is this normal

I have the dell studio 15 laptop with windows 7 my question is my laptop sometimes shut down when the computer is sleep mode is this normal.

When I dont use the laptop I put it in sleep mode for about 3-4 hours and some times it will shutdown all by itself. This is brand new laptop only month old. Whats causing this, I dont have virus



thanks
guys

 

Hi

Check your power options to see if hibernate is enabled and scheduled to activate after a certain amount of inactivity... if you have sleep and hibernate enabled, often sleep is for say after 20 minutes of non-use, and hibernate after 3 hours.

 

The RAM on a computer is referred to as 'volatile' memory. This means that it goes blank whenever it stops having a supply of power (if it's fully turned off, or the battery+a/c cord is removed). The benefit of RAM of course is that it's very, very fast. This differs from your hard drive which is much, much slower, but it retains it's information with or without a supply of power. When you boot a computer up from being powered down, information is taken from the hard drive (various Windows files and files from your Start Up folder, like Messenger, your antivirus etc) and copied into the RAM. This is why booting up your computer is slow, but also why once booted up the computer runs a lot faster.

The reason I explained all that is because it helps understand the difference between 'hibernating' and 'sleeping'. A computer put into sleep mode continues to use a small amount of electricity - enough to keep the information alive on the RAM. A computer in sleep mode copies all the contents of the RAM onto a temporary location of the hard drive, when you later wake the computer then the information is taken directly from that folder back onto your RAM. Hibernating takes longer to turn the a computer off than sleeping, and takes longer to wake it, but critically it doesn't consume power. Simply put, you will want to put your laptop to Sleep if it is plugged in, or Hibernation if it's not. If your laptop has gone to sleep mode but isn't connected to an A/C adapter then it will eventually shut down.

With all that information in mind, follow mcsmc's advice and check the power options. You can get there from either right clicking the desktop picture, choosing Properties and navigating to the Screensaver and then Power Options; or by going to your Control Panel and looking for the Power Settings (which may be replaced with your manufacturer's utility - Dell Power Utility or whatever).