# HELP! Laptop randomly shut off. NOT OVER HEATING! Screen Brightness?



## ellimistx99

Hello everyone,

Sorry about the caps in the title, but I'm at my wits end here. For the past month or so my laptop is randomly shutting off. In the middle of me surfing/watching a movie anything at all. It will randomly shut off. I've checked my temps with speed fan and gpu-z for the gpu and they are well within normal range. So here is the crazy thing, when it does turn off, I can't just press on and it's all good. When I turn it on, it goes through the motions and will turn off at the "Starting Windows" screen (it's Windows 7 by the way).

The only way I can get it to turn on is I keep spamming the button to reduce brightness on my laptop. Then after a couple of tries it eventually makes it to the desktop. Then, the first thing I do is go to power options, turn the brightness to the lowest possible settings and make sure I go into the advanced section and set the Maximum Processor State to 80%.

If I don't do that, or turn the brightness up the computer will shut off within a couple of seconds or minutes. Making sure everything is power save mode, I can get it to run for a couple of hours or overnight at times, but it ALWAYS shuts off.

I've checked temps using software, I've basically sat it right on top of my a/c and tried to put the processor state at normal and turn the brightness up and it just shuts off.

PLEASE HELP!

- Ellimist


----------



## eXXon

Welcome to OCN









I'm assuming you have the power plugged in & not running on batteries when this happens, right?

Does this happen in safe mode as well? If not, disable the GPU driver in 'Device Manager' and restart.

If the problem goes away, uninstall your current drivers & download the latest one depending on the maker:
AMD Mobility drivers
Nvidia Go drivers

Here's how to put your rig in your sig:
http://www.overclock.net/t/1258253/how-to-put-your-rig-in-your-sig


----------



## ellimistx99

Thanks for the reply. Glad to see this forum is active when I joined.

I don't think it's my GPU but I will give it a shot when I get into safe mode. The fact that I have to go to power settings and have to turn down my screen brightness and essentially limit my processor in order to prevent it from shutting off. Also, on my laptop there is a button to limit my GPU to low power mode. I always have this one on and it prevents my GPU from going to it's max speed.

All that being said, I'll try the safe mode. In the mean time do you have any other suggestions?


----------



## Crazy9000

Could be a power supply problem.


----------



## ellimistx99

Hmm a power supply on the laptop? If you're referring to the AC brick, I had that checked, in fact I bought a new one and had it tested with another laptop of a similar make/model. Unless there is a way for me to check the voltage incoming via software.

I tried speedfan to check the voltage but it wouldn't report them. CPU-Z reports voltages though...


----------



## Crazy9000

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ellimistx99*
> 
> Hmm a power supply on the laptop? If you're referring to the AC brick, I had that checked, in fact I bought a new one and had it tested with another laptop of a similar make/model. Unless there is a way for me to check the voltage incoming via software.
> 
> I tried speedfan to check the voltage but it wouldn't report them. CPU-Z reports voltages though...


I'm no expert on the subject. AFAIK if you swapped the brick, that should rule out power supply problems.


----------



## eXXon

Other suggestions:
- Could be an overheating issue with the CPU or other vital component on the mobo. Use a can of compressed air & spray it in the vents in short bursts.

- Try plugging in an external monitor to your laptop & switch between screens.

- Could you report back with the temps of the CPU & GPU ?

- Update or Reset your Bios to default settings.


----------



## Crazy9000

Also try a linux live CD. May tell you if it's just a HDD/windows issue.


----------



## ellimistx99

Alright just gave it a shot.

Safe Mode: Still powers off, so no luck there.

Trying next: Linux live CD

Resetting BIOS settings: No luck there

My temps for my cpu are steady around 47 C and GPU are around 55 C


----------



## BakerMan1971

one thing to try, does it run without the battery in?
dead or faulty batteries can cause issues running a laptop, besides not holding a charge.


----------



## ellimistx99

Hmm so I tried a linux live cd and still the same issue.

Didn't know about the battery thing, going to try that next and report back!


----------



## ellimistx99

Just tried without the battery,

I think it made it worse. Even though my battery holds 0 charge.

