# Why does my laptop keep shutting down?



## Bongbuster (Oct 17, 2011)

I have a Lenovo Idea Pad Y450 running Vista Ultimate

For the last week the lap top has been booting and running like normal then shutting down when I try to do stuff like play a dvd,connect an external monitor, use external speakers or have negative thoughts.

At first I thought it was a hardware power problem but when I boot in safe mode, there are no shut down problems at all.

I'm using Ad-aware- AVG and threatfire. All of these are the latest versions and fully updated. I have run complete scans and found nothing. I am also using SystemCare4 and I've done complete scans and fixed all the normal problems.

After all this, the lap top is still shutting down. I just tried to run an external monitor and it shut down after around two minutes.

Does any one have any idea what the problem is and how I can solve it??? I'd really appreciate some help.


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## stinger608 (Oct 17, 2011)

Almost sounds like a heat problem Bong. Have you blown out the air vents and fans at any time? Laptops tend to run very hot anyhow, and when you add in the dust bunnies that can accumulate it can cause all kinds of problems.


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## jetweb (Oct 17, 2011)

i have the same problem


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## Bongbuster (Oct 18, 2011)

stinger608 said:


> Almost sounds like a heat problem Bong. Have you blown out the air vents and fans at any time? Laptops tend to run very hot anyhow, and when you add in the dust bunnies that can accumulate it can cause all kinds of problems.



Hi Stinger, thank you for your reply. I checked the air vents and they were fine and I blew them out just to make sure. Still the same problem though.

Any other ideas?


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## stinger608 (Oct 18, 2011)

I could be the thermal paste/pad. It could be what is called "bake out" which causes small holes (so to speak) in the thermal material that can cause serious heat issues on processors and graphics processors. 

Another issue with stock thermal material is air voids in the thermal material. Even if it was installed by a computer tech at some point this can be a problem. For a quick read on thermal material installation and some overall knowledge on thermal material, Innovation Cooling who makes IC Diamond 7 is a great place to get information. 

http://www.innovationcooling.com/applicationinstructions.htm

I was actually in on the testing process for Innovation Cooling.


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## viczulis (Oct 18, 2011)

sounds like video card is heating up. Run memtest on memory and test hard drive. My boys laptop was shutting off on utube vids. I ran CCleaner, system care 4 (everything on system 4) defrag the works. And so far no more shut downs been a week.

Hopefully that helps


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## Mussels (Oct 18, 2011)

i guess video card too, since it'd be locked in a 2D state in safe mode, which is problem free.


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## stinger608 (Oct 18, 2011)

Mussels said:


> i guess video card too, since it'd be locked in a 2D state in safe mode, which is problem free.



 Possibly due to overheating. Again could possibly be the thermal paste.


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## Mussels (Oct 18, 2011)

actually now that i re-read and saw that using an external monitor causes it to shutdown faster, its definitely the video card. they up the clocks when you do that.


blowing out the dust from the fan may be all thats needed, but a regrease