Yo, guys! I need your help, stat!

[thedailyshow]

I'm having major laptop problems here. The dealie is that I'm working on my laptop for an hour, and then it suddenly shuts down with no warning. Just a black screen. Then I try starting it back up, and it takes a really long-assed time, so I give up and leave it alone for twenty minutes. Then it starts back up again, and works for an hour until it shuts down again.

I've looked at the power properties, and the computer's supposed to shut down after three hours, and the power properties are still the same, but I can't work them at all. There's like a block on the power properties.

What can I do to stop my laptop from shutting down every once an hour?

[Gryffindor_Bookworm]

1. um.....get a Mac?

Sorry. Couldn't resist. ;-)

I know nothing about PC's. I hope someone else can help.

[thedailyshow]

2. it's a laptop, not a PC

It's been happening today, and didn't happen yesterday.

[jdots]

8. go to the computer section here i think we have one.....

is it warmer than normal ? lap tops run hot how they don't burn out is a mystery.

[thedailyshow]

13. it's a little warmer than normal now

and things are a little slow on the screen.

[Wickerman]

3. Are you on power or on battery?

[thedailyshow]

4. I'm on power.

[Wickerman]

7. It sounds like when my battery went bad on my piece of crap Toshiba

affected it even when I was on power. If you have a spare battery try it, or have the battery tested. Just a thought.

[ChicanoPwr]

5. What king of laptop to you have and what year did you but it

[thedailyshow]

11. it's a Satellite Toshiba laptop

and I'm smelling a little burning. Maybe it's the overheating?

[zbird]

6. Possible that it is overheating.

Happens to my laptop sometimes too.

[Ready4Change]

12. I was thinking heat problems too.

Look at the edges of the laptop. Are there places with air vents? Those need to be kept open to air so that it can flow and cool off internal parts. Make sure you aren't setting the laptop ontop of something like a pillow that might block those air vents.

Also, most laptops are designed to be operated either on a level surface, or with the back edge elevated higher than the front edge. I know my Apple iBook starts getting hot if I use it with the front edge higher.

Finally, if you can provide open airflow under the laptop that can help. There are special trays you can buy to do this, or you can arrange a pair of erasers under the back edge to create some airflow space beneath it.

Or, maybe it's not a heat problem at all. I've been wrong before. Hope you find an answer.

:)

[ChicanoPwr]

9. It can be an internal and external battery

My parent's laptop did the same thing. They have a Dell laptop. So I did search on Dell website for similar problems. I found out that it was either an internal or external battery. If it is external battery problem and still under warranty you can get a replacement battery for free.

[thedailyshow]

10. oh, fuck, it's a new battery that I got this summer

there's no way it could burn out this fast. The power seems fine and everything, and I've checked the internal battery and it seems to be fine. It just shuts down on me every once in a while.

[Rumba]

14. I had a virus like this briefly

on my work computer. Damn, sorry I can't remember what it was called.

Are you running anti-viral software?

[NV Whino]

15. Umm... get an iBook

Bought one in June. I love it!

But then, I'm a confirmed MacNerd.