hey

i've got a bit of a problem with my girlfriends acer travelmate 2424. In the last two weeks it has been turning off from time to time. 20-30 minutes after being turned on it just turns off without any notice. It happens while running on battery power or the main power supply.

If the laptop is turned back on immediately after turning off, it turns off during boot-up.

This morning when she's turned the computer on, she got the message:

"Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM"

Now I'm trying to use recovery console on the win XP CD, but it keeps turning off before I get to the recovery console.

My idea is that maybe the cpu is overheating because of dirt inside the fan or something like that. Do you think that is a likely reason for the turning off problem?

I'm not sure weather I should try to open it up and try to clean it, because if it's not because of the dirt, but because of some hardware failure, then the warranty probably won't cover after I've opened it up. The laptop is almost two years old, and the warranty is 2 years.

Can you say anything about weather it's more likely that heating is causing this problem or weather you think it's hardware failure?

Bet on a hard drive failure, or memory failure, or a very dirty system.
Does your girlfriend have a cat or a dog... pet hair can really gag the works on a laptop. I would get a couple of cans of Dust Off or other good canned cleaner gas, and clean out all the air channels, as well as the CPU fan thoroughly.
Then run the free MemTest86 for four hours or 7 passes, whichever is longer... if it will run that long.
Figger out the hard drive brand and model, then go to the website of the hard drive manufacturer (unless it is a Toshiba, which has no drive fitness test) and run the drive tests that you find. If it failes the SMART test, get another drive.

I've just tested a linux live cd, to see if the laptop also shuts down running linux. It did not shut down although it was turned on for longer time, than it took for it to shut down using recovery console.

The linux live cd loads linux into RAM and does not use the HD, as far as I know.. isn't this a sign of the hard drive to be causing the laptop shut down all the time?

Thaat is a very good guess, and a clever way to check for it.

well, it also happened in linux using live cd, and also 1-2 sec. after pressing the power button, so I guess it's not the hard drive

Seems like it keeps getting worse by every hour now.. I'm considering opening the laptop to see if I can clean it.. Anyone know how to open a travelmate 2424 laptop? Do I loosen the screws underneath the notebook or how do I open it up?

sounds like it is overheating.

Laptop keeps turning off

Hi

did you ever get this resolved? I've got an Acer laptop that is doing the same thing and wondered if you figured out what the problem was. One thing I noticed is that the power converter gets really hot at times but it isn't always consistent with the shutting down. The other point is that it is an intermittent problem. Sometimes it will shut down repeatedly and then other times it will run for a week or two without incident. Any insight you have would be helpful.

Thanks

Hi

yes I sent the laptop to Acer Service and they cleaned it. Now it works fine. The note I got together with the laptop when I got it back said they only cleaned it, so I suppose that solved the problem.

hope you solve your problem

Cool. How long did it take to get it back and how much did they charge you to do it?

Dirty system is always the first cause to suspect in an Acer laptop, particularly if you have a pet.
Hair and crud gets into the cooling channels and the cpu fan or cooling fan. Overtime, the system shuts down due to heat.
Do NOT clean with a vacuum or a blower, because the resulting static electricity can destroy it for good.
Use Dust Off, or other canned air with difluoroethelene gas, a batch of long q-tips on wood sticks, and denatured alcohol.

It took one week, from the day they picked it up till the delivered it again. It didn't cost me anything as the guaranty still was active.

quite interesting problem..