Acer aspire laptop keeps shutting off by itself

[jamie_20]

i just bought a used acer aspire 5315 laptop yesterday.
i reinstalled vista on it and it was working fine, now today it keeps shutting off on its own after like 5-10 min.
The CPU Usage is usually at 100%. Im not sure if this is the problem or not.

i tryed installing windows service pack 2 but the computer would always turn off before it had a chance to finish.

What should i do ?

 

[ohiou_grad_06]

Sounds like an overheating issue.

 

[digitalprospecter]

Ohiou_grad_06 has a good suggestion there. The 5-10 minute window of time certainly suggests an overheating issue. Is the fan spinning? Is the notebook sitting on a soft surface that might be blocking airflow underneath?

Using compressed air to blow out the vents for the cooling fan might help.

However, the 100% CPU utilization also makes me question possible infection, malfunctioning program, or bad device driver

Try restarting in Safe Mode with Networking and use the notebook for a while to see if the freeze still occcurs. If not, then it is time to start updating drivers and testing programs.

Cheers!

 

[digitalprospecter]

You can access Safe Mode with Networking by using the F8 key. In fact, a good way to stress test the system in Safe Mode would be to scan for possible infections (low chance if you just did a fresh install yesterday). Try this:

Restart your computer in 'Safe Mode with Networking Support'.
(To do this: Power on your computer and start tapping the F8 key at the top of your keyboard rapidly until the Windows Start Menu appears. Then select the Safe Mode with Networking Support menu option and press the Enter key)

Open your web browser and go to www.malwarebytes.org

Download their free malwarebytes program from their main page

Install the program on your computer and run it.

Update the Malwarebytes program and do a full scan.
(You may be asked to restart. Do so, but use F8 key to return to Safe Mode)

Let us know the results of the scan and whether or not any symptoms persist and we will troubleshoot deeper.

Cheers!

 

[ohiou_grad_06]

The thing making me question malware is because he says it happens when attempting to install windows xp. My other question for the op, did you try install xp from within vista? If so then could be malware. Also seems unlikely for malware to get in in a single day, but possible. Were you running any type of antivirus on it?

 

[digitalprospecter]

The thing making me question malware is because he says it happens when attempting to install windows xp. My other question for the op, did you try install xp from within vista? If so then could be malware. Also seems unlikely for malware to get in in a single day, but possible. Were you running any type of antivirus on it?

Hi ohiou,

I don't see the OP saying he installed XP. I think the SP2 he refers to is the Vista Service Pack 2 (unless I'm missing a post somewhere).

Cheers!

 

[ohiou_grad_06]

Oh i see I misread. Then in that case, yes definitely run malware antibytes, also do the same with spybot search and destroy, and immunize the web browser. I would also be curious if these things do not work, what happens if he either reinstalls or does a restore back to when the system worked. If it is a malware infection, I would also recommend installing avg or avast antivirus as soon as you get the system clean. Also, once it is clean, run the immunization function in spybot search and destroy as it should help protect you against some well known threats.

 

[ohiou_grad_06]

PS, Acer makes a decent laptop. I'd never used Acer before, but we bought my wife one for Christmas and I am pleased with it. May even be faster than my desktop.

 

[digitalprospecter]

I've always had great luck with the Acer brand.

 

[ohiou_grad_06]

Lol, admittedly I was on the dark side for a while, Working for a school, so we work on a lot of macs. But I gotta say the acer was just over 400, 4 gb of ram, 320gb drive, dual core amd and full keyboard. I'm sold.

 

[digitalprospecter]

I started out on the Apple IIe. They were great computers... we had to save and load from cassette the first year...then we moved up to 5.25" Single sided floppy disks!

 

[jamie_20]

thanks for your replies...
the computer finally stopped shutting down on its own. it was overheating. i have it propped up ontop of a book right now LOL, so air can get to the bottom of the computer and it hasnt shut off once. so i guess i need to go out & get one of those fan thingys for my computer to sit on.

 

[digitalprospecter]

Hi jamie,

That is good news (and bad news). Good that we know the cause, bad in that you might need a replacement fan for your unit. Though overheating will happen even with a good fan, if the air cannot flow. The notebook cooling platform would be a good idea regardless.

Please consider selecting a Best Answer from the above posts so that other forum users will know that this thread has a solution for them. Thanks!

 

[ohiou_grad_06]

Go to your local radioshack/computer shop and see if they have some compressed air. With any luck, you may be able to blow compressed air into the vents and possibly this may blow some dust off the fan blades and help it.

 

[digitalprospecter]

I think the OP tried that earlier in the thread... or did she skip over that step? <grin>

 

[jamie_20]

Best answer selected by jamie_20.

 

[digitalprospecter]

Excellent. Glad your problem is solved jamie!

 

[Glenndrew]

Two important things that you should do to fix a laptop which keeps shutting down are:

1- Scanning computer to eliminate malwares, spywares and the viruses from your laptop.

2- Repairing and cleaning Windows registry.

These two tips are found to be very helpful to fix the laptop shutdown problem.
I also got some help from this article Laptop Keeps Shutting Down
Hope it works for you.

 

[nikorr]

Two important things that you should do to fix a laptop which keeps shutting down are:

1- Scanning computer to eliminate malwares, spywares and the viruses from your laptop.

2- Repairing and cleaning Windows registry.

These two tips are found to be very helpful to fix the laptop shutdown problem.
I also got some help from this article Laptop Keeps Shutting Down
Hope it works for you.

This thread is about 2 years old : )

 

[nikorr]

This topic has been closed by Nikorr.