Dell Vostro 3500 shuts down no warning - help?

BenEadir

Hi all,

I've a Dell Vostro 3500 with a 2.4Ghz i5 processor, 500G HD and 4G RAM running Win 7 professional. I have it 2 years and it's been the most reliable machine I've had in many a year.

All of a sudden today it just shut down, no warning no nothing. I figured maybe I clicked on an OS upgrade or something so rebooted and up it came no bother. It didn't come up with a warning about not shutting down properly last time or anything like that.

45 minutes later it did exactly the same thing and now I'm worried.

I'm in a cool room and the machine, although warn to the touch isn't boiling hot and the fan seems to be working away fine.

Anyone got any ideas what's going on or can anyone suggest a diagnostic tool to try and suss out what's going on? I've a feeling the machine is either over heating or thinks it's over heating and shutting down but that's a pure guess.

Any suggestions much appreicated.

Ben

Voodu Child

Use CPUID HWMonitor to check what the temps are like.

BenEadir

Thanks VC,

Installed CPUID HWMonitor and the reading are:-

THM - 67c

Intel Core i5 520m
- Core #0 - 66c
- Core #2 - 66c

ST950042 0AS
- Assembly - 42c
- Air Flow - 42c

The app hasn't been running long so the min/max temps are more or less the same as the values listed above +/- 2c.

Can you give me some guidance on the readings? Good/Average/Bad???

Ben

Voodu Child

What are you doing on the computer when it reaches those temperatures?

If the computer is idle or only being lightly used, then those temps are a lot higher than I would expect. Check CPU activity with the performance monitor if you're not sure. It would be an indication that the cooling system isn't working properly. The most common cause is just that the vents, fan, heat fins etc are clogged with dust.

If the computer is being highly stressed, then they'd be fairly normal temperatures. I wouldn't expect thermal shutdown until somewhere around 90-100 C.

BenEadir

Hi VC,

I'm just running MS Outlook, Firefox and perhaps one more application like MS Word, Excel or Office. In the background Carbonite online backup runs all the time as does Unified Remote although Task Manager shows a total of 90 processes running.

Is there a DIY way of cleaning the vents, fan etc?

Ben

BenEadir

VC,

Temps are now up to

86c
80c
85c
50c
50c

In the same order as originally laid out above!!!

Am I nearing meltdown time????

Ben

Voodu Child

BenEadir wrote: »

In the same order as originally laid out above!!!

Am I nearing meltdown time????

Ben

Yep, that pretty much confirms that overheating is your problem, 80-85C is very high for the CPU and will be pretty close to thermal shutdown.

Cleaning the dust out of the laptop varies from model to model, check the service manual for more details. Basically you want to make sure there is no dust blocking the intake and exhaust. Most laptops have a heatsink with cooling fins which the fan blows through, you want to give a blast of compressed air through these fins (outwards) if possible.

I'd also check all the background apps and services to see is there something using a lot of CPU cycles.

Alanstrainor

Voodu Child is spot on. It's simply overheating and shutting itself down before any damage is done.

I presume you're not using the laptop on an unusual surface like a bed, or something like that?

As said, it's probably as a result of dust building up in the intake and exhaust.

BenEadir

Thanks VC, I'll try and figure out how to do that.

Have a good weekend.

BTW Temps now up to 95c, 93c, 93c, 52c & 52c!!!!

Ben

Voodu Child

If you need to use the laptop for something important short-term (such as finding the service guide or ordering canned air :pac:) then you could try throttling the CPU to 50% or thereabouts (advanced power settings > processor power management > maximum processor state).

It might give you extra time before you reach thermal shutdown.

As Alan said, your laptop is shutting down to protect itself so there should have been any damage done.

BenEadir

Hi Alan,

Just using the laptop on a coffee table/desk, no cloth or aything underneath.

I've seen can's of compressed air for sale in the IT section in Tesco so I guess I'll buy some of that and see if I can take this baby apart. I'm sure I'll be able to take it apart, putting it back together again will be the problem!!!

Ben

mp22

before you take it apart turn laptop upside down get the hoover, put the nozzle at the cooling fan exit and suck away for a minute or two.(laptop unplugged and shut down)

BenEadir

thnaks MP, good suggestion.

I called Dell and told them the situation. They got me to run some diagnostics and the machine shut down during the test. The call centre guy concluded that it's unlikley to be related to the cooling system as the machine wouldn't just start up again immediately if it had shut down due to high temperatures. He reckons its a temperature regulator/sendor issue with the motherboard so they are sending an engineer out on Tuesday to swap the motherboard.

I'd forgotten I'd taken out an extended warranty on the machine when I bought it, thank God I did!!! I had terrible trouble with previous Dell laptops but this one has been trouble free, up to now :rolleyes:

Thanks lads.

Ben

Alanstrainor

BenEadir wrote: »

thnaks MP, good suggestion.

I called Dell and told them the situation. They got me to run some diagnostics and the machine shut down during the test. The call centre guy concluded that it's unlikley to be related to the cooling system as the machine wouldn't just start up again immediately if it had shut down due to high temperatures. He reckons its a temperature regulator/sendor issue with the motherboard so they are sending an engineer out on Tuesday to swap the motherboard.

I'd forgotten I'd taken out an extended warranty on the machine when I bought it, thank God I did!!! I had terrible trouble with previous Dell laptops but this one has been trouble free, up to now :rolleyes:

Thanks lads.

Ben

Cool. Have a look and see if there are any dust monsters in there when they take it apart!