Laptop spontaneously powers off

D

drjsparker

New Member
Greetings...thanks in advance to your insight.

I've got an HP Pavillion zv5000 that will power off, not shut down, but power off sporatically (as though you flipped a light switch or pulled the power cord).

A couple of notes:
-I recently wiped the HD clean and reloaded WXP
-The battery in this laptop is worthless; must be powered by A/C....my first thought was that it was a power problem.
-Problem occurs after computer has been running a while, ie in the morning it's fine, after it's been running for a few hours it will cut off...my second thought was that the processor was getting too hot, but both fans on the underside are running
-When I start it up in the morning, it will run for a few hours. Once it cuts off, if I try to power it back up it will get so far in the boot sequence (sometimes not very far at all, other times all the way to the desktop) and then cut off. At this point in the day, it will rarely get to the desktop before it cuts off.
-That said, I just ran a diagnostic check on the HD from within the BIOS (which took an hour) and it never cut off....the HD passed btw. It seems to occur only when Windows is trying to boot up, but as I stated, it's a clean install on a formated partition.
-The computer also cuts off when I am booting off of the WXP disc (I'm trying to run DSKCHK).
-The sequence of events today:
-This morning: Booted off the WXP disc, reformatted the HD and reinstalled WXP
-Installed OFFICE 2003
-Installed a couple of MS updates
-Up until this point everything was ok...I had come to the conclustion that the previous OS had bugs and that that was the problem
-Installed drivers from the 'DRIVER RECOVERY DISC' that contains the originally installed drivers from HP
-Laptop began cutting off...at this point I'm wondering if the problem is a driver I just installed, but...
-Also cuts off in SAFEMODE

I think that's about all the clues I can give you. Again, thank you for any thoughts you can offer.

John
 
drjsparker said:
Greetings...thanks in advance to your insight.

I've got an HP Pavillion zv5000 that will power off, not shut down, but power off sporatically (as though you flipped a light switch or pulled the power cord).

A couple of notes:
-I recently wiped the HD clean and reloaded WXP
-The battery in this laptop is worthless; must be powered by A/C....my first thought was that it was a power problem.
-Problem occurs after computer has been running a while, ie in the morning it's fine, after it's been running for a few hours it will cut off...my second thought was that the processor was getting too hot, but both fans on the underside are running
-When I start it up in the morning, it will run for a few hours. Once it cuts off, if I try to power it back up it will get so far in the boot sequence (sometimes not very far at all, other times all the way to the desktop) and then cut off. At this point in the day, it will rarely get to the desktop before it cuts off.
-That said, I just ran a diagnostic check on the HD from within the BIOS (which took an hour) and it never cut off....the HD passed btw. It seems to occur only when Windows is trying to boot up, but as I stated, it's a clean install on a formated partition.
-The computer also cuts off when I am booting off of the WXP disc (I'm trying to run DSKCHK).
-The sequence of events today:
-This morning: Booted off the WXP disc, reformatted the HD and reinstalled WXP
-Installed OFFICE 2003
-Installed a couple of MS updates
-Up until this point everything was ok...I had come to the conclustion that the previous OS had bugs and that that was the problem
-Installed drivers from the 'DRIVER RECOVERY DISC' that contains the originally installed drivers from HP
-Laptop began cutting off...at this point I'm wondering if the problem is a driver I just installed, but...
-Also cuts off in SAFEMODE

I think that's about all the clues I can give you. Again, thank you for any thoughts you can offer.

John
Click to expand...

try a linux live cd
 
drjsparker said:
could you elaborate on this...what is a linux live cd?
Click to expand...

Basically it's a linux OS that can boot without installation. This allows you to check the hardware environment of your computer without a full install. It's useful in many many ways. Check out Ubuntu for a good live cd. Just Google it and then download the iso, burn it, and run it in a cd/dvd drive.
 
drjsparker said:
Greetings...thanks in advance to your insight.

I've got an HP Pavillion zv5000 that will power off, not shut down, but power off sporatically (as though you flipped a light switch or pulled the power cord).

A couple of notes:
-I recently wiped the HD clean and reloaded WXP
-The battery in this laptop is worthless; must be powered by A/C....my first thought was that it was a power problem.
-Problem occurs after computer has been running a while, ie in the morning it's fine, after it's been running for a few hours it will cut off...my second thought was that the processor was getting too hot, but both fans on the underside are running
-When I start it up in the morning, it will run for a few hours. Once it cuts off, if I try to power it back up it will get so far in the boot sequence (sometimes not very far at all, other times all the way to the desktop) and then cut off. At this point in the day, it will rarely get to the desktop before it cuts off.
-That said, I just ran a diagnostic check on the HD from within the BIOS (which took an hour) and it never cut off....the HD passed btw. It seems to occur only when Windows is trying to boot up, but as I stated, it's a clean install on a formated partition.
-The computer also cuts off when I am booting off of the WXP disc (I'm trying to run DSKCHK).
-The sequence of events today:
-This morning: Booted off the WXP disc, reformatted the HD and reinstalled WXP
-Installed OFFICE 2003
-Installed a couple of MS updates
-Up until this point everything was ok...I had come to the conclustion that the previous OS had bugs and that that was the problem
-Installed drivers from the 'DRIVER RECOVERY DISC' that contains the originally installed drivers from HP
-Laptop began cutting off...at this point I'm wondering if the problem is a driver I just installed, but...
-Also cuts off in SAFEMODE

I think that's about all the clues I can give you. Again, thank you for any thoughts you can offer.

John
Click to expand...

Hmm, even though fans are running it could be overheating. Try downloading speedfan and see what kinda temps it shows for your cpu.
 
bomberboysk said:
Hmm, even though fans are running it could be overheating. Try downloading speedfan and see what kinda temps it shows for your cpu.
Click to expand...

Second on speedfan. It is a handy little app.


As for the sporadic nature of the shutoff, does it happen after serious work loads consistently? Or, for that matter, does it display any kind of consistency at all?

I have a feeling that since you are not running with a battery plugged in that your power adapter may be dying on you or your system is drawing more power than it can supply (also potentially a sign it could be dying). Laptop power adapters are really meant to recharge the battery. Most laptops are designed to pull all power needs directly from the battery if it is installed. The battery acts as a buffer of sorts - i.e. if the computer needs more juice than the wall adapter can supply, it can get the extra boost from the battery.

Have you noticed your power adapter getting abnormally hot recently? An over heating power supply can severely reduce its efficiency and thus power output. It can also be a sign of its eminent demise.

Still, let us know what you observe with SpeedFan though.
 
Third on speedfan. I had a laptop a number of years ago that did something quite similar - and there were definitely overheating problems on that piece...
 
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