Inspiron 4150 Shuts Down Randomly

[shalang]

Laptop began shutting off randomly a couple days ago after I did a BIOS update to A6. BIOS installation completed successfully.

Once shut off I cant power the laptop on as I have to wait for it to cool down or do a power reset (hold power button for 10 seconds while unplugged). Even then sometimes it will power on and shut off immediately. This also happens in BIOS.

Noticed the fan wasn't activating. Opened it and removed the microprocessor thermal cooling assembly (heatsink). Cleaned out the dirt from the heatsink and fan.



Fan works with the heat sink off. Once I screw it back down the fan ceases to work. Done it several times with and without the heatsink and it's the exact same results.

It seems to be the upper left captive screw. I can screw the two right captive screws down and the fan works. I can also screw the lower left captive screw down a bit but not completely or the fan won't work. If I screw the top left captive screw at all (fan controller located above that) fan ceases to work.

Trying to run it leaving the upper left screw unscrewed but still shuts off. Opened CPU ID and it shows the CPU at 36 degrees Celsius. That's not hot at all but still shuts off. The heatsink and CPU were cleaned off and I put Attic Silver on the CPU.

Checked the wires for the fan and it's not pinched against anything. Could it be that the screws that hold the heatsink in are shorting the fan through the motherboard? Even still, it doesn't address the laptop shutting down when the temperature is low.

Thanks

 

[RLGL]

roll back the bios version see if issue continues

 

[LTC8K6]

There's a note at the bottom of your second illustration about damaging the fan power cable?

 

[shalang]

Sorry guys didn't get notification that there were replies.

It says "Disconnet fan cable from motherboard".

Having a hard time rolling back the BIOS since I don't have a floppy drive and the BIOS doesn't support USB booting.

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[shalang]

Rolled back the BIOS and still shutting off. No clue where to go from here. Any other things I could try?

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[Ketchup]

Maybe a pressure thing. Are you screwing the fan down too tightly?

 

[LTC8K6]

Sorry guys didn't get notification that there were replies.

It says "Disconnet fan cable from motherboard".

Having a hard time rolling back the BIOS since I don't have a floppy drive and the BIOS doesn't support USB booting.

(Spam removed)

I see something about the keyboard screw hole and damage to the fan power cable. Presumably the fan power cable can end up blocking this hole, and then when you screw it back together you damage the fan cable? Not sure because it's cut off at the bottom of the image.

 

[Iron Woode]

I had this exact same issue with an HP laptop. The fan stopped working and I bought a replacement. Removed the old fan and put in the new one. Made sure the fan worked before I reassembled the laptop. Once assembled the fan wouldn't work. I must have taken that laptop apart 6 times trying to fix that issue. I finally gave up.

It still sits on my work bench looking at me.

 

[daveybrat]

I'd say it's more possible that the motherboard is just dying. That is an old laptop, Windows XP with a P4 cpu and DDR1. They ran pretty warm and it's probably near it's end of life.

 

[shalang]

Thanks guys.

I just tried updating the BIOS again and it shut down in the process. The motherboard is dead now. Luckily I got this for free but sucks that I just purchased a spare battery for it.

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