Laptop Cutting out & getting very hot

anto8791

My brother recently came to me with some laptop trouble he is having.
Firstly when the a/c adaptor is plugged in and laptop is running , it could suddenly cut out. It also seems to be getting very hot when on for even 20-30 minutes. Thinking it was the something to do with the battery (trying to narrow down possibilites anyway), I took out the battery but the same thing is happening. Maybe something to do with the fan ??
There is no warning or anything before it turns off...I have had it now for a few days and nothing yet...He is looking for it back by the weekend as he is still in college and needs it....
I have been trying to burn everything he needs on DVD and just wipe it and reinstall everything..but it wont stay on long enough:mad:
Oh BTW its a Packard Bell Easy Note E3245. I have found a compatiable battery on Ebay for about €100 incl postage here
Any help appreciated
Thanks alot

mobby

Could be the cooling fan is gone and causing the laptop to overheat which will cause it to shut down. You could pick up a USB had disc caddy like this
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=46341&criteria=hard%20disk%20caddy&doy=27m9 put in the hard drive and get any data off it that way.

DirkVoodoo

Can you hear any fan noises? Does it spin up under load? Could be a fan. You haven't recently opened it up have you?

anto8791

DirkVoodoo wrote:

Can you hear any fan noises? Does it spin up under load? Could be a fan. You haven't recently opened it up have you?

There does seem to be fan noises...Very loud all right..I had this laptop up to about 9 months ago and the noise out of it was never as loud as is now.
I havent opened it at all..Dont think the brother has either...He probably wouldnt know how:D
If its the fan where/how would be the best place to get it sorted ??

Access

Packard Bell laptops have the same overheating problem as the older dell inspiron laptops. (I should know as i have a dell 5150 inspiron)

The problem lies with the bad design of the cooling grills on which the fan is mounted. Dust buildup hampers the air flow and the processor gets very hot very quickly. The laptop then shuts down to protect the processor and motherboard.

Thats why the laptop keeps shutting down so fast.

Use a vacuum cleaner to suck out as much dust as possible and try using a compressed air gun to blow out the rest.

Google "dell laptop overheating problem" for more info.

anto8791

mobby wrote:

Could be the cooling fan is gone and causing the laptop to overheat which will cause it to shut down. You could pick up a USB had disc caddy like this
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=46341&criteria=hard%20disk%20caddy&doy=27m9 put in the hard drive and get any data off it that way.

How difficult is it to take the hard drive out of a laptop...never done that...Done it with plently of PC towers all right though:D

Tom Dunne

It pretty much the same. Golden rule, as with all pc components, don't force anything. If it doesn't come out easy, look for unseen clips/screws/flaps.

Another thing that struck me - are you sure it is the processor overheating? Just double-check where the heat is coming from before you open it. If it's only 9 months old, isn't it still covered under warranty?

One final thing, grab a linux boot disk and boot into Linux. See if/when the problem occurs there too.

anto8791

tom dunne wrote:

Another thing that struck me - are you sure it is the processor overheating? Just double-check where the heat is coming from before you open it. If it's only 9 months old, isn't it still covered under warranty?

Apologies probably didnt make myself too clear on this:o
I boutght the laptop about 3-4 years ago. I then upgraded last year (about 9 months ago) and the brother got the old PB laptop....Which now has the problems!!
I have been checking out a few things on the interweb and from advice here as well.....Seems kinda unanamious that it is the fan by all accounts causing the problem.
Now I think :eek: (doesnt happen very often believe me!!) that my first step should be to clean all the dust out like this report details very well.
Hopefully that should sort it and we can get things back up and running again!!
Thanks to one and all for advice..
Will post back up when have the cleaning done to let ye know how things went !:D

Tom Dunne

anto8791 wrote:

Apologies probably didnt make myself too clear on this:o
I boutght the laptop about 3-4 years ago. I then upgraded last year (about 9 months ago) and the brother got the old PB laptop

No, you were quite clear. 'Twas me who was dopey an mis-read it.

Serves me right for alternating between Boards.ie and an Oracle database.

anto8791

Update: Had a clean up of the laptop last night. Took the fan cover off and cleaned it with cotton buds and can of compressed air. Put it back together and it stayed working..........for alot longer than previously had..Still died and was very hot :mad:
Decided to get bit adventurous then so took off the fan cover again...Then removed the fan itself..Underneath of the fan was destroyed with dust so cleaned that up...Then stuck the cotton bud near the vent for the fan.....and by Jebus was there alot of dust there....about 8-9 mm thick and about 30-40mm long.....:eek:

Now that was about 11:30pm last night after watching Liverpool nearly throw away the 3 goal lead so will start up the laptop tonight and see how things go with it..

Cheers for everybody help yesterday...

Ruu_Old

My laptop can be a pain if I don't get it raised up a tiny bit off the surface of the table (book or whatever) to get enough airflow.

Access

Jesus anto, thats the last time i give advice to you....

Was i right or was i right about the fecking fan grill!

Laptop + Dust = no more cold winter nights!

kaimera

Same happened to me with a diff brand.

After weeks of it acting up it was returned under the insurance I took out.

Was expecting a new psu fan but the docket said "cleaned". Bah.

it's been fine since but I have been keeping it raised 2 inches off the desk at all times.

Capt'n Midnight

tom dunne wrote:

It pretty much the same. Golden rule, as with all pc components, don't force anything. If it doesn't come out easy, look for unseen clips/screws/flaps.

some times screws are under the battery or you have to unclip plastic bits, or remove the keyboard, thankfully they seem to be stopping ye olde trick of hiding it under a sticker

google for the manual for your laptop - usually the HDD comes outeasily with one or two screws

TempestSabre

My Sony seems to hoover up dust too. needs a good clean every so often.