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  • Quick Question

    OK, so my laptop is old and I'm looking for a replacement. Currently it tends to shut down all on its own, and doesn't appear to be overheating - it actually feels cool. It shut down twice in less than an hour today.

    So is it more likely that the battery is bad, the motherboard is dying, or the hard drive is dying (again)? It's on its second HD but this one is about 5 years old.

    And just for shits & giggles, does anybody recommend a particular brand? I'm not looking for a Chromebook, I just want a not-too-expensive laptop to use for a couple years. Money is a big factor right now.
    When you start at zero, everything's progress.

  • #2
    If you're not looking for a gaming rig, the major laptop makers (Dell, HP, yada yada yada) often offer refurbished business laptops for a couple hundred bucks. If a 2-year warranty is cheap enough, one of those could be worth it (because, let's face it, "refurbished" is a nice way of saying "It was broke, we more or less fixed it as best we could").
    Last edited by EricKei; 06-22-2016, 03:16 PM.
    "For a musician, the SNES sound engine is like using Crayola Crayons. Nobuo Uematsu used Crayola Crayons to paint the Sistine Chapel." - Jeremy Jahns (re: "Dancing Mad")
    "The difference between an amateur and a master is that the master has failed way more times." - JoCat
    "Thinking is difficult, therefore let the herd pronounce judgment!" ~ Carl Jung
    "There's burning bridges, and then there's the lake just to fill it with gasoline." - Wiccy, reddit
    "Retail is a cruel master, and could very well be the most educational time of many people's lives, in its own twisted way." - me
    "Love keeps her in the air when she oughta fall down...tell you she's hurtin' 'fore she keens...makes her a home." - Capt. Malcolm Reynolds, "Serenity" (2005)
    Acts of Gord – Read it, Learn it, Love it!
    "Our psychic powers only work if the customer has a mind to read." - me

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    • #3
      EricKei is correct.

      On the topic of random shut downs unless you see a blue screen of death / crash report it is not the hd.

      That leaves power and mother board issues. The power supply could be going bad or your power brick is having issues and the batt is not charging. If you were near me id throw it on the old test bench. You could take it to a mom pop computer shop and see what they say is the issue. Id stay away from (rymes with ) Worst Try for repairs.

      The number one thing right now is BACK UP your data, before you lose it.

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      • #4
        Aye. Grab an external USB drive (a 1TB drive should be forty or fifty bucks these days) and get everything on there that you can -- any of the My ___ folders (documents, pictures, etc), Downloads, Games/similar save file locations if you use it for gaming, etc. If the USB drive is a good bit larger than what you have now, just copy the whole thing over while you can and then be selective in what you restore to the replacement unit. Either way, you'll have a fresh, usable backup for future use.

        If the old drive is really small, or you want something more portable, you should be able to snag a 64GB usb flash drive for like $20 these days, or a 128GB for $30ish. Bigger ones may still be pricey. Go for a name brand like SD, Crucial, or PNY. You can even find multi-packs of smaller ones on Amazon for cheap if you feel the need to, say, use separate drives for different folders.

        Note: Clear your Temp files first, as they're generally full of tiny, unneeded files that will just slow things down while copying or checking for viruses etc. Go to the start menu and hit Run... (or press WIN+R), type temp in the box, select all in the resulting window, and delete. If it won't let you delete some of it, that's fine, just skip those. Then, do it again, but type %temp% in the Run box. Empty your Recycle Bin afterwards.
        Last edited by EricKei; 06-22-2016, 03:27 PM.
        "For a musician, the SNES sound engine is like using Crayola Crayons. Nobuo Uematsu used Crayola Crayons to paint the Sistine Chapel." - Jeremy Jahns (re: "Dancing Mad")
        "The difference between an amateur and a master is that the master has failed way more times." - JoCat
        "Thinking is difficult, therefore let the herd pronounce judgment!" ~ Carl Jung
        "There's burning bridges, and then there's the lake just to fill it with gasoline." - Wiccy, reddit
        "Retail is a cruel master, and could very well be the most educational time of many people's lives, in its own twisted way." - me
        "Love keeps her in the air when she oughta fall down...tell you she's hurtin' 'fore she keens...makes her a home." - Capt. Malcolm Reynolds, "Serenity" (2005)
        Acts of Gord – Read it, Learn it, Love it!
        "Our psychic powers only work if the customer has a mind to read." - me

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        • #5
          I have C-Cleaner. I can run that, it removes all that temp stuff. I think it's been a couple weeks since I did that so I should probably do that tonight.
          When you start at zero, everything's progress.

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          • #6
            As a temporary machine until I can afford something better, I'm liking this: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...13&Sku=9929161

            Anyone have experience with Acer? Is it a decent brand? And am I asking for problems by getting something that still uses Windows 7? I've heard Win 8 & 10 both have a lot of problems.
            When you start at zero, everything's progress.

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            • #7
              I feel like I remember hearing that sometimes laptops can overhead even if they don't seem too hot... Anyone else ever heard of that? Just to see, you could download SpeedFan and check how hot it's getting. As far as the battery, you can take it out and run on the charger (plugged in) and see if it still turns off.

              Just from listening to everyone at school, I can't say any brand is better or worse specifically. They all have their favorites, and there isn't one major brand which anyone agrees is terrible. I mean, people complain about HP, but my last two computers have been that brand and they work just fine. Oh, and Win 7 is a perfectly good choice! Better than 10, IMO. So many people still use it, it's only still available because people like it so much.
              Replace anger management with stupidity management.

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              • #8
                Re: the overheating, those are both good ideas, Notalwaysright...I may try that this weekend. I've heard that Gateways are prone to overheating anyway, and this one is kinda old (8 years!).

                I don't want to over-analyze every machine I look at, it's just confusing when you look at all the variables, and I'm not that computer-savvy. ;p
                When you start at zero, everything's progress.

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                • #9
                  Acer isn't a great brand - but at that price, you basically get what you pay for. I've seen worse.

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                  • #10
                    The problem you're having sounds almost exactly like my first cracked motherboard. I'd turn it on, it would stay on for maybe 15 minutes (30 if I was really lucky) then it would shut itself back off.

                    My laptops have all been Toshiba Satellite series. The one I have now was about $300 and was the cheapest we could find at the time. They're not great for games or anything but they work just fine for school (their intended purpose anyway), and I've been happy with how long they last. The first one had the cracked motherboard from my baby sister dropping it (had it for almost four years), the second had a couch land on it and the screen was cracked (had it for two), and this one (just over a year old) had another cracked motherboard from my daughter dropping it but I was able to get it replaced. I just don't have good luck with laptops.
                    The fact that jellyfish have survived for 650 million years despite not having brains gives hope to many people.

                    You would have to be incredibly dense for the world to revolve around you.

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                    • #11
                      So I tried removing the battery. The first day the computer seemed to stay on quite a long time. Next day, not so much. Shut down anyway. It got to the point where it kept locking up, took forever to do anything and would shut down pretty quickly.

                      So I put a bunch of stuff on a flash drive, bit the bullet and ordered the Acer.

                      I am now coming to you from Stanley's replacement: The lovely Rosso the Crimson aka Scarlet Witch!

                      Because it's red. Don't judge me
                      When you start at zero, everything's progress.

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