Laptop Switching Off

[Qdos Contractor]

I'm on the verge of buying a new computer, but I thought I'd give my current laptop one more chance.

I've had a Dell Inspiron 1545 for about 18 months. It has had a few issues - it overheated a lot, which was fixed when I updated the BIOS, and then it started regularly crashing so I had to do a factory reset.

Now it is constantly turning off, with no warning or apparent reason. It just goes off, then tries to reboot and normally goes off a few more times. It can go for hours without this happening, but after it has done it once, it keeps doing it every 5 minutes or so.

One of the IT people at the office said it was the hard drive, so I got a new one, backed everything up and then switched them over. But it is still happening, even with the new drive.

It does appear to be happening when the fan is kicking in, but I don't think it's a heat issue this time.

Any ideas?

[Bright Spark]

Seems your not the only one with this problem there seems to be a fault with
inspirons, I reckon there is an overheating problem and perhaps the fan is
somehow unable to cool it down so has to switch off in order to not melt down!.

A couple of threads on the internet about this problem, good luck!
http://en.community.dell.com/forums/t/19282191.aspx
http://en.kioskea.net/forum/affich-7...ats-shuts-down

[TheFaQQer]

Open the computer up and check the fan anyway - try cleaning it out.

IIRC, spacecadet had a similar problem and found the fan clogged with gunge that needed to be removed.

[Qdos Contractor]

Thanks for this. I reckon it is probably something like that. I've got a big hairy rug in the living room and I'm sure it has malted into the machine.

I'll take it apart tonight and will see what happens. I'm a bit of a clumsy oaf so I'll probably end up destroying it anyway, but it's worth a shot.

[Spacecadet]

Open the computer up and check the fan anyway - try cleaning it out.

IIRC, spacecadet had a similar problem and found the fan clogged with gunge that needed to be removed.

yeah there was lots of it!
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1630056/laptop.jpg

have a google on how to take apart dell laptops.
You don't need anything more technical than a precision screw driver or two, I had my precision M65 in pieces, cleaned and back together inside 30 minutes. Includes the time it took to take the photos!

[Clippy]

The service manual for your laptop will tell you where the relevant screws and clips are which should make it easier to take apart.

Let us know how you get on.

[xoggoth]

If it's like ones I've taken apart, be aware that screws manage to come in several slightly diferent sizes.

[Spacecadet]

If it's like ones I've taken apart, be aware that screws manage to come in several slightly diferent sizes.

Actually, thats one thing I liked about the M65
All the screws holding the case together were the same size.
the screws holding the HDD in place were slightly smaller, as were the screws holding the fan. But it was quite easy to determine for what purpose each screw was

[TheFaQQer]

If it's like ones I've taken apart, be aware that screws manage to come in several slightly diferent sizes.

Yes - then you have to go through the "Screwed by Dell" scenario and call them

[Qdos Contractor]

Brilliant, thanks.

I found this page, which makes it sound simple (although it doesn't specify the type of Inspiron).

But then according to Dell, to get to the thermal fan (I assume that's where I want to be) you need to remove the system board, which looks like the most complicated thing on earth.