mysterious power off while installing

June 8, 2005 1:44:43 PM

My wife totally messed up her laptop (emachines m5310) and I've been trying to figure out what she did to it. I thought I might have to re install windows because it couldn't find the os when it booted. Simple enough right? So I used my win xp disk to format he hard drive but while I was doing a fresh install the machine just shut down with no warning. I tried to install again several times with no luck.There's no set pattern, it just shuts down whenever it wants. After thinking on this for a while I assumed it was either bad sectors on the hard drive (more likely) or a problem with the battery. I ordered another of the same hard drive and proceeded to install when lo and behold it shut down on me again. By this time I was extremely frustrated but figured a new battery should solve the problem. Wrong. I still get random shut downs. At this point I don't have anything else to go on so I might just have to bite the bullet and call their tech support [/shudder]. I was hoping someone here might be able to suggest something.

Homer: Son, a woman is like a beer. They smell good, they look good, you'd step over your own mother just to get one! But you can't stop at one. You wanna drink another woman.

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RichPLS

June 8, 2005 1:47:49 PM

You do not need to purchase a batter, just plug in laptop while installing, this is advised when installing and bios updating also.

<pre>°¤o,¸¸¸,o¤°`°¤o \\// o¤°`°¤o,¸¸¸,o¤°
And the sign says "You got to have a membership card to get inside" Huh
So I got me a pen and paper And I made up my own little sign</pre>

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RichPLS

June 8, 2005 1:48:41 PM

Check in bios to see if sleep or hibernate mode is enabled, if it is, dis-able it.

<pre>°¤o,¸¸¸,o¤°`°¤o \\// o¤°`°¤o,¸¸¸,o¤°
And the sign says "You got to have a membership card to get inside" Huh
So I got me a pen and paper And I made up my own little sign</pre>

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folken

June 9, 2005 3:58:45 AM

run the install w/o the battery in the computer. If it still shuts off randomly it is most likely a heat issue. If the laptop was dropped or hit there might be a heatsink lose or a broken fan.

<A HREF="http://www.folken.net/myrig.htm" target="_new">My precious...</A>

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stupid_tech_geek

June 9, 2005 9:55:17 AM

It does the same thing with the power cord plugged in too. I have tried it without the battery to no avail. I think Folken might be right though I will look at the bios again just in case I missed something. I'll post back with my results. Thanks.

Homer: Son, a woman is like a beer. They smell good, they look good, you'd step over your own mother just to get one! But you can't stop at one. You wanna drink another woman.

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stupid_tech_geek

June 15, 2005 6:25:01 AM

Sorry it took me so long to post back. I checked the bios and it does not appear to be part of the problem. I wanted to open the thing up and have a look for that loose heatsink Folken but even with all the screws removed I still can't get the back plate off. I'm assuming that maybe there is a hidden screw somewhere because I can lift the front up and look inside(barely). I really need to get into this thing because she has an unlocked Barton which I've been dying to get my hands on (assuming it isn't fried yet) but I don't want to break it in case I'm able to fix it. Anyway, I'll post back if I have some luck. Thanks for the suggestions all.

Dylan

Homer: Son, a woman is like a beer. They smell good, they look good, you'd step over your own mother just to get one! But you can't stop at one. You wanna drink another woman.

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