http://www.daniweb.com/techtalkforums/thread73967.html

First time it happened is descirbed in that thread. Now it's done it again yesterday, had been on for about half hour, i put it to sleep for an hour, woke it up and used it for a couple hours and boom. Off. No warning, no shutdown nothing. Like i pulled the battery out.

Overheating would sound right. The fan is not obstructed and i've hoovered it (gently). I'm on it right now. It's under warrenty still, thing is, this is my second laptop from curries (the first they took 4 months and THREE returns to figure out they couldn't fix it. Advent that was). So i'd have to phone up the same call centre.. now they really screwed me around, either deliberatly did not enter my details right or deliberatly gave me wrong job numbers (2 jobs and about 5 or 6 phone calls went "missing"). so phoning them is a last resort. Plus they'll tell me to format it

So how can i really tell if it's over heating and is there any self-way of fixing it? Or should i bail and phone them?

Well, there may be an odor coming from the psu.. however, unless you messed with it, the psu shouldn't be overheating b/c the proprietors would not design the laptop to be prone to overheating problems..
I don't really know what to tell you man.. perhaps go with a different brand laptop next time.. Let's wait and see if anyone else comes along with better advice..

As much as a pain in the **** as it is you need to make use of the warranty. If you open it you may void the warranty and then you will be stuck with what you have. You might see if you return the puter and get you money back.

I don't know what sort of consumer protection you have over there, but you should be able to get some sort of assistance if these people are being difficult.

Good luck.

Edit...I just noticed that we now have a censor, I wasn't aware that the word a r s e was not permited.

thanks for the adivce.

*sigh* it's got one more chance. If it goes off again, i'm on the phone. I figure thats fair to the machine right? (and my phone bill, friggin expensive lines they are!)

We have trading standards and it took a threat to take Currys (where i bought it from) to convinve them to swap the other machine. Because it's outside of the 30day moneyback thing. But at least i know how to go about getting them to listen.

Ihad a nightmare that i phoned them and was yelling and stuff, they were like "why are you being so rude" and i flipped giving them an earfull :-D

Although it is tempting to rip their head off and yell down their throat, this will only exasperate this minimum wage earner who's biggest concern is probably not related to you what so ever. Do the prudent thing and treat them as you would like to be treated if the situation was reversed, if this doesn't work...then rip their head off.

Seriously, stay cool and take advantage of the warranty. As a customer you have rights, use them.

the common fault i get that would cause a laptop to overheat would be the fan, a laptop runs hot anyway so once the fan blows the heat soon builds up.

this IS covered under your warranty no matter what they say, and no you don't need to bring your receipt with you to get it booked in, they can find it all on the system!

although this isn't a common fault, it doesn happen and would explain it.

hope this helps,

Dazza