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Pls Help - Laptop keeps unexpectedly powering down

Justin

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Toshiba Qosmio x775 Windows 7

the lights just power down and then .5 seconds later the computer turns off. at first i was able to turn it back on immediately after and i was good for a couple of days until it does it again. then when it turned off, i would hit the power button to turn it on, it would come back on from anywhere between a second to 2 minutes, allowing me to log in and do normal stuff before powering down. its weirdly random when it would start being able to turn on again, its either hours or days, or weeks then it starts working for a random amount of time.

OH, also, when it turns off, sometimes it would turn off and on by itself without me touching it.

It also isn't the battery because i drained it, took it out, and tried to use the laptop with just the power brick and no battery and it does the same thing.

i took it to a local computer repair shop, spent fifteen dollars for a diagnosis and they said "it turns back on after it turns off so there's no problem". waste of money, do not want to do again. does anyone know what this could be. is it fixable?

WHO KNOWS COMPUTERS, BUYING A NEW ONE WOULD BE SO BAD CAUSE THIS WAS EXPENSIVE AND IT WOULD BE A HUGE DOWNGRADE I CRI
 
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Try going into the bios and running S.M.A.R.T , short generic and long generic tests on your drive.
 
Justin

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What brand is your PC, I'll write one up for you.
its a toshiba qosmio x775 laptop running on win 7. thanks man, hopefully this works, gonna have to wait till im able to turn it on again though
 
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Pressing f2 on boot may give you the option to go into BIOS, from there you will see boot device order and you should hover over the one that is your HDD and press enter, there will be a few options, some of which will be S.M.A.R.T test, short self test and long self test. If those fail I would suggest looking at either the charger cord or the power input on the PC its self.

(If your power brick has a light that is meant to be on, make sure of that)
(If the battery light isn't on when plugged in that is also a sign of a power issue)
If it isn't any of that it may be a RAM failure, but that is probably not the issue. And its easy to resolve or test if it is.
 
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That computer repair shop knows nothing. The system may be shutting itself off to prevent some damage.
 
J

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It's probaply overheating, either that or most likely a mosfet is blown. Let's start with overheating. Open it up and clean it!
There you go:
Also you'll need some thermal paste, I recommend getting arctic mx2, arctic mx4 or noctua nt-h1, they have great performance and are more noob friendly than the popular arctic silver 5.
 
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Justin

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Thanks for the suggestions all, I tried doing what Professional Professional suggested, but after hitting f2 during startup, there was no way to run any type of generic tests. I'm borrowing some screwdrivers from someone as we speak so I can take apart the laptop, although I have no idea where to clean it :sorry:
 
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Thanks for the suggestions all, I tried doing what Professional Professional suggested, but after hitting f2 during startup, there was no way to run any type of generic tests. I'm borrowing some screwdrivers from someone as we speak so I can take apart the laptop, although I have no idea where to clean it :sorry:
Is the computers fan excessively loud prior to it turning off?
 
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Thanks for the suggestions all, I tried doing what Professional Professional suggested, but after hitting f2 during startup, there was no way to run any type of generic tests. I'm borrowing some screwdrivers from someone as we speak so I can take apart the laptop, although I have no idea where to clean it :sorry:
You need to clean the heat sink and fan. Also, make sure you separate the fan from the heat sink, before cleaning the heat sink.
 
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BTW, you guys should try to troubleshoot the issue before assuming it's one thing and throwing big terms and tutorials at a clearly inexperienced (repair) person, lol.
 
Justin

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Is the computers fan excessively loud prior to it turning off?
I'm pretty sure the answer to this is no, the lights ( on the keyboard ) just turn off then you hear like a silent *pew* as you would if you held the power button to turn it off, then it just shuts down.
You need to clean the heat sink and fan. Also, make sure you separate the fan from the heat sink, before cleaning the heat sink.
Thank you. How would I be able to spot the heat sink? I could google it if they all look pretty much the same in every laptop.
 
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BTW, you guys should try to troubleshoot the issue before assuming it's one thing and throwing big terms and tutorials at a clearly inexperienced (repair) person, lol.
Well, shutdowns like that happen because of overheating, something drawing too much power or a short. A.K.A it's either overheating, or something (like a mosfet) is going faulty on the motherboard.
 
