Laptop problems

Discussion in 'Technology' started by Congay, Dec 20, 2011.

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  1. Congay

    Congay Registered User

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    My 3 year old Acer is shutting off instantly after boot up. It just clicks and its off.

    After about 3 or 4 reboots it seems to "warm up" and it dosnt happen again.

    Sounds like a HW fault but is there any possiblity it could be SW related?

    I cant be bothered with a full wipe
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  3. Conway

    Conway helmet Staff

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    Sounds like a dry solder joint on the way out, could be anywhere within your laptop.

    Try sitting it near the radiator for a period before switching it on and see if that helps...
  4. Congay

    Congay Registered User

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    what will that imply and how does it work?
  5. Conway

    Conway helmet Staff

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    Heating up your laptop causes the metal on the circuit boards to expand slightly. If you have a fracture in a dry solder joint somewhere, this will usually cause the metal either side of the fracture to expand, closing the gap.

    If you place it somewhere warm, and it boots up first time, chances are it's a dry solder joint for the reasons above. If it doesn't boot up when cold, it may be for the same reason.

    I've got an old laptop I used to use at uni that does this - boot it up from cold and it refuses to work. Stick it on top of the radiator for 10-15 minutes and it works straight away.
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  6. Rigsby420

    Rigsby420 Registered User

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    Taking your end.
    Run a Hair-dyer over the bottom, but not on full whack.
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  7. Congay

    Congay Registered User

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    ok i will try this.. its been about with me a lot so maybe its taken some hits
  8. Congay

    Congay Registered User

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    This is defo the problem.

    Is it worth taking it to bit just in case the loose connection is there....

    Will it come to bits and go back together easily???
  9. Conway

    Conway helmet Staff

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    It's not usually something you can repair. It'll be a hairline crack in a solder joint, and it could be anywhere on the boards in your laptop. It won't be visible to the naked eye unless it's a really bad crack either. There will be literally thousands of soldier joints between capacitors, transistors, resistors, sockets, interfaces, and chips, and not all of them are visible to be checked. It would take you days if not weeks to look at them and you probably wouldn't find it.

    I know there are some places that do PS3 repair for solder joints where they heat treat the board in order to melt the solder slightly and cause it to fill any cracks that may have formed, it costs about £60-80 from what I've seen online. I'm not sure that could fix your laptop board though, you might destroy some of the more fragile components in the process.

    Sounds like it's time to retire it and get a new one :up:
  10. Congay

    Congay Registered User

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    someone said 3 years is a good innings for a laptop is this true?
  11. Conway

    Conway helmet Staff

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    Usually, depending on how you use it. Got 5 years out of my uni laptop and my current one is 4 years old, but they see fairly light use tbh.

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