Acer Aspire 8930G Instantly Shut Off!!

Hi all

My laptop keep just shutting itself off when I stream long videos over the internet or when I use a video converter program to convert videos. It is an instant shut down. No blue screen or anything else... just straight off like when you would take the power cable out with no battery in the laptop.

I am not a total novice but probably not an expert either when it come to pc hardware but have done the following to try and fix the problem.

• Opened and cleared laptop from any dust etc.
• Used temp sensor program to monitor temps. Highest temp was 68 when shutting off instantly.
• Changed the memory.
• Updated Bios to latest version.
• Used hardware driver update program to update drivers to latest available.
• Formatted and reinstalled Windows a hundred times ;-)
• Took out CPU and applied new thermal paste

I think that is about it....

Has anyone got any other advice or suggestions please...

Many thanks

Attached is the temps just before it shut down...

 

Windows own sort of Diagnostic program - Event Viewer... should show something...

 

Thank you Brian.
Here it is...

 

Hi there,
Had a quick look around and found this http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2028504#method3
You say it is as if the power lead is pulled out, I take it your power pack is charging the laptop properly and your battery is still fully charged when this happens?

How long is the computer running prior to it shutting down?

Paul

 

Hi Paul

Thank you for your post. I tend not to leave my battery in when I work off the mains. This happen when I have the battery in or not.

Last night I did some experimenting. I took out one of the 2Gig modules only leaving in the second 2Gig memory module.

It seem to run for a fair while with no shutdown. I did not leave it to complete the conversion but it ran for probably 10 to 15 mins. This module
performed the same in both memory banks.

The other memory module shut down in one of the memory banks and then seemed to perform like the other module in the second memory bank.

I then tried the module that worked in both slots and put it in the slot that had no problem with the other memory module and left it to see if I could convert a full video.

This did well and then shut down too.

I did this to test the memory modules as well as the memory banks.

Although it shut down I still don't think it is the memory modules or the slots that are faulty. Less sure about the slots though.

When I have both memory modules in it seem to shut down quicker than when only one memory module present.

Any ideas... :-(

 

To satisfy my curiosity can you full charge your battery and run a conversion on battery power only?
It may be your power supply thats faulty so that will rule it out completely.

 

Hi elPaulio

You nearly had me very excited as I have just received a brand new battery. Fully charged it did so well and I thought "Wow, mystery solved", but then boom it shut down again.

:-(

 

How long did it last on the new battery before shutting down?

 

I guess it was a good 20 to 30 minutes.

 

Have been trying to see if there is any way I can be of help... but don't know what the solution could be... Can I suggest you download BatteryBar, a program that monitors your battery... It will show if the Battery is charging, discharging, the 'should be' value of your Battery, e.g. 4800 mWhr and the actual mWhr e.g. 4100 mWhr and the 'wear' on your battery.
e.g your new battery should show 0% wear while your old battery might be showing 67% wear. the greater the 'wear' the less time the battery will run for..

If you are using Windows 7 - possibly check the Power settings, and go into advanced settings, there are some scary setting in there... scary because MS assumes Critical Battery is a figure you or I would NOT think critical and the action COULD be set to POWER OFF in several of the options.

Hope this is helpful

 

Brian,

I too was thinking about the Critical level settings as a possible cause. Does this not shut down the Pc through rather than just cut power as seems to be happening here? And strange it does it plugged in or on battery power.

Sounds very much like an over heating issue. Would be useful to try and get the temps from a different program to ensure that the program you are using is not mis-reading the values.

Does it shut itself down if you just leave it sitting doing nothing? If so may be worth booting into the BIOS and seeing if it will display the temperature there and seeing what that says?

Or, another aspect may be a loose connection which is disturbed by a knock or bump. Is it sitting on your lap when it switches off or is it on a desk pretty safe from bumps?

Is there a thermal shutdown setting in the BIOS that can be accessed and possibly changed? If so, what is it set at? May be set so low that general use is triggering it. A BIOS shut down would be more abrupt like you are seeing than a Software (Windows) one I would think.

Just my rambling thoughts but hopefully may help us stumble across the issue.

Paul

 

Hi Paul

Sorry for the delay in replying to your post.

I have since sold the laptop as this issue got the better of me.

Thank you very much for everyone's input anyway.

Ps. I have now purchased the ASUS G750jh ;-)

 

Hello, I had the sudden shut off problem and search google for ages with no solution. Then I saw eBay had a lot of items listed for the the internal power sockets and thought why are so many selling these items. I bought one for my 8930G model as it was just a few buck ($6.99 Au) and intended to experiment swapping out the original socket.
Turns out they sent the wrong one and the charging cable couldn't be plugged into it. BUT on inspection of the original power socket I saw one of the soldered wires going to the mother board was completely severed and only touching the spot where it was soldered. I got a friend to re-solder the severed wire and the laptop has NEVER shut down suddenly after being in constant use for over 6 months