Dell spontaneously powers down...what should I do?

December 20, 2006 9:00 AM

My Dell Inspiron 8600 has been spontaneously powering down. Your advice: fix/replace/other?

After between 3-6 hours of being powered on, it suddenly and with no warning powers down and restarts. Upon restarting, it will again power down after a much shorter period (~15 minutes), repeating this cycle with diminishing "on" time until it can't power up. And the symptoms seem to be getting worse. When I first noticed the problem, it would only do this once in a while. I mainly noticed it overnight when I'd wake up to a log-on screen.

I called Dell and they had me run a system diagnostic, which found nothing wrong. (Dell had guessed it was a battery or motherboard issue). In the last few days, I've been keeping it off most of the time and only powering it up when I need to check my email or whatever. Luckily, I haven't lost any important data...but it could easily happen.

What should I do? What do you think the problem is? How much might a fix cost (my Dell's out of warranty). Should I just get a new Lenovo (AskMeFi seems to like these)?

posted by timnyc to Computers & Internet (6 answers total)

That sounds like an overheating issue to me. Do you have any kind of system utilities (or maybe something in your BIOS setup) that allows you to check the CPU temperature? When a CPU overheats (usually caused by a CPU fan that's on the fritz), you usually get spontaneous reboots.

I've also heard that bad RAM can cause spontaneous reboots. If you're handy with a screwdriver, trying taking your RAM out a chip at a time and see if the problem goes away.
posted by Doofus Magoo at 9:10 AM on December 20, 2006

I second the overheating diagnosis. My Thinkpad T42 had this problem, and I figured it out by running Mobile Meter, a tiny little application that monitors your CPU temperature for you.

Mobile Meter Website

Just click on the link at the top of the page that says "download latest Mobile Meter here".

You may need to look up what temperature your laptop's automatic shutdown is set for. Mine was 93 degrees celsius, and when Mobile Meter spiked (particular during graphic-intensive applications) the screen would go black and the computer would restart. Sound familiar?
posted by ad_hominem at 9:20 AM on December 20, 2006

I've had similar symptoms that turned out to be the RAM. I've also seen (much more rarely) the memory socket go bad. It may have been some chip that controls the socket but the end result was the same in that I couldn't use that socket anymore. Some models have the second socket under the keyboard so its a pain to swap and test. The service manuals are online that show you what screws in what order to remove to get to things.
posted by dknott123 at 9:24 AM on December 20, 2006

Sounds like textbook overheating to me, too. If this was a desktop computer I would recommend looking for blocked vents, a heatsink clogged with dust, or bad fans. I would also make sure that the heatsink was attached securely, and that the thermal compound was in good shape.

I'm not sure how willing you are to partially disassemble your laptop, but taking a can of compressed air to it in an attempt to blow out any dustwads seems pretty harmless.
posted by IvyMike at 9:28 AM on December 20, 2006

I can't really help you, unfortunately, but I have had similar issues with almost every Dell I've had. Also, I'm not surprised they guessed "motherboard," since those fail like clockwork on Dell laptops.

I'm not sure what a "lenovo" is, but after my experience in the last few years, my opinions on laptops has veered more and more towards "anything but Dell."
posted by drjimmy11 at 10:11 AM on December 20, 2006

My laptop, a Dell Inspiron 5100, would automatically shutdown especially during intensive processes like playing Flash animation.

I figured that it was the CPU overheating, so I placed a thick book under the laptop to prop it up and allow the fan to blow out air more freely. Problem solved!

I would try putting a book under your laptop to let it "breathe" easier. If that keeps it from spontaneously shutting down, I would recommend buying a Targus Coolpad (or a similar product) for a permanent solution.
posted by shoseph at 11:04 AM on December 20, 2006