Laptop shuts down

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GeorgOle

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Hi,

My laptop (Fujitsu-Siemens Lifebook C-Series, WinXP SP2) has started to behave very strangely. When I boot it, log in to XP and just leave it idle it shuts down approx 7-8 mins after I pressed the start/power button. I shuts down instantly without any warning or pop-up boxes. If I then try at start it up again immediately afterward, it turns on for 1 sec or so and then shuts down. If I then leave it off for 20 min then I can boot it, log in to XP but then again it shuts down instantaneously. The fan never runs!

Because of this somewhat systematic behavior I have considered this to be a thermal related issue. That perhaps my fan is broken and therefore the laptop overheats very quickly and shuts down. But somehow something doesn't add up. A laptop CPU (or whatever unit causes the presumed overheat trigger) should not be able to overheat after just 8 mins of operation: boot up, log in and idle. Should it? The laptop outer case does not seem hot (or even warm) anywhere! I tried to open up the laptop, boot it and wait for it to shut down. But could not find anything that seemed hot.

What could be causing this problem?
I would greatly appreciate any help or hints.
In advance, thanks.

Cheers,
Georg
 
CPU's get very hot very quickly, even more so in a laptop where airflow is restricted.
How old is the laptop?
Is it still under warranty?
 
The laptop is relatively old, with no warrenty anymore.
I've been trying to install a program that allows to monitor the CPU temperature.
But Speedfan only registers the harddrive temperature.
Are there any (free!) alternatives to speedfan?
Is buying a new fan an option? Do you have any experience with this working / not working?
Or is it simply not worth repairing a relatively old laptop, when you can get a new decent laptop at reasonable price.

...G
 
As to if it's worth repairing the laptop only you would know that.
If you do want to get it looked at, lots of adverts for laptop repair places in Micro Mart out on a Thursday at most good newsagents, that is if you are in the UK?
As for doing it yourself, they are much more harder to do than desktop pc's!
 
I had a laptop that just started to shut down unexpectedly and it turned out to be the hard drive which I replaced and runs fine again - however a thermal issue is more likely.

Could be the fan has become u/s as normally it will start up the moment you boot - are you able to to take any of the rear covers off to have a look and see if it is operating when you first start and also give a good clean around that area to get all the dust etc out?

If Speedfan is unable to monitor the CPU temp it could be that the laptop is so old it may not have the needed sensors available for programs to be able to read - as feckit said try Everest, and maybe try Coretemp or Real Temp too.
 
As the other posts say it sounds thermal...Try removing the fan and blowing clean with compressed air.I had a sh*tty Acer Aspire where this same thing was happening..The fan can become clooged with dust and seaze..CPU's can over heat in milli secs..Remeber the more processes it has to do on start up the hotter it wil run....
 
Yes, looks like CPU overheat. Make sure the vents are not obstructed, and open the bottom panel where the fans are, and make sure the fans are not jammed with dust. I had a Toshiba Satellite P20, which became clogged with dust and the computer would cut off as soon as the CPU usage goes to about 80%!
 
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