Laptop powering off.

[xMyuuchanx]

My Dell Vostro 1200 laptop powers off itself at the most random moment.

I tried bringing it over to a PC shop but they couldn't effectively solve the problem. The technician told me he suspects that I overwork my RAM so the laptop crashes, and he did a simple system adjustments for me. However the problem is still not resolved.

It can power off unexpectedly when I'm not running any applications.

There are times when I switch it on again after the power off, I selected 'start windows normally' and get prompted to do a start up repair (which I have already did for a few times) and it's still not solving the problem.

One thing I noticed is that when it powers off itself, I hear an echo-like sound through my speakers/headset. What is that?

And when the echoes fade off (I have my battery charging), I see my battery light lit up again - usually a few seconds after the power off (indicating that I can switch on my laptop).

I do not think it is an overheating problem. The overheat lights are not flashing.

Is it a hardware problem? Or...

[libertypo]

!. Test ram
2. Try running the pc without battery
3. test disk
4. Even better try to use a live cd to try to boot

[xMyuuchanx]

!. Test ram
2. Try running the pc without battery
3. test disk
4. Even better try to use a live cd to try to boot

Oh dear, I'm not a computer whizz.

How do you normally test for RAM/disk?

I have tried running the laptop without battery, it powers off unexpectedly too.

Thanks for the suggestions!

[daniyagami]

If you don't know much about how computers work it's useless that you run the tests yourself, you can't analyze the results. My best suggestion is take the computer to a shop again, explain the problem and ask them to solve. If you have a hardware issue there's no much to do anyway, only an expert can solve the problem replacing the defective piece. Laptops are particularly complicated to make maintenance, so an expert is the best option.
It's very common than computer shops don't want to solve old computer issues, they want you to buy a new one, so you need to be persistent.


From aarinfantasy:
I used to have a noisy laptop too, and I took it to the manufacturer of the laptop, also Dell. The Dell in my country (Malaysia) will change whatever problem there is for their laptops when under warranty... even to the point of changing everything inside the laptop for free. My problem was: The noise is because of overheating and also the motherboard problem. Both of the parts were changed by Dell and now the laptop is working well. It is always best to check with Dell's technicians instead of any pc shop technicians.

[KarumA]

How much RAM do you have?
Right click my computer and check it under properties.
You could try using Memtest to see if anything is corrupt with your RAM or not.
You might need to replace the RAM, enjoy your Dell, but if it isn't your RAM perhaps it is the battery needing replacement

[xMyuuchanx]

I was hoping that someone would pull out some good guides for analysing the results, if possible. I would google myself, the thing is I do not know which is right one, there might be wrong infos out there. I just want to at least know what's wrong with it.

I'm still debating on whether to send this over to the shop again (since I can still use it, and it only crashes from time to time) or wait till it completely break down before I go send it to the shop because I'm still using this laptop for work and I'm reluctant to work on other people's computers. Besides, they charge quite some money for checkups and I don't want to pay for nothing like I did already, and they are generally slow with the repairs since they're quite busy too.

Anyways, thanks for the advice!

---------- Post added at 10:48 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:44 PM ----------

How much RAM do you have?
Right click my computer and check it under properties.
You could try using Memtest to see if anything is corrupt with your RAM or not.
You might need to replace the RAM, enjoy your Dell, but if it isn't your RAM perhaps it is the battery needing replacement

It's a 2GB RAM running with Windows Vista. I have it replaced a year ago when I busted the original one.

I'll try to test it out, thanks for bringing up the attention!

It shouldn't be the battery because when I run without the battery it still power off without warning.

[daniyagami]

The more you use a defective computer the more the problem will get worst. You can burn your computer completely.
BTW I don't think you have a memo issue. Sounds much more like a power supply issue.
I'm disappointed. I stopped here to help you and you give everybody a thank you but me.
So I'm stopping to help.
Good luck.

[xMyuuchanx]

The more you use a defective computer the more the problem will get worst. You can burn your computer completely.
BTW I don't think you have a memo issue. Sounds much more like a power supply issue.
I'm disappointed. I stopped here to help you and you give everybody a thank you but me.
So I'm stopping to help.
Good luck.

Excuse me? Would you please check again, I did thank your post, if that was what you meant. And yes, that was before you replied this thread for the second time.

-> Laptop powering off. 02-23-2010 10:45 PM daniyagami Thanked Post (GMT+8).
And your second post was at: Today, 10:48 PM #7 (permalink)

Thank you for clarifying the danger of using a defective computer, I'll try to pick a good time to send it to an expert again. Though I'm a bit upset on how I was accused of not thanking you when I did.

Still, thanks for your efforts in replying here.

[libertypo]

It's not that we don't want to help you but this is not an exact science....it can be anything from the power supply ( including cables ) to the motherboard. It must be checked step by step excluding everything that works...sorry

[xMyuuchanx]

It's not that we don't want to help you but this is not an exact science....it can be anything from the power supply ( including cables ) to the motherboard. It must be checked step by step excluding everything that works...sorry

It's alright, I understand it's hard to identify a PC problems over the Internet, I'm just looking for possible advises from people that may have encountered a similar problem or experts.


Thank you!