Presario 700 laptop shuts down (black screen) randomly!

[muddybiker]

Hey everyone, thanks for reading the thread.

I've got a compaq presario 723RS laptop running Windows XP that has a weird problem that causes it to *completely* randomly black screen/die. Once it has done this, I have to remove power (unplug the power supply and battery), wait a few seconds, give it power, and then it will usually restart with the power button.

This problem has boggled my mind... I'm hoping somebody has some ideas! Stuff to know about it:

-will shutdown anytime, anywhere from right after bootup to XP or after a few hours of use

-will shut down during heavy use or during apparently idle times... there seams to be no correlation between how it is being used and when it dies

-happily will run brutal memory tests and Prime95 CPU burn-in tests without reporting errors or shutting down

-after it dies and I reboot it, I can not find any system dump files to read

-it has a clean install of windows xp pro (btw... it died randomly once during one attempt at installing windows)

-interestingly, as far as I know, it has never done this random death while in safe mode

-the battery in the laptop is completly useless and unchargable, so I haven't even been putting it in. It has the same problem with the dead battery in or out.

Anybody have any ideas about what might be causing it to do this, or how to fix it? Any help would be great. Thanks!!

[zelkea]

I have had a similar problem do to heat. Is the bottom of the laptop getting hot? Are the fans blocked by anything?

AJZ

[muddybiker]

I have had a similar problem do to heat. Is the bottom of the laptop getting hot? Are the fans blocked by anything?

AJZ

Heat seemed like the problem to me as well, so I cleaned the fans well, and reattached the heatsink to the processor and used some good thermal gunk, and it didn't change anything. This and the fact that it doesn't shut down during CPU stress tests means (I assume) that is isn't heat related.

[darrenw89]

weird, i have been having a similar problem with my acer 3610, and the base is very hot when it happens, had the same problem with a tosiba equim, both new models though, any ideas?

:-| darren

[JANINE]

A few things spring to mind here regarding all three of the machines.

1 Device driver problems
2.Device interrupt request/DMA/ I/O address conflicts
3. Graphics problems

all these can result in randoim shutdown of a PC BUT all can be resolved using device manager.;)

[kernow]

I am having exactly the same problem on my IBM R40, also running XP. Has anyone solved this problem?

[neoPhantom]

I have a very similar problem. I am working on an HP Pavilion ZE5300. When it was given to me to work on, the gentlemen who owns it said it was running fine and then it shut off and he heard a pop. I am assuming the pop that he heard was the speakers, as it does it everytime it shuts off.

If left alone for about a day, the system will turn on and boot into xp just fine and run for a little while and eventually will kick off. After that it will turn on for a few seconds, start to post, and then shut off. I got into the bios at one point and it shuts off in there as well after about 30 seconds.

I completely tore it apart and inspected the motherboard and anything else I could get a look at and I can see no damaged components. After putting it back together it would not turn on what-so-ever. I took it apart again and made sure all connections were solid and everything was right, and put it back together again and it fired right up and booted into windows. I let it set for about a half hour and then shut it down for a bit. After turning it back on it started to turn off again durring post.

I have tried using the battery and the ac adapter together, just the adapter, and just the battery and it makes no difference.

It sounds a lot like overheating but everything seems to be running at normal temps. The air coming out of it is a little warm, but nothing to be concerned about.

[JANINE]

I have a very similar problem. I am working on an HP Pavilion ZE5300. When it was given to me to work on, the gentlemen who owns it said it was running fine and then it shut off and he heard a pop. I am assuming the pop that he heard was the speakers, as it does it everytime it shuts off. If left alone for about a day, the system will turn on and boot into xp just fine and run for a little while and eventually will kick off. After that it will turn on for a few seconds, start to post, and then shut off. I got into the bios at one point and it shuts off in there as well after about 30 seconds. I completely tore it apart and inspected the motherboard and anything else I could get a look at and I can see no damaged components. After putting it back together it would not turn on what-so-ever. I took it apart again and made sure all connections were solid and everything was right, and put it back together again and it fired right up and booted into windows. I let it set for about a half hour and then shut it down for a bit. After turning it back on it started to turn off again durring post. I have tried using the battery and the ac adapter together, just the adapter, and just the battery and it makes no difference. It sounds a lot like overheating but everything seems to be running at normal temps. The air coming out of it is a little warm, but nothing to be concerned about.

Ok lets get one thing straight - laptops do get warm (fact) as does anything when you apply an elecrical current to it. heat is one of the by products of this. another one is light.

going back to the problem as mentioned above though - it sounds as though there might be a problem with the power inverter to the motherboard or a motherboard problem itself. either way it sounds as though a replacement motherboard could be on the cards.

[rawr_lacy]

I'm having sort of the same problem with my acer 3000 notebook. At one point it wasn't really as annoying because the problem rarely occured, now the computer is shutting off//black screen after about 15 minutes of us, I tried taking the battery out for about 12 hours and removing any source of power to let it sit and hopefully recover, and it still has the problem, I also bought a cooling pad for the computer and it's not getting really hot but still has the same problem with the shut downs. When I turn it on the start-up is fairly quick aside from the screen saying I need to run chckdsk, it seems everytime I run it though my computer becomes really faulty...I've ran virus scans and nothing comes up. When I do turn it on and let it start up though it takes literally 5 minutes for something such as IE or my documents to load up, then short after they do it'll shut down. I'm trying to do system restore but my computer isn't letting me run the program, it's loading the screen after a few minutes but when I try and pick and system restore date it won't load the previous month for me to select anything. I have no idea what the problem is...this isn't the first time it's done this, but usually it doesn't get this bad, I'm having problems using the computer at all whatsoever now. The bad thing is...I no longer have the restore disks that came with the computer and so there is no way I can do that. Any suggestions?

[Maryuna]

OK, I have a SONY VAIO VGN-T27
It started to shut down by itself about a week ago. Totally random. Sometimes I can turn it back on right after, sometimes I have to wait hours. Sometimes it can run for hours before it shuts down, sometimes it shuts down within seconds...
Talked with SONY tech support, they do not know what happened, and asked me to send the thing in and pay $300...

Luckily I have backed up everything. but this bothers me...I just want to find out what's going on...

Tried to take it apart, but SONY computers are strange...so hard to take apart...

Any idea?

[Hardware Guy]

I have seen several laptop models fail/restart/shutdown when the motherboard is flexed. Natural heat buildup will occur seconds after starting a computer. This heat causes expansion of chips/components. I have had systems stay running with small amounts of pressure in different areas of the motherboard. I have seen systems restart when pressure was applied to certain areas on the motherboard. Just something to consider. Replacement motherboard seems to be the end fix. $$$

[arberkshire]

I have a presario f700 laptop 2 months old running vista. about three weeks ago it started shutting down when I would lift it up or move it on a table. I took it back to best buy and the sent it in to compaq. I got it back and they couldn't fix it because they couldn't recreate the problem. they kept it for 2 and half weeks. the same day i picked it up from best buy, i took it back cause it was still broken. i started it in from of the geek squad guy, lifted it up and tipped it forward in the air. it shut down. the geek squad guy said "you tipped that pretty far. that might be out of its operating range." are you freaking kidding me? a laptop should run upside down! he told my i could send it back in and i told him to go F* himself. theY kept it for two weeks and didn't fix it. what makes you think they will fix it this time. I AM NEVER BUYING ANOTHER COMPAQ AGAIN!!!!.

[darrenw89]

This doesn't surprise me, but as far they're concerned it's you Vs them. And they'll do or say whatever to make sure you know that they're far more knowleadgable than all of us put together - or so they think!

Dazza :cool: