Laptop Having Difficulties Remaining On?

[Faustus]

I have a Gateway NV52LO6U laptop and have for just over a year now.

Until Thursday, everything has been perfect with it. Not a single blip, error, freeze..anything. Mysteriously it then would not power into Sleep mode when I closed the screen. My indicator light on the front (that is lit blue when powered on) is also supposed to change to a flashing orange to let me know it is in sleep mode. This button never changed, but did begin flashing purple at me instead. The LED power button on the main system itself would also not stop glowing blue.

I got around this by manually telling the laptop to hibernate when transporting it between my classes. Then, in my first class, the laptop completely turned off with no warning. It promptly rebooted fine after, though. Just a single press of the button and it was like nothing happened.

For the rest of the day my laptop functioned normally and exhibited no problems. Friday and Saturday system was used normal amount and no problems arose.

Cue Sunday.

I open the screen and it is off. Completely. I push the power button aaaand...nothing. Multiple pushes, no response. Remove battery. Wait. Turns on and runs as normal again. I think nothing of it, burn the CD I needed, set the laptop to charge and leave for the evening.

When I returned it was the same song, second verse. This time when I removed the battery, plugged the system in and turned it on it remained on long enough to flash the logo, then nothing. On a fully charged battery it repeated this numerous times. One can of air cleaning later, the system remained on for the forty-five minute duration needed to backup all of my files (just incase) and I shut it down.

What could be going on with my laptop? Recommendations? Anything?

Thank you!

[Faustus]

Update : Powered system on today, shows no difficulties yet.

[Vekseid]

This is usually due to overheating, it might help to try to dust it out. Have also had a couple of customers whose batteries for one reason or another were not making fully proper contact - hair sneaking in, etc. Remove the battery, dust off the contacts, replace.

It can also be because of power regulation issues (a problem I have : /) but that is rather rare.

[Faustus]

This is usually due to overheating, it might help to try to dust it out. Have also had a couple of customers whose batteries for one reason or another were not making fully proper contact - hair sneaking in, etc. Remove the battery, dust off the contacts, replace.

It can also be because of power regulation issues (a problem I have : /) but that is rather rare.

It had been warm when it kicked off on Thursday, but hasn't been warm since. Fingers crossed that is all that it is. I wish I could take the system apart and get IN to clean the laptop, but these things scare me. My desktop was a no brainer...

And power regulation issues? Could you detail that a little for me, just so I have a backup idea?

[Vekseid]

There should be a cover over the ram, drive, and cpu area, in most laptops. The former two are for easy replacement, the latter is specifically so it can be dusted out like your desktop.

Power regulation problems are usually accompanied by difficulty charging, when it's obviously not a connection problem. The only option then is to either use the warranty if you have it, or prepare to get a new laptop as replacing the motherboard generally runs several hundred dollars.

[Faustus]

There should be a cover over the ram, drive, and cpu area, in most laptops. The former two are for easy replacement, the latter is specifically so it can be dusted out like your desktop.

Power regulation problems are usually accompanied by difficulty charging, when it's obviously not a connection problem. The only option then is to either use the warranty if you have it, or prepare to get a new laptop as replacing the motherboard generally runs several hundred dollars.

Yeah, I know that Motherboard game. Not going back there again.

I opened it up as much as I was comfortable (exposing the battery pack area plus the drive/ram area) and gave it all a thorough dusting and airing. Right now it's running like nothing ever happened, so we'll see!

Thanks for the advice, Vekseid!