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Question

Laptop keeps randomly shutting down

by Jul 6, 2015 11:04AM PDT

I have an Asus K55V series laptop - with an I3 2350m CPU, and Nvidia 620m GPU.

The laptop is around two years old and approximately one year ago the laptop began to shut down randomly, i.e. no indication of it shutting down, just a black screen (as if you hold the power button down on a computer; not press and release, until it instantly shuts down).

Originally, it did not shut down anymore than once every couple of months, however, now it has drastically increased. In the UK, as it's summer, it reached 35 degrees celcius a few days ago; the laptop shutting down about 5 times that day.

I am certain it's not a software issue, as I've tried multiple system rollbacks, all having no effect.
I keep the laptop on a cooling pad.
I've also downloaded two hardware temperature monitors (Realtemp and HWMonitor): the results of these show that when idle, the laptop is around 55 degrees Celsius. On load (games etc), it can reach around 75.

However, what I don't understand, is as I'm monitoring the temperature (idle and on load), when it was 55 degrees it shut down, but when it reached 75 it did not. The shut downs occur mainly at mid day when the room is hottest, and less frequently when I have not been using it for a while.

I keep the laptop's software and hard drives etc maintained; defrags, disk cleanups, antivirus checks, malware checks - so I'm positive it isn't a software issue.

As there's a strong correlation between the temperature (now that it's summer) and the shutting down, it leads me to believe it's an over heating problem. However, I have blown into the fans with a straw (half covered up with tape) to simulate compressed air, with little dust coming out.

Any help greatly appreciated!

Discussion is locked

12 Posts
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Answer
Time for a clean
by Jul 6, 2015 11:08AM PDT

Last time you used canned air and thermal paste?
Dafydd.

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Thermal paste
by beren666 Jul 6, 2015 11:58AM PDT

How would one go about applying the thermal paste?
(Also never used canned air)

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Start with the canned air.
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Jul 6, 2015 12:04PM PDT

If you never did this, start with a daily cleaning (how is on the web, youtube and do not open the machine up till a month of treatment.)

I'd start with daily cleaning for a week, then weekly for a month. Then back to 1st of the month cleaning.

As to the straw I doubt that gets the air speed high enough. Be sure to put the laptop on a cooling pad too.

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Plenty of how tos on youtube.
by Dafydd Jul 6, 2015 12:07PM PDT

You need to get all the dust out from the heatsinks and fans. Ideally, you should blow out the vents monthly to keep it clean.
Dafydd.

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Answer
use can air but avoid fans
by Jul 6, 2015 12:43PM PDT

you can spray into vents to blow out the dust but be careful when blowing around the fans. You can damage them if you blow directly onto them.

AND NO HUFFING WHILE SPRAYING!!!! Happy

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Answer
consider cooling pads
by Jul 6, 2015 1:04PM PDT
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Event log
by beren666 Jul 7, 2015 2:13AM PDT

I already checked the event log, and several of these have appeared:

Critical: Kernel-Power: The system has rebooted without cleanly shutting down first. This error could be caused if the system stopped responding, crashed, or lost power unexpectedly.

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That's one I've seen when it's not cool.
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Jul 7, 2015 6:18AM PDT

You should be on day 2 of your new cleaning regimen. Some folk won't do this and end up at the service or sales counter (repair or replace?)

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Cleaning
by beren666 Jul 7, 2015 10:51AM PDT

I've watched various YouTube videos on cleaning the laptop; it appears the only method of cleaning is using canned air.

Is it ok if I do not open up the laptop, and just spray the canned air in like some advice?
However, surely this would limit the amount dust that could be removed.

Are there any other additional cleaning methods I will need to use?

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Start with the vents. Avoid fan spins to high speeds.
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Jul 7, 2015 11:00AM PDT

For now, you do this daily for a week, weekly for a month and then 1st of the month.

I'd do this for awhile before I moved to deeper more intrusive cleanings and heatsink compound work.

It's a shame the laptop makers didn't put this in the service or user manual but there are reasons they don't.

1. It can scare off a buyer.
2. It only causes issues years later.

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Intake or exhaust
by beren666 Jul 7, 2015 11:08AM PDT

Thanks for the quick reply,

Would you recommend directing the compressed air into both the intake fans (underneath of laptop) and exhaust fan (side of laptop), or only the intake fans?

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Both here.
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Jul 7, 2015 11:19AM PDT

I never gave it any deep thought as I run into laptops that were never cleaned. By the time I see them they are on life support and most are too far gone. There are those that want to deep dive into in or out and while it's a great question, I do both to unclog and get the junk out.

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