I have no idea what could be wrong.


----------



## nz3777

Thats strange! I had similar issues with my old Toshiba laptop before I decided to build this rig ( thank god I did ) anyway.... Since you have ruled out its NOT the power brick is it possible you could of somehow courrupted your hdd? Thats what my Toshiba did as soon as I would boot into windows bam FREEZE~! Do you have a copy of the os operating system cd? If you do I would maybe try re-installing it see if that helps any.







.... a RE-FORMAT sometimes helps with ALOT of problems,at least for me it did! Yet another option for you if your brave?..... Open the sucker up! But you gotta be really really careful those things are sooooo fragile I even managed to crack my toshibas screen by pressing on it just a little harder! You gotta have a feather touch when you mess with laptops so be careful if you decide to open it up! I would open it and investigate for any signs of trouble, maybe it just needs a good cleaning you know?


----------



## ellimistx99

I've already gotten it cleaned so that's ruled out. I'm not sure it's the OS, because I have dual boot into Linux and the problem persists there as well.

I'm pretty sure it's a hardware issue. I just haven't figured out which one. Sometimes my HD temp does get reported at around 50C. Apparently my HD is not supposed to go past 44C? Not sure if THAT could cause it. It doesn't just freeze, it shuts off. Completely. Like I pulled the plug.

Another thing that may be important to note is when it does shut off by itself, it takes a couple of tries to turn it on. Like 6 - 7. Each time I try it gets a little closer to the windows login screen. So the first time I turn it on after a shutoff, it'll turn off say 10% into the "Windows is Starting Screen". Then 20% into it, Then 40%, etc. Till it finally gets to the login screen and then it's good.

While this may be an indication, me turning my processor back to Normal performance with normal display brightness (i.e. not the lowest) will cause it to turn off in a matter of minutes. I elaborated elsewhere the steps I have to take to prevent it from turning off.


----------



## nz3777

Hmmmm that is really strange issue your having! So you pretty sure its hsrdware related you said? would u be so kind as to post the laptop model number? I hope we can resolve this for you i knò how annoying it can be believe me.


----------



## eXXon

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ellimistx99*
> 
> I've already gotten it cleaned so that's ruled out. I'm not sure it's the OS, because I have dual boot into Linux and the problem persists there as well.
> 
> I'm pretty sure it's a hardware issue. I just haven't figured out which one. Sometimes my HD temp does get reported at around 50C. Apparently my HD is not supposed to go past 44C? Not sure if THAT could cause it. It doesn't just freeze, it shuts off. Completely. Like I pulled the plug.
> 
> Another thing that may be important to note is when it does shut off by itself, it takes a couple of tries to turn it on. Like 6 - 7. Each time I try it gets a little closer to the windows login screen. So the first time I turn it on after a shutoff, it'll turn off say 10% into the "Windows is Starting Screen". Then 20% into it, Then 40%, etc. Till it finally gets to the login screen and then it's good.
> 
> While this may be an indication, me turning my processor back to Normal performance with normal display brightness (i.e. not the lowest) will cause it to turn off in a matter of minutes. I elaborated elsewhere the steps I have to take to prevent it from turning off.


I know you ruled out high temps, but what you are describing is an overheating component(s) which triggers the forced shutdown to prevent melt-down of said component.

Try this, when it shuts down, don't try to turn it on immediately, wait for 15 minutes & then turn it on. If my guess is correct then it should power on straight away.

Then we just have to figure out which component it is......easy. lol.


----------



## ellimistx99

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *eXXon*
> 
> I know you ruled out high temps, but what you are describing is an overheating component(s) which triggers the forced shutdown to prevent melt-down of said component.
> 
> Try this, when it shuts down, don't try to turn it on immediately, wait for 15 minutes & then turn it on. If my guess is correct then it should power on straight away.
> 
> Then we just have to figure out which component it is......easy. lol.


When I say I've ruled out temps, I really mean it lol. I have tried that. Hell, just last night, it turned off while I was watching a movie. So not wanting to spend 20 mins turning it on, I left it off the whole night in my air conditioned room. Woke up in the morning and tried to turn it on. Same issue. No luck.


----------



## cdoublejj

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *Crazy9000*
> 
> Could be a power supply problem.


Nail on the head.
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ellimistx99*
> 
> Hmm a power supply on the laptop? If you're referring to the AC brick, I had that checked, in fact I bought a new one and had it tested with another laptop of a similar make/model. Unless there is a way for me to check the voltage incoming via software.
> 
> I tried speed fan to check the voltage but it wouldn't report them. CPU-Z reports voltages though...


Well if by some chance it's power problem and not the brick it could be the charging circuit or VRM transistor... if it's a power problem.

EDIT:
Quote:


> Originally Posted by *BakerMan1971*
> 
> one thing to try, does it run without the battery in?
> dead or faulty batteries can cause issues running a laptop, besides not holding a charge.


that too.


----------



## BakerMan1971

Hi ellimistx99

I wonder how tight is the power connector into the laptop, and does it move more than it did when new?
one of the most common repairs coming into my shop were laptops that had the power connector inside the laptop broken
or loose connection.


----------



## Mr-Mechraven

I could be completely wrong here but....... given how the laptop will post past BIOS and then fail repeatedly at various stages of log on screen, could this be software & hardware issue ? I will explain >>

As we know when a laptop or PC boots up it starts at the BIOS then loads the drivers/registry/OS, the moment the windows logo comes together indicates the point where the OS is in control and all the drivers have loaded etc ( << hopefully this makes sense ). If for some reason there is a faulty driver/registry/or corrupt OS then this would cause similar issues seen here ? Also to bare in mind , what if the hard drive is failing AND the OS is either corrupt or drivers/registry is corrupt etc.

The fact it takes 6-7 attempts to get going is something ive seen occur when there have been driver issues/corrupt OS/ registry issues, and hard drive failures.

Now i realise he has tried the Linux thing, but is the above a possibility ? Just putting it out there.


----------



## cdoublejj

next time you reboot it, tap F8 just as the bios finishes to get to the same mode menu, select "disable automatic restart". I have had some that seemed liek they were rebooting but, really they were blue screening but, it happened so fast you couldn't see the blue screen, not even 1 frame just a black screen then bios.


----------



## subzero5150

I can't believe this thread went on as long as it did and no one has mentioned that it may be a bad processor. I know this thread died a few months ago, but someone might be reading this that has the same issue and may be looking for an answer. I would suggest running a utility like Heavy Load (Jam software). Run just the stress test on the CPU if it shuts down as soon as the test starts or almost immediately after then I would suspect a bad CPU. It is possible fellas... CPUs can go bad. If it's a multi core processor it's possible that one of the cores is bad.


----------



## amzippity

I know this is an old thread, but I'm having the same problem with my Toshiba laptop.

It has been turning off randomly for a long time. One second it has power, the next it's completely off.

I isolated this to only occurring when the lid is open. This does not happen at all when I'm running it on an external monitor.

When the lid is open, sometimes it occurs after it's been on for tens of minutes to an hour or so. Sometimes it happens seconds after I touch the power button. When I try to turn it on and then shut the lid to keep it powering on (on the external monitor), sometimes it takes 6-10 tries for it to work and power on fully.

I would love to use my laptop without the external monitor.

Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance for your help.


----------



## TheReciever

I would try what cdoublejj mentioned to see if that option is enabled, it was on my a54c and it would auto reboot at any error


----------



## amzippity

It's not restarting, it's just suddenly turning off. It doesn't proceed to turning back on.

I can have the computer running for weeks/months with an external monitor and the lid closed. (I don't shut it down often as I have to open the lid to turn it back on, which can be problematic). As soon as the lid opens, or quickly thereafter, it will shut down. Every time. This has never happened with the external monitor. There are no other differences except for the external monitor, screen being on with the lid open, and the position of the lid. The lid typically isn't moving when this happens.

The laptop never travels and stays on one desk most of the time. It's on a stand that has holes built into the bottom of it and it is not overheating.


----------

