started up but then stopped after a few seconds. Now been on for about 15 minutes and seems to be behaving but is the fan supposed to run continuously or does it cut in when the heat builds up?
 
The fan should start up, part of its diagnostics, then shut down until forced cooling is needed.

It sounds like over heating - maybe download a utility which shows the component temperatures. 'Speed Fan' is one such utility.

I know they can them laptops, but on your knee is not good, if that is how you use it? The cooling vents become blocked and they draw dust in. Better is to have it on a board, on your knee. I use mine on a bit of 5mm ply, which I cut to size. I also blow the vents through regularly, outside, using my compressor.
 
Thanks Harry. I tend to use it on the kitchen table during the day but from about 6pm it's on my knees till about 10.30pm
Will certainly look for the app and also get a piece of board for when it's on my knees. Good point about the dust as I blew it out when I had the cover open and it seems, (fingers crossed), to be behaving itself now.
 
conny said:
Thanks Harry. I tend to use it on the kitchen table during the day but from about 6pm it's on my knees till about 10.30pm
Will certainly look for the app and also get a piece of board for when it's on my knees. Good point about the dust as I blew it out when I had the cover open and it seems, (fingers crossed), to be behaving itself now.
Click to expand...

Pretty much the way I use mine too :-)

My laptop seems to develop an habit of crashing, immediately after Win10 installs an update - it then fixes itself when they make a fix available to repair the last update.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top