As per the title. My laptop cant seem to stay on for more than a couple consecutive minutes. It's just losing power, not going through the full shutdown procedure.
My first thought was overheating issues, but it'll do this almost immediately, even when it hasn't been used, and it seems cool.
Any ideas?
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Laptop incessantly powering downFollow
First though for me is run through your power options- is it doing this when plugged into the wall?
- does it do the same thing on just battery power?
- if it's one you can run with the battery out but connected to AC try that and see if it works
that would point me to trying to find a same model computer to try the battery from if possible.
Beyond that... it's 1 am, I'll leave it and check back tomorrow see what else has been suggested.
- does it do the same thing on just battery power?
- if it's one you can run with the battery out but connected to AC try that and see if it works
that would point me to trying to find a same model computer to try the battery from if possible.
Beyond that... it's 1 am, I'll leave it and check back tomorrow see what else has been suggested.
Gwenorgan wrote:
First though for me is run through your power options- is it doing this when plugged into the wall?
- does it do the same thing on just battery power?
- if it's one you can run with the battery out but connected to AC try that and see if it works
that would point me to trying to find a same model computer to try the battery from if possible.
Beyond that... it's 1 am, I'll leave it and check back tomorrow see what else has been suggested.
- does it do the same thing on just battery power?
- if it's one you can run with the battery out but connected to AC try that and see if it works
that would point me to trying to find a same model computer to try the battery from if possible.
Beyond that... it's 1 am, I'll leave it and check back tomorrow see what else has been suggested.
It seems to work fine when it's on battery, but fails when it gets plugged in. Seems odd...I've had it plugged in here a lot, and it's never given me an issue.
Perhaps that narrows things down?
How long is it plugged in/turned on before this starts?
Also turn down the 'plugged in' power profile to match the 'battery' profile and see if the problem continues.
Also turn down the 'plugged in' power profile to match the 'battery' profile and see if the problem continues.
Raolan wrote:
How long is it plugged in/turned on before this starts?
Also turn down the 'plugged in' power profile to match the 'battery' profile and see if the problem continues.
Also turn down the 'plugged in' power profile to match the 'battery' profile and see if the problem continues.
I've got it plugged in now, and it seems to still be going strong. I suspect my fiance left it powered on and plugged in for the full day yesterday. I guess that's the difference? Forgive my ignorance, but I had no idea that could cause the comp to fail.
You might have a lose power connector that wasn't making full contact, or possibly a bit of debris in the power plug hole. That or that particular outlet may actually be having electrical issues in the house. If it starts doing it again, you may want to take a look at the voltage rebulator or the power supply brick as a potential culprit.
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Eske Esquire wrote:
Raolan wrote:
How long is it plugged in/turned on before this starts?
Also turn down the 'plugged in' power profile to match the 'battery' profile and see if the problem continues.
Also turn down the 'plugged in' power profile to match the 'battery' profile and see if the problem continues.
I've got it plugged in now, and it seems to still be going strong. I suspect my fiance left it powered on and plugged in for the full day yesterday. I guess that's the difference? Forgive my ignorance, but I had no idea that could cause the comp to fail.
It won't cause the comp to fail, but it will cause the battery to heat up nicely. The heat from the battery plus the higher power settings from running on AC, in a laptop that isn't getting proper airflow for whatever reason, can cause it to overheat and shut down.
If you've had that laptop for awhile it might be a good time to remove the bottom covers and go to town with a can of compressed air.
Dread Lörd Kaolian wrote:
You might have a lose power connector that wasn't making full contact, or possibly a bit of debris in the power plug hole. That or that particular outlet may actually be having electrical issues in the house. If it starts doing it again, you may want to take a look at the voltage rebulator or the power supply brick as a potential culprit.
If it was a connection issue it should have been defaulting back to the battery, not shutting down.
And if the battery had charge below the minimum threshhold for which the Laptop is set in the battery management software to automatically shut down, he would be shutting down. it's usually about 3-7% charge, depending on laptop manufacturer and whether the default settings have been changed.
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Dread Lörd Kaolian wrote:
And if the battery had charge below the minimum threshhold for which the Laptop is set in the battery management software to automatically shut down, he would be shutting down. it's usually about 3-7% charge, depending on laptop manufacturer and whether the default settings have been changed.
The battery was fully charged, so I don't think that's it. I did notice that the battery was unusually hot when I was having the issues, so perhaps Raolan is on to something.
Haven't had an issue today, so I'll just file this stuff away for if (but more likely, when) it happens again. This laptop is four years old, and has had a lot of usage, so I'm not surprised it's starting to chug. Gave it a pretty thorough cleaning about a month ago, so hopefully that'll serve.
Thanks for the advice all. At least I've got some things to monitor.
Dread Lörd Kaolian wrote:
And if the battery had charge below the minimum threshhold for which the Laptop is set in the battery management software to automatically shut down, he would be shutting down. it's usually about 3-7% charge, depending on laptop manufacturer and whether the default settings have been changed.
In that case laptops usually go through a normal shutdown, not just crash. And it wouldn't have turned back on.
It was also mentioned that the laptop ran fine on battery alone, so the battery had a charge.
A 4 year old laptop battery isn't going to hold much of a charge though. It might be running out of battery in only a few minutes. If someone wasn't particularily paying attention, 10-15 minutes on battery could easily pass and lead to a crash. If its a newer battery than it could be something else. Or it could have been the power management software kicking in and crashing. Laptop battery managers aren''t necessarily the most stable of programs to begin with.
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I agree that a battery that old is likely worthless, but even so the laptop should be powering itself down once the battery hits it's critical level, not crashing. If it was a battery management/power management issue I would agree, but crashing while under AC and running fine under battery is pretty much the exact opposite of what would be expected with a power management issue.
The battery is junk at this point, but it does hold about an hour and a half charge right now. One hour if I'm really taxing it, I'd say.
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