Laptop Spontaneoulsy Reboots

[MikePA]

My trusty IBM ThinkPad has recently begun spontaneously rebooting. Just sitting there all by its lonesome. No one bothering it or moving it, plugged in to the wall socket and poof, it reboots.

Also, sometimes when I hit the Power On button, it wont come on. The little green light will come on, but it wont boot. Never even see the IBM logo and hit F1 to change the BIOS message. Power Off and Power On again, sometimes a few times, and it boots.

Any ideas?

I've installed the most recent BIOS for it and done a backup, so my data is safe. Running Windows2000 Pro with up to date maintenance.

 

[JohnMiller3]

Re: Laptop Spontaneously Reboots

Two things to check first...

substitute a new power supply (external)

check internal cooling fan (may have seized up)

third item - may be on-board defective m/b p/s regulator

 

[MikePA]

Re: Laptop Spontaneously Reboots

What tools are needed to handle items 2 and 3?

 

[JohnMiller3]

Re: Laptop Spontaneously Reboots

<font color="blue"> What tools are needed ... </font>

/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif What tools are needed to pull the head of an engine...? or Beginning brain surgery...?/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

You'll need some previous knowledge of laptop disassembly, removing the drives, keyboard, proper sequence, internal connecting ribbon cables, etc.... then after all the above is done, the knowledge for troubleshooting the defective internal components, then see if IBM will sell you "individual" components (a $1. part) or force you to buy a complete motherboard ($500. proprietary ripoff){by-the-way...more than likely!)... then after most people get them apart... they don't have the foggiest idea for reassembly and mostly break things in the process... and of course at this stage it becomes a worthless basket case and cheap boat anchor...

Mike... I forgot... what was your question? /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Substitute the external power supply first (most likely problem to least likely is how you want to work)... then consider IBM factory service if the problem persists... but be prepared to spend a buck...($400-$600 not unlikely) and then you can decide if it's a good time to purchase a new unit...

 

[Steven]

It may be caused by power surges, or the power switch is on its way out. does it power up on it s own under battery power, if it does then this will eliminate the surge effect. If we have glitch with the power my computer will start on its own. some computers also have a setting under the set-up screen that it should power itself up after power lose. this would cause it to start if power glitched.

 

[thcri]

Mike,

We had a server at work which used Windows 2000 Pro that did that every so often. Just out of the blue sky it would shut down and re-start. We played with that thing and played with it and never did find out why it did it. We finaly had to take it out of the line as a server because of important data being lost when it would shut down. I bought a new server, useing windows 2000server and made the pro machine a client. Once we made it a client it never shut itself down again. My computer people still to this day don't know why.

But I do have one question for you, do you have a viruss program on it? A virus can also make a computer do this.

Murph

 

[MikePA]

<font color="blue">But I do have one question for you, do you have a viruss program on it?</font>
Yep, McAfee.

I ran the PC Doctor program I d/l from the IBM web site. It checks everything including the AC adapter, fan, memory, system board, etc. Passed all the tests. /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[thcri]

Have you installed any new programs on it lately or added any hardware?

Murph

 

[MikePA]

<font color="blue"> Have you installed any new programs on it lately or added any hardware? </font>
No hardware, but one piece of software. I just removed it. We'll see.

 

[thcri]

You may also want to check if you can with the software manufacturer or write to them. Windows when you do an un-install will not remove all files. Especially your Registry. If the file that was giving you all the trouble is still there you will continue to have trouble.

Murph