TechSpot - PC Technology News and Analysis

I'd appreciate your help with this issue:

Two weeks ago, I noticed my laptop was getting very hot after about an hour of use. It had gotten gradually hotter over the summer so I didn't notice the subtle increases until then. Finally, it shut down and wouldn't start up again. I sprayed the vents with Dust Off. The laptop started again after this, but didn't last long until another shut down. I could hear the fan working, but thought it might not be working as much as it should. I had Gateway replace the fan. The laptop lasts much longer now, however some intense operations like virus scans and movie watching will cause the fan to suddenly spin very fast just before the laptop shuts down.

SpeedFan has never reported a temperature above 51C. It doesn't seem like the computer should shut itself down at that temperature. I now wonder whether the computer knows the fan is there. SpeedFan does not report fan speeds and I can't find the CPU fan listed in device manager or the BIOS - although I'm not sure what to look for, except "CPU fan."

Thanks in advance for your advice.

Have you tried running any benchmark programs on it?

Kinda of stress the laptop.

But my guess will be the RAM issue.

Run some memory test on it and see whether it will do a auto shutdown.

From
I_love_FionaXie

Hello, jpthomas82, and welcome to Techspot

Please take a look at the following threads to make your experience here as enjoyable as possible

Message for all newcomers

Guide to making a good post/thread

The Techspot FAQ

If you could take a minute to fill in some of your profile information that would be helpful to all members of the forum
Knowing someone's location in the world can be extremely helpful, even if you just put a country.

Also remember to post any problems or questions that you have in the appropriate forums

With regards to your problem, you can use memtest86 to test your ram