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I'm pretty sure the answer to this is no, the lights ( on the keyboard ) just turn off then you hear like a silent *pew* as you would if you held the power button to turn it off, then it just shuts down.

Thank you. How would I be able to spot the heat sink? I could google it if they all look pretty much the same in every laptop.
You happen to physically clean your computer often? Such as wiping the keyboard, power button, ports, etc?
Well, shutdowns like that happen because of overheating, something drawing too much power or a short. A.K.A it's either overheating, or something (like a mosfet) is going faulty on the motherboard.
I've (unfortunately) dealt with a lot of Toshiba laptops dying for random *** reasons. I have an idea to what his issue is, but I don't believe it's a heating issue. :tongue:
 
Justin

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You happen to physically clean your computer often? Such as wiping the keyboard, power button, ports, etc?

I've (unfortunately) dealt with a lot of Toshiba laptops dying for random *** reasons. I have an idea to what his issue is, but I don't believe it's a heating issue. :tongue:
I have cleaned my keyboards and everything around the area a few times before this started, more so close to when it happened. I never even thought about it for a good while after I purchased it.
 
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I'm pretty sure the answer to this is no, the lights ( on the keyboard ) just turn off then you hear like a silent *pew* as you would if you held the power button to turn it off, then it just shuts down.

Thank you. How would I be able to spot the heat sink? I could google it if they all look pretty much the same in every laptop.
A *pew* before it shuts down? Hmm, that makes me think it's a power issue and not overheating. Honestly, if you don't know what a heat sink is, just get someone to fix it for you. You could try to fix it yourself, but that means that you will need a DMM and probably soldering skills, also a good understanding of how electronics work. You could post a thread here, so that we can try and guide you through the troubleshooting process. Otherwise, you can just swap the whole motherboard, but that would probably cost you no less than 100-150$. Anyway, it's getting late, I can't think properly. Just try what the other members suggest and if it doesn't work, let me know if you want to fix it yourself or replace the motherboard. Btw, I can't be 100% that the motherboard is the issue without actually doing diagnostics on the PC myself.
 
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Btw, you said you've run it on the power supply only? Have you tried it only on the battery? The laptop I'm writing from had an issue, where it would "disconnect" the power supply after ~5-10s. Turned out to be one of the ICs that control the input voltage from the external power adapter.
 
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I have cleaned my keyboards and everything around the area a few times before this started, more so close to when it happened. I never even thought about it for a good while after I purchased it.
A *pew* before it shuts down? Hmm, that makes me think it's a power issue and not overheating. Honestly, if you don't know what a heat sink is, just get someone to fix it for you. You could try to fix it yourself, but that means that you will need a DMM and probably soldering skills, also a good understanding of how electronics work. You could post a thread here, so that we can try and guide you through the troubleshooting process. Otherwise, you can just swap the whole motherboard, but that would probably cost you no less than 100-150$. Anyway, it's getting late, I can't think properly. Just try what the other members suggest and if it doesn't work, let me know if you want to fix it yourself or replace the motherboard. Btw, I can't be 100% that the motherboard is the issue without actually doing diagnostics on the PC myself.
It's an issue with the connector associated with the power button on the computer. It's making the "pew" noise, because it's technically turning off via the button. I'm almost 100% sure it's nothing to do with overheating.

I'm not really sure what to tell you to try to do, since the part is not cheap. It'd be an easy replacement, though. You could try going back to the repair shop to get a quote for replacing the power membrane (this part).
 
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It's an issue with the connector associated with the power button on the computer. It's making the "pew" noise, because it's technically turning off via the button. I'm almost 100% sure it's nothing to do with overheating.

I'm not really sure what to tell you to try to do, since the part is not cheap. It'd be an easy replacement, though. You could try going back to the repair shop to get a quote for replacing the power membrane (this part).
I'm pretty sure the power on button isn't the problem. The *pew* is because the power is cut, while most of the components on the motherboard are still working. The *pew* is actually there, because of the current that's still left inside the capacitors, of course that current gets drawn out fast and the coils start whining for half a second, before the last of the current is gone.
 
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