Laptop keeps turning itself off, help!

[bigbadish]

Hi guys,

I have an Acer Aspire 3000 (although it's got a 3003 sticker on it) and I've had it for about 3 or 4 years.

Over the past 6 months or so it has decided to turn itself off at random moments in time, which is a real pain. Therefore I thought I'd reformat the hdd and reinstall windows to see if that helps, but to my horror it turned off the reinstall and keeps turning itself off at the "installing windows files" stage so I can't install windows on it now

I opened a few panels on the back and think that it may be getting too hot. That being my diagnosis I have taken a few pictures of where I think (please correct me if I'm wrong) the CPU is and what I think is the heatsink.

I booted the laptop up and when it turned itself off after about 2 minutes I felt the silver metal thingy on the pic and I must say it nearly gave me 3rd degree burns.

Therefore I was hoping someone could give me some ideas on what may be the cause of it just turning itself off and also, if it is the CPU getting too hot can I add some Thermal paste, for example onto the panel that seems to lay ontop of the heatsink?

Any help would be really appreciated.

Piccies:

And the annoying thing is I've just bought a wireless PCMCIA card to wifi it and it won't work

 

[beermonster]

Its probably blocked heatsink fins, where the grill on the side is you should get a good flow of hot air, if its restricted it will sound like the fan is running full tilt for a small air flow, you can either use a can of compressed air or strip it and remove the heatsink, respaste and clean the fins.

That sink pictured just looks like a chipset cooler rather than the cpu cooler.

 

[bigbadish]

Ah right ok, well the side grill was throwing out hot air, but I still opened it up, found the fan and gave it a good going over and removed the dust deposits from the grill.

However it's still turning itself off, so is there another fan/grill somewhere that I don't know about as there are two other covers to take off, the hdd one and then the one pictured.

I won't smother thermal paste on the pad then until I know it's the right place to do it!

 

[bigbadish]

That sink pictured just looks like a chipset cooler rather than the cpu cooler.

Could I assume if the chipset cooler is getting extremly hot it's something to do with the CPU - as I don't know how it works but does the heat get passed on to the silver plate to the right of the CPU?

Cheers.

 

[bigbadish]

OK,

So I removed the heatsink and applied some thermal paste, and it did last a good 15 or 20 minutes into the windows install before it turned itself off again

Can anyone tell me what the thing is in the pics next to the 3M tag - is that the chipset cooler, and what will cause that be become extremely hot?

Thanks.

 

[beermonster]

It will be a chipset or graphics chip, if youve cleaned the cpu fan and repasted the heatsink i'm a bit puzzled to be honest. They will get hot but the sink should provide enough cooling, it looks like it transfers heat on to the cover as well via the pad.

 

[bigbadish]

Well I've finally been able to install windows, but I'm seeing it idle at ~72% CPU Usage whilst being at desktop....

 

[beermonster]

Only other thing it could be is the heatsink has become less efficient over time, would you say the air coming out the vent hot or only warm, if the latter then maybe a new heatsink would fix it, could probably find one on the bay.

 

[bigbadish]

Only other thing it could be is the heatsink has become less efficient over time, would you say the air coming out the vent hot or only warm, if the latter then maybe a new heatsink would fix it, could probably find one on the bay.

Well it is a good 3 or 4 years old.

The air coming out of the exhaust is more hot than warm I would say.

Would a new heatsink remedy it, or ill i possibly need a new CPU too?

Thanks.

 

[slasher]

Well it is a good 3 or 4 years old.

The air coming out of the exhaust is more hot than warm I would say.

Would a new heatsink remedy it, or ill i possibly need a new CPU too?

Thanks.

I would suggest that you don't change the heatsink or CPU as this is the correct one for the notebook

Few things to check,
The ventilation holes are not blocked with dust - use a vac to clear all holes
Check that the BIOS settings are correct, back to default if poss (worth a try as one of the voltages may be set too high thus creating more heat - but is unlikely)

Try leaving the cover off the area where the heatsink is located to see if that helps, if you haven't done this already

Try a coolpad, Zalman ones are very good

Hope this helps

Dave

 

[slasher]

Only other thing it could be is the heatsink has become less efficient over time, would you say the air coming out the vent hot or only warm, if the latter then maybe a new heatsink would fix it, could probably find one on the bay.

Just my opinion...
I would find it unlikely for the thermal properties of a heatsink to change unless clogged up with dust.

Changing the heatsink would do nothing, unless it's actual shape had changed i.e. become concave or convex of which a new heatsink would solve the issue

I would check to see if the heatsink base is level

 

[beermonster]

Well it is a good 3 or 4 years old.

The air coming out of the exhaust is more hot than warm I would say.

Would a new heatsink remedy it, or ill i possibly need a new CPU too?

Thanks.

If the air is hot then no, it appears to be doing its job.

Just my opinion...
I would find it unlikely for the thermal properties of a heatsink to change unless clogged up with dust.

Changing the heatsink would do nothing, unless it's actual shape had changed i.e. become concave or convex of which a new heatsink would solve the issue

I would check to see if the heatsink base is level

Heatsinks can fail i've seen plenty do it, what causes it I'm not sure of but no amount of paste or cleaning can make them work, but as this one is blowing hot i'd be inclined to leave it as is.