I have a friends laptop (AJP 8640 P2.4 40Gb HDD 256Mb RAM Win XP Home) which is cutting out totally when put under the tiniest pressure, ie it gets about about 3 mins into a Spybot check and then turns off. The main cooler works fine. It can be seen and heard spinning but is pumping out very warm air from the start. There is a smaller fan exit at the other end of the case nearer the HDD which hasn't spun for the time I've been looking at the problem. The case around the HDD is much much warmer than anywhere else at the point of powering down. There are no warnings when it is about to turn itself off. If left on doing nothing it lasts between 1 & 2hrs before shutting down. When I say shutting/powering down I mean instantly - not the 'Turn off computer' Windows option. I suspect the HDD is overheating and powering down the whole unit rather than the CPU overheating and hanging the system. Should that smaller fan I refer to either be on 100% of the power up time/on a thermostat? Is it possibly the HDD itself which has a developed a physical problem and causing overheating? Are there other issues I should be considering? If it's the little fan are they straight forward to replace? My experience is intermediate with desktops but a relative newb to laptop repair. Cheers.
First I'd check that there isn't too much dust on the inside.Thick layers of dust can severly affect a fans efficiency and may be causing the overheating. Also if you know there is a fan there and its not working have i replaced. Either get a technician to do it or open it yourself and find the fan you need.
I'd be curious to see what the CPU temps are first. You can download something like [google]SiSoft Sandra[/google] or [google]Everest Home Edition[/google] which should be able to read any temperature readings available. The other thing that comes to mind is faulty power. The AC adapter and/or battery(ies) could be bad or have poor contacts, so you might wanna check that out.
