System randomly drops while "idle"

[TimeLine2Point0]

My laptop will randomly drop sometimes. I will leave it and forget it, and when I return, it's turned off. Help me, please...

2nd gen Dell Inspiron 17R

8GB DDR3-1333 RAM

Windows 7 Home Premium

Intel Core i5-2430M

[mgsstar]

What do you mean by "drop"? Shutting down? It could be your power saving settings that is causing the computer to shut down.

[Andre2210]

laptop goes into sleep mode or logout or worse overheat.

check battery saving settngs in windows configuration options. and see what profile is active .

then click on that profile and go to advanched.

then you can set your settings i guess.

if you ment something different , like a totall shutdown

you might wanna check the windows log files for errors.

and more important ALSO keep an eye on the temps allround.

maybe some fan is full of dust or heatsink inside .

so cold air cant reach the hot components , i dunno.

it might help to put a vacuum cleaner on the exhaust/intake holes.

or if you have no other choiche . open it up for a full dust clean of the fans and heatsink.

but i would try a vacuum cleaner first ,cover the hole with your hand a bit .

so the vacuum cleaner can suck harder and get more dirt out of the fan holes.

[TimeLine2Point0]

What do you mean by "drop"? Shutting down? It could be your power saving settings that is causing the computer to shut down.

Hard drop. Like hold-the-power-button-till-it-turns-off kind of drop...without touching the power button. It will do it while it's plugged in, so the battery isn't dying.

[TimeLine2Point0]

laptop goes into sleep mode or logout or worse overheat.

check battery saving settngs in windows configuration options. and see what profile is active .

then click on that profile and go to advanched.

then you can set your settings i guess.

if you ment something different , like a totall shutdown

you might wanna check the windows log files for errors.

and more important ALSO keep an eye on the temps allround.

maybe some fan is full of dust or heatsink inside .

so cold air cant reach the hot components , i dunno.

it might help to put a vacuum cleaner on the exhaust/intake holes.

or if you have no other choiche . open it up for a full dust clean of the fans and heatsink.

but i would try a vacuum cleaner first ,cover the hole with your hand a bit .

so the vacuum cleaner can suck harder and get more dirt out of the fan holes.

1. System doesn't really overheat...

2. It is set never to go to sleep.

3. It's the kind of thing where you turn it on and Windows says it did not shut down correctly.

4. ...but I probs need to clean it anyeay (had it for just over a year with some rough usage at school).

I'll try the vacuum thing first chance I get. Thanks.

[Andre2210]

laptop goes into sleep mode or logout or worse overheat.

check battery saving settngs in windows configuration options. and see what profile is active .

then click on that profile and go to advanched.

then you can set your settings i guess.

if you ment something different , like a totall shutdown

you might wanna check the windows log files for errors.

and more important ALSO keep an eye on the temps allround.

maybe some fan is full of dust or heatsink inside .

so cold air cant reach the hot components , i dunno.

it might help to put a vacuum cleaner on the exhaust/intake holes.

or if you have no other choiche . open it up for a full dust clean of the fans and heatsink.

but i would try a vacuum cleaner first ,cover the hole with your hand a bit .

so the vacuum cleaner can suck harder and get more dirt out of the fan holes.

ah yes ,that message happens a lot in windows 7 .

to be honest ,i see that message sometimes too .

could be the system shutdown while some program or service was still running .

like an anti virus program doing a background scan.

you could check on shutdown next time if all programs are terminated . like steam launcher or whatever is on the taskbar below.

sometimes you close a program , but it is still running in the taskbar below .the window is only gone ,but the program is still running.

or maybe a program update service ,like adobe flash.

or windows update .

nothing to really worry about ,unless it happens each startup.

[mgsstar]

I think I am getting this same problem. Its not overheating it has a laptop cooler. I run a scan while i am away and I come back finding a black screen but my laptop cooler is still running and I get the message that windows didn't shut down properly. Anyone have a solution to it?

[TimeLine2Point0]

I think I am getting this same problem. Its not overheating it has a laptop cooler. I run a scan while i am away and I come back finding a black screen but my laptop cooler is still running and I get the message that windows didn't shut down properly. Anyone have a solution to it?

Its not that. The whole system is off... No lights, no response to keypresses, mouse movement, etc.