Laptop powers off

[nonchalant]

Hi all

picked up another laptop with a major virus issue. Ive recovered the data the customer was after & formatted the HDD however when running the recovery setup CD it gets to the EULA screen ok then comes up to the 'hit enter to run windows setup' and powers off?

Im guessing this is a hardware issue. Ive run memtest & that passes ok & I ran a scandisk on the HDD which found no bad sectors. Whats the chances I have a PSU issue, bad mobo or a virus still hidden in the boot sector?

Edit: I spoke too soon it seems. Was running memtest (all was good) but just noticed the laptop has powered itself off again before the test was complete, though I was able to log into it last night under safe mode and use it for 15-20 mins or more?

 

[anonymous Mac Tech]

Edit: I spoke too soon it seems. Was running memtest (all was good) but just noticed the laptop has powered itself off again before the test was complete, though I was able to log into it last night under safe mode and use it for 15-20 mins or more?

Based on what you say here it seems to be triggered by stressing the system. Does the thought of disassembling it and checking for thermal failures (clogged heat sink, check/reapply thermal grease, check fan(s)operation) sound about right?

 

[nonchalant]

Based on what you say here it seems to be triggered by stressing the system. Does the thought of disassembling it and checking for thermal failures (clogged heat sink, check/reapply thermal grease, check fan(s)operation) sound about right?

Yea it does. Its now randomly powering off. It ran for over an hour when running a killdisk and other times powers off within seconds of powering on so Im thinking faulty PSU.

 

[OldSchoolPC]

If you can get into safe mode. See what event viewer has to say. Thermals events (overheating) should show up there. Otherwise, it's a power issue I think.

 

[Adept PC Repair]

Yea it does. Its now randomly powering off. It ran for over an hour when running a killdisk and other times powers off within seconds of powering on so Im thinking faulty PSU.

Check caps on motherboard too, don't forget!