sony vaio shuts down by itself?

**Kwalc** · 12-04-2009, 12:28 AM

my laptop has begun to shut down by itself randomnly it seems. i have no idea why.. no apparent problem with the hard drive, no viruses(according to live one care). and it seems to be worse when i put the pc on "high performance".

i cant imagine it being overheating because im sitting in a pretty cold airconditioned room. as a precaution i even took my compressed air tank of my paintball marker and attached a hose to it and blew air into the vents but that didnt solve it.

**BigMcLarge** · 12-04-2009, 09:29 AM

I wouldn't completely rule out overheating just yet. Are you sure the laptop cooling fan is running, because if not, it doesn't really matter what temperature the room is if the heat inside the laptop case is not being dissipated.

Is it going through the shut down process (logging out of the operating system, then powering down) or is it just running along nicely and BAM, you're looking at a black screen and a dead machine?

**Reaperassault** · 12-04-2009, 02:02 PM

It is an overheating issue, 'high performance' and laptops don't mix well. Just because the heatsinks are clean and room is cool doesn't mean that the tiny little heatsinks that they use are effective enough to actually cool your laptop enough during high use periods like games, especially the GPU those things get hot. I suggest getting more airflow into you laptop either by elevating it or finding a laptop cooler. You could also get a real computer but that is a bit more extreme.

**Tarmus** · 12-04-2009, 04:27 PM

Also, make sure whatever you set it on is capable of dissipating heat well, and certainly doesn't put off any heat.

And yea, it would help to if it's just shutting off randomly or actually powering down the normal way (does it say "windows shutdown improperly" or something like that?).

**Kwalc** · 12-04-2009, 04:31 PM

Originally Posted by BigMcLarge

I wouldn't completely rule out overheating just yet. Are you sure the laptop cooling fan is running, because if not, it doesn't really matter what temperature the room is if the heat inside the laptop case is not being dissipated.

Is it going through the shut down process (logging out of the operating system, then powering down) or is it just running along nicely and BAM, you're looking at a black screen and a dead machine?

its just going black. no process to it lol

and yes i can hear the fan running. and my laptop fan still hasnt begun making those "grinding" sounds they do when the fan's damaged

**Kappa** · 12-04-2009, 04:32 PM

What do you mean it shuts down randomly? Does it shut down while playing? If it shuts down while playing then I would agree that it would be a overheating issue... a issue that will be hard to solve because it's a laptop. It becomes even more difficult because your integrated GPU doesn't have a dedicated fan... which is where your problem most likely is.

Also if it just shuts off when you're not playing look at your high performance settings.

**Kwalc** · 12-04-2009, 04:42 PM

Originally Posted by Fall3n

What do you mean it shuts down randomly? Does it shut down while playing? If it shuts down while playing then I would agree that it would be a overheating issue... a issue that will be hard to solve because it's a laptop. It becomes even more difficult because your integrated GPU doesn't have a dedicated fan... which is where your problem most likely is.

Also if it just shuts off when you're not playing look at your high performance settings.

it shuts down while im playing or not. and it dsnt shut down when im in "safe mode"

**Kappa** · 12-04-2009, 04:46 PM

I still think it's because your integrated gpu doesn't actually have a fan for itself. If it wasn't integrated it would... and that I think is your issue. This doesn't completely explain why this problem just started though, so I can't be entirely sure.

**ArmoredBear** · 12-04-2009, 04:50 PM

Originally Posted by Reaperassault

You could also get a real computer but that is a bit more extreme.

Hey, thems fightin' words.

Kwalc:

Does a blue screen appear when the computer shuts down. Hardware problem? How old is the computer?

AB

**Kwalc** · 12-04-2009, 05:59 PM

Originally Posted by ArmoredBear

Hey, thems fightin' words.

Kwalc:

Does a blue screen appear when the computer shuts down. Hardware problem? How old is the computer?

AB

its about 14 months. no blue screen. just shuts off to black immediately. it dsnt turn back on. i have to turn it on again.

as for real computer. i prefer a laptop to a desktop any day!

**DrakenViator** · 12-05-2009, 12:29 AM

Originally Posted by Bamboo

Just making sure everyone has heard the news about the most recent windows update. It is causing some bugs and you should hold off on updating. I already did about 2 days ago, and I just had the first Blue Screen Of Death I've had in recent memory.

More info here:
Recent Windows patches may cause black screen, free fix available

All I can say is I better not have to reinstall Vista.

Not sure if this helps or not...

~ Draken

**Kwalc** · 12-05-2009, 06:19 AM

that wasnt it draken, thnx anws!

how can it be overheating if i was playing 2142 without the AC on for about 3 hours(it was on the whole day) and it didnt shut down until late late at night? keep in mind outside was 33 degrees celcius(~91F). but the day before i was the whole day in freeezing cold and it was shutting down constantly... weird pc.. maybe its menopause

**Reaperassault** · 12-05-2009, 01:23 PM

how about this, download GPU-z and click on the sensor tab, it should provide the temp of the GPU. If not we can find a different program.

Ruling out overheating is going to be the easiest thing to do. So just note an idle temp here and there and then alt tab out now and then during gaming and see how hot that thing is.

**Housekeeper** · 12-09-2009, 08:10 PM

I have experience doing waranty work on laptops, and Reaper is bang on - heat is more often than not the killer. If your screen just goes to black but the computer is still running, chances are its the GPU chip giving up from overheating, do you have a *shudder* integrated chip, or a discrete GPU ?

Gaming on laptops, will never be a perfect experience unless you shell out thousands of dollars for a top of the line machine. I realize people love laptops for the convenience factor, but personally I could never game on one.

Let us know how the temperature test goes that Reaper suggested, definitely need to rule that out first.