Help: Notebook shuts off

[Film in a bowl]

Notebook: Fujitsu N3010.

Everytime I play Quake 3, it shuts off after 5 minutes. Everytime I try to render my DV clips in Adobe Premiere or After Effects, it shuts off. Everytime I decrypt a DVD, it shuts off. Please give me a solution to this problem.

It could probably be an overheating problem. But after playing Quake for 5 minutes, it shuts off even if it wasn't hot in the first place. I don't think 5 minutes can heat it up that quickly. And if i'm wrong, what can I do about it?

It isn't the hibernation mode since I already deselected it. It isn't my battery since it's fully charged.

I can't even edit my video which is due in a week

Thanks for your time
Lance

 

[htmlmasterdave]

Maybe whatever cooling the cpu has is loose? So when it idles it's just below the point where you'll crash, but as soon as you put a load on it it gets too hot and has to halt.

 

[TheCanuck]

Sounds like heat. I've seen this in a couple of Pentium 4 based laptops (yours is a 2.8ghz right?)-- thermal shutdown is set for around 90C if I remember correctly. One fix is to blow out the heat vent / grill with a can of compressed air. The other is to take it apart, remove the heatsink & old thermal paste and put some new arctic silver on it.

Download mobile monitor and post what your temps are (idle and load):

http://www.geocities.co.jp/SiliconValley-Oakland/8259/

Try running prime95 for a while and see at what temp it shuts down. If the CPU temp doesnt get above 70 then it might be the GPU that is having problems.

 

[Film in a bowl]

Thanks guys.

I'll try out your advice canuck.

 

[Film in a bowl]

Canuck, i think you are right about the heat problem. While using prime95, when it reached 87C, it shut down. So would adding new artic silver solve the problem? I've made desktops, but i always hesitated with opening the laptop's case. I'm worried that it would be more fragile, and plus if i do open the case, the warranty ends.

Lance

 

[MightyB]

Well if it is still on warrenty take it back then and make them work for their money! Just remember to save your stuff before you turn it in!

Best regards
MightyB

 

[Tiamat]

Yeah, back up your harddrive on DVDs or CDs then take it in. They might pull a surprise "we are gonna give you a new laptop."

 

[TheCanuck]

Yeah if it is still under warranty I'd let them do the work. If not then double check that the fan is functioning properly and that the heatsink / grill doesn't have any dust in it. Once it hits 60- 70C the fan should be kicking into high gear. Then obviously the last thing would be to remove the heatsink and put some arctic silver on it. I've heard that on some laptops the original thermal grease can dry out / not conduct properly anymore -- you'd think they'd put something decent on these things!

This Sager guide to putting on Arctic Silver may help (I wouldn't bother lapping the heat spreader though):

http://notebookforums.com/show...2&page=1&pp=15

But like everyone says, if it's still under warranty don't open it up. Get as much use out of that warranty as you can!

 

[Film in a bowl]

Yes, I guess i would have to use my warranty even though the store is 100 miles away from me. The problem i had the other time was with my usb not reading properly. I went the extra distance for the warranty, and their only solution was "the usb is being displayed by windows, but it's not reading. To resolve this issue, just reformat with the original winxp home edition (i installed the pro)."

That response pissed me off. So i went home that day, thought of all the solutions other than reinstalling, and discovered that if i just simply uninstall the usb drivers and let the computer autodetect the drives, it would read again.

As for any of you, it's that huge Fry's superstore. That's why i came onto this forum to find the solution. You guys are much more worth the cost than the warranty that stupid place provides.

P.S. thanks for the back-up reminder. I will do that now.

 

[Film in a bowl]

Btw, what's the best notebook cooler? Is the artic silver 5 good enough?