Acer Laptop keeps turning off

[sherylp]

Hi guys

I have an Acer Aspire 5742 (I think) that keeps turning off with no warning or anything. I will be using it once second and then it just switches off straight to black screen.

I'm not sure if it's overheating or some other reason.

Any ideas?

Thanks
Sheryl

[falconattack]

Originally Posted by sherylp

Hi guys

I have an Acer Aspire 5742 (I think) that keeps turning off with no warning or anything. I will be using it once second and then it just switches off straight to black screen.

I'm not sure if it's overheating or some other reason.

Any ideas?

Thanks
Sheryl

Hi fellow

Do you turn it on after 5 minutes again ?
What is the surface in which is your laptop placed ?
What is your hdd free space ?

At the bottom of the laptop there is a label like this

http://www.laptoppal.co.uk/wp-conten...del_number.jpg

you must give us the information about product and model number

[sherylp]

Ok on that sticker the model is:

Aspire 5742G

The laptop is on a table, so hard surface.

Free space, I'm not sure if I'm looking in the right place, but I think 2.3GB

[falconattack]

Originally Posted by sherylp

Ok on that sticker the model is:

Aspire 5742G

The laptop is on a table, so hard surface.

Free space, I'm not sure if I'm looking in the right place, but I think 2.3GB

First thing

you must place two books one on the left and other one the right to lift up your laptop , after that the fan of the laptop will works better than now

Second thing

you must navigate to Start - Computer looking for hdd capacity

go for it

[sherylp]

Ok got it... 236GB free

[falconattack]

Originally Posted by sherylp

Ok got it... 236GB free

You could download this

http://majorgeeks.com/HWMonitor_d5842.html

checking the temperatures of your laptop

[sherylp]

Ok downloaded and installed

Not sure which numbers I should be looking for

[sherylp]

Ok I see minimum and maximum and what the temp is and they are all in normal range.

The laptop feels ok at the moment too, would be interesting to see if those temps go up when the laptop feels hotter.

When it does turn off it feels quite hot around the air vent area

[falconattack]

Originally Posted by sherylp

Ok I see minimum and maximum and what the temp is and they are all in normal range.

The laptop feels ok at the moment too, would be interesting to see if those temps go up when the laptop feels hotter.

When it does turn off it feels quite hot around the air vent area

Do you raise the laptop ?
If your room is hot your laptop will be hot too

[sherylp]

No I don't usually have it raised. The room is hot in the evenings when the heater is on, but not during the day and it has still done this during the day. It's only the last few days that it's started doing it.

[gloozit]

Falconattack gave you an odd but good thing to do. The books under the laptop. I haven't seen that advanced tip before.
If you are using your laptop, like a lot of people do, you smother the vents. A lap desk is a good investment, if you use you laptop, someplace other than on a table. And a laptop cooler is also a good investment. Both are probably going to cost more than they should.
I have a piece of Plywood, cut big enough to hold my laptop and a mouse. Saved $40.
Watch those temps, in HWMonitor. If they are staying 65C or higher, chances are it is a heat problem shutting your laptop off.
If you are keeping your laptop raised (two books, a lap desk, or a table) and the problem doesn't happen again, then you are fixed.
If it continues, you may have to get a can of Dustoff and blow the vents out well. Do that with the PC off.

[sherylp]

Do you use dustoff from the outside or do I need to open it up to clean the vents?

[gloozit]

I blow off my own laptop, from the outside, mostly. I try to aim as straight as possible, into the main exhaust vent and blow, back and forth across it. I have a wide vent. I also blow into any openings on the bottom. Keep in mind, you are blowing in, so try to aim, so the air can get back out carrying the dust. If that makes sense.
I don't recommend taking your laptop apart, unless you are very handy and have done things like that before. Unless there is a big build up of dust, stuck together by nicotine, a fresh can of Dust Off, should clean your vents and inlets.
BTW it doesn't have to be Dust Off, just any brand of compressed gas for blowing dust will work. Keep the can straight up. And never ever think of using a vacuum.
And power off first!

[sherylp]

Ok I will give that a go I think.

Thanks for the help falconattack and gloozit

Fingers crossed this will fix the problem

Thanks

[sherylp]

Ok, is it possible that it is a problem with the video card and if so what can I do about it.

Yesterday I had my laptop running all day without it turning off. My kids didn't play Minecraft yesterday.

I have noticed that it usually turns off after they've been playing Minecraft.

Today my son downloaded a game called Arma 2. The laptop turned off 3 times and felt incredibly hot while he was playing this game.

Is there anything that I can do to enable these games to run without causing overheating?

[gloozit]

It sounds like it's the games causing the overheating.
I just looked at your graphics chip. It's decent enough for a laptop and should play Minecraft. The other game is more intensive. Not sure how good a score you will get. I was at the low end, but you have a better GPU than I do.
Check here and see where you line up, on the requirements.
http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/cyri/intro.aspx
The lower score you get, the hotter your laptop will get while playing. (That's not what the site is for, but a graphics intensive game heats the GPU)
If you are going to use the laptop for gaming, you are going to need a cooler. Here are some so you can get an idea. http://www.squidoo.com/best-laptop-cooling-pads

And that may not be enough to keep it cool enough.

[sherylp]

Ok, I ran that requirements thing, it says my computer can run it.

On the scale I'm about a quarter way between minimum and recommended.

Maybe I'll give it a big clean with the compressed air like you suggested and possibly try a cooler.

Thanks

[gloozit]

Originally Posted by sherylp

On the scale I'm about a quarter way between minimum and recommended.

Maybe I'll give it a big clean with the compressed air like you suggested and possibly try a cooler.

Thanks

That's about where my laptop was. If i were to play that game, I would go up to around 75C on my GPU, which is hot. Not too hot, but getting there. I have good flow in this laptop, though.
Yes, if you are going to run any games, blow out your vents. A can of Dustoff runs about $5 and sometimes you can get other brands, two cans for that price.
The laptop cooler is something you will need to research a little. Not all of them cool well. I especially liked the one in the link, with the moveable fans. The first one.
I may just build me one similar to that.
I would run HWMonitor, while any games are being played. Stop after about 15 minutes, (or less if it shutdown, in that time) and check the Max temps recorded for the GPU and CPU. If they are over 70C, then heat is definitely what is shutting that laptop down.
Not much you can do about that. I had to give up gaming, other than simple ones, on my laptop. Even Plants vs. Zombies will heat up a GPU.
Luckily I have a big gaming machine, too.

[Dumb_Question]

A program called SpeedFan will probably give the temperature of your GPU as well as other things (CPU, hard disk).
Another (older ?) program, MBM5 [motherboard monitor 5], might also give you a log file of temperatures of your CPU so that you can see what the temperature has been when you are performing different tasks like playing Minecraft or ama
Both are are available as downloads from this site.

Dumb_Question
25.August.2012
Compaq Presario S5160UK DT261A under XP/SP3
Processor - Celeron 2.7 GHz
Motherboard - MSI MS-6577 v2.1
RAM - 1GB + 512MB (1GB +1GB max) DDR PC2700
PSU - Octigen 300W model 10270PSOTG ('upgraded' from original Bestec 250W PSU [in 2011?])
Nvidia GeForce 6200 graphics card in AGP slot.