Computer randomly shutting down, not due to overheating

[MrsA08]

I have a 4 year old Toshiba Satellite i5 that had predominantly been run almost as a desktop. We have it hooked up to a monitor and only use it as a lap top when travelling. Over the past few months it has been randomly shutting down. At first we thought it was because we were running it with the lid down so we starting running it with the lid cracked and that seemed to help initially. About two weeks ago it started doing it again. The events have absolutely no pattern any commonalities. I am fairly novice when it comes to fixing anything on computers, I know how to do a disk check, clear my cache, etc. I was able to run a system diagnotic, but I don't know what to do with any of the data. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Hello and welcome MrsA08 now first up some more system specs please and the PART NO on the back sticker (see pic) because it really pins the machine down for drivers etc etc

SYSTEM SPECS

mate can we have some system specs please as what you have postedgives us not that much to work with and given there are so many manufacturersof components and configurations that do influence what goes on within anygiven machine and OS.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/180324-system-info-see-your-system-specs.html


Now when you say it is not heating just how do you know that because you have not specified the temp of the machine parts CPU and motherboard etc If you have run something like Speccy then le t us know otherwise run it and post back the results https://www.piriform.com/speccy/download

If you would please read this and ost back what you see in the part where I mention looking into the outlet air vent.

CLEANING A LAPTOP FAN & COOLER RAD

The thing you do is to turnover the laptop and shine a very bright light into the air intake aperture (youwill see the fan there) and then while doing that look at the outlet vent onthe end of the laptop you should see the light quite clearly shining throughthe cooling " radiator" if not - it is clogged and will need cleaningas will probably the fan opening.

You can do this by blowingit out using a compressed air can in short bursts.

BUT ONE WORD OF WARNING DO NOT blow the air into the fan opening withoutinserting say a plastic rod or large cable tie to stop the fan from spinning asthe air blast will spin the fan at a very high speed that it is not designed totake and may wreck the bearing!!

To clean the slots in the radiator use a pipecleaner or one of those craft covered wire sticks - they are referred to aschinelle sticks - see pic. But do be very careful not to be overly heavy handedyou will find it might take a second or two or a few minutes to clear theheavier build ups.

Could you also test the adaptor volts and use this for us to see what the battery condition is.
Run this and when you get to Sensors scroll down until you get to the battery cell conditions / capacities



Using HW Info

PART A:

You can test the volts onthe PSU with HW Info HWiNFO,HWiNFO32/64 - Download <download the right bit version and close the right hand window select Sensorsand scroll down to the power section where you will see what the volts aredoing see my pic. In my pic the section (Nuvoton)with VBATT is a dead give away you are in the section for the rail voltages.There are other section titles and one that pops up often is ITE

Now the voltage on thedifferent rails have to be within 5% =+/- of what is required or the machinewill not work properly if at all.

See this for the railvoltage info

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/power-supply-specifications-atx-reference,3061.html (Section 2.)

The original right handwindow shows the machine running and is handy for that but for looking at thecomponents in some detail close it and use the main left hand side panel

FOR OTHER COMPONENTS

PART B:

Open each small squarewith + in it on the section the components are in and then click on theindividual component/s (it willhighlight in blue) - in the right hand side will appear all sorts of detailsincluding brands speeds and other essential info that particular device. Seepic for example.





The pic is of my Asus rigged much the same way as you do yours but I ma interested in the condition of that battery - the volts should all fall within that +/- 5% of the stated voltage

 

[MrsA08]

Part number

Thank you for helping me with this problem. I have a part number for you and hope this helps. PSAWOU-OL3031
DC19V---3.42A

 

[MrsA08]

I am hesitant to purchase or download anything on this computer. It stores all my work information and if it crashes I am completely screwed. I have a backup hard drive, but am not sure how to "backup" yet. I am really knowledgeable with several programs, but a complete novice when it comes to PC repair.

 

[GokAy]

Try running on battery alone and then later AC adapter only.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/73828-imaging-free-macrium.html for how to image backup

Also try a clean startup - http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorial...ation-conflicts-performing-clean-startup.html

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Ok I am going along with Gokay on the advice there but can you run the HW Info so that I can see the battery voltages / capacities? please and also the model number a I am not getting any hits with that PART NO. even on the US site ie in my pic it is a Satellite L550 I need to know that too now.

Now any latest updates are not going to affect your data and as I just said what Gokay said re imaging you need to do asap and if I were you like myself do it on a regular basis - say weekly or sooner if you like. The you have the whole lot on one external drive to back up and /or reinstall from.

You could go as far as to clone that drive if like me are pedantic enough to do that you will need Macrium and an adaptor as in my pics to hook up an external drive. I do this because if the original drive fails then it is just a matter of swapping in the clone drive and away you go. To recover data from the old drive can be done in two ways a) form the image or b) a method using a Ubuntu boot disk

But first things first that model number please.