Reply to: Computer dies mid-use!

[TheFaQQer]

Have you tried cleaning the fan?

[Mustang]

[Mustang]

Agree, try a trial download of this to monitor temperatures:
http://www.lavalys.com/products.php?...lang=en&page=1

I have downloaded it and it looks an impressive utility. Now all I have to do is work out how to use it and understand what it's telling me!!

Thanks anyway for pointing me in the right direction.

[Mustang]

Whirring noises and sudden blue screens say over heating to me. As has been said, clean out the fan area. If you can crack the case open without too much hassle give it a good clean out inside as well.

I have taken the laptop apart and there is certainly a whole ton of muck in there. I will get some compressed air tomorrow and give it a good old clean.

Thanks for your feedback.

[Mustang]

You probably mean Crucial.

Oops..........exactly what I meant!

I'm sure you could Google and find the other memory slot.

In searching for how to get to the fan, came across a good article which revealed the other RAM slot under the keyboard. Now put second memory card in so now running on 2GB rather than the original 1GB.

Try looking for a service manual for the machine.

I will google for this. Currently fond a couple of interesting articles anyway on servicing a VAIO.

Many thanks for your input.

[Platypus]

Sadly all happening under mains power.........!

I'll bet my ass it's overheating... try the download link I posted earlier to confirm.

[Platypus]

1) I meant Critical - the memory people.

2) I do mean 500MB

You probably mean Crucial. I'm sure you could Google and find the other memory slot. Try looking for a service manual for the machine.

[Mustang]

If it's happening when you're connected to the mains then all this is irrelevant, of course

Sadly all happening under mains power.........!

[Mustang]

How old's the laptop? If you are adding RAM in 500K increments it indicates that it's time to go and buy an new laptop.

Do you have recovery discs?

The laptop is nearly 5 years old. It is a Sony VAIO.

Recovery discs are on the other partition.

[Mustang]

ciritcal?

500k? I presume you mean 500MB? As above, if you're looking at adding RAM in those sort of quantities, it's time to buy a new laptop.

1) I meant Critical - the memory people.

2) I do mean 500MB

[Platypus]

Whirring noises and sudden blue screens say over heating to me.

Agree, try a trial download of this to monitor temperatures:
http://www.lavalys.com/products.php?...lang=en&page=1

[DaveB]

Whirring noises and sudden blue screens say over heating to me. As has been said, clean out the fan area. If you can crack the case open without too much hassle give it a good clean out inside as well.

[xoggoth]

Have you checked what is in users\<user>\appdata? Often useless stuff there from things you have uninstalled. You can easily have a couple of Gb of crud per user. You can sometimes clean a disc best by creating some new users and deleting the old ones.

[Spacecadet]

FANS!

I did mine a month or so ago as the laptop was periodically running slow even after a clean install
(2Ghz dual core and 2GB of ram so no excuse there!)

I even tried to warn you about it
http://forums.contractoruk.com/techn...t-warning.html

[Clippy]

As others have asked, how old is the laptop? If it's over 4 years old, I'd think about replacing it.

As for suggestions:

1) As mentioned, clean the fan area.

2) Check where your Windows swap file is kept.
If it is on the C: partition, suggest you move it to the D: partition.
This will, depending on size, free up HDD space and should improve performance.

3) To re-size the partitions, try Easeus Partition Master.

4) With regards installing additional memory, some laptops have one of the slots under the keyboard.
Check out the Sony forum at notebookreview.com to see if there are any posts relating to this for your model.