Computer Randomly Shuts Down

pineapplesandwaves

I have a Compaq Presario R3000 (laptop) and it randomly shuts down. It could last 10 hours without shutting down or it could shut down minutes after start-up. I'm a student, so I am on my computer quite frequently, and there are some days when it shuts down a dozen times. Other days, once or twice. Initially, it was more of a pain in the ass than anything, but it's been occurring more frequently lately and is definitely problematic.

Does anyone know what the problem may be. I just wanted to see if it's something I can fix (maybe I have incorrect settings?) before calling in a computer guy and paying him a ridiculous amount of money to cure an easily fixable problem.

I'm about to begin writing my thesis paper and can foresee plenty of tears of anger and frustration if I don't resolve this soon.

Any feedback would be great! Thanks!

aNiMaL

wow, that's a difficult one to troubleshoot, not being with the laptop myself.

Try this:

Remove both your battery and the power cord. With both removed, hold down the power button onm the laptop for 60 seconds. This will drain the receptors on the motherboard of any stored power, and sort of internally resets the hardware.

After the 60 seconds, plug just the power cord in and power up the laptop. Then you can insert the battery again after it is powered up. See if that makes any changes. If the problem still exists, try leaving the battery out and see if the problem goes away.

Brisk.

virus??

power pack problemos

contact the manfucaturers of the pc

Deni

I BrisK I wrote:

virus??

power pack problemos

contact the manfucaturers of the pc

Yes. It sounds like a virus to me. I had a computer that did that and it turned out to be a virus. And I let it go and let it go... and never fixed it... and then... my pooter BLEW UP! Like seriously. (Why the hell am I talking like some valley chick?) Anyway, yeah. It could be a virus. I'd run a virus scan or take it to a place that has a diagnostic machine.

Good Luck!

belfast1

i say we bin the computers and go back to ye olde typewriter (as eddie uses)

i'd buy shares in tippex

pineapplesandwaves

aNiMaL wrote:

wow, that's a difficult one to troubleshoot, not being with the laptop myself.

Try this:

Remove both your battery and the power cord. With both removed, hold down the power button onm the laptop for 60 seconds. This will drain the receptors on the motherboard of any stored power, and sort of internally resets the hardware.

After the 60 seconds, plug just the power cord in and power up the laptop. Then you can insert the battery again after it is powered up. See if that makes any changes. If the problem still exists, try leaving the battery out and see if the problem goes away.

Thanks! I'll give that a try!

Thanks for everyone's suggestions. I definitely know it's not a virus, as I do frequent virus checks.

BenInTacoma

This sounds like a power supply issue. Probably have to have that replaced.

restlesssoul

HI I was gonna post this exact same thread, and then i saw it.

So youve helped this person and he has a laptop, im using a pc. i have exactly the same problem. It just shuts off. Could be five hours, could be 10 minutes. It just shuts off all the time.

Ive scanned for viruses and nothing comes up, could you please offer some advice for me? What should i do??? THanks, any help greatly appreciated.

depopulationINC

I wouldb shocked if this was a virus, I would be suprised if it was something to do with the external power supply. Confact the manufacturer to see if there was a recal, and check out online reviews for complaints. My ol sony had a recal for the same thing. Touch on both sides of the mouse pad. If it is rather hot, the fan is always on, or there is no temp di, it is likely internal.

Thecrownofthorns

This will tell you if it is hardware or if something in windows (or windows itself) is causing this.

You NEED xp on this system to perform it.

Go to start, control panel, click on either performance and maintenance or system (depending on which one) if you clicked on performance and maintenance, click on system, click on the advanced tab and click on settings under Startup and Recovery and when you get to this next screen, uncheck Automatically restart after system failure

Now, hit the OK buttons on everything. Wait until it shuts down or gives you a nice big blue screen of death (You'll know it when you see it).

Post it here for us to interpret.

BTW, If it restarts and this feature is unchecked, It is most definitely hardware inside the tower. Bring your computer to a computer store to get repaired.

restlesssoul

wow thanks for that......ill let you know if it works okay.....you are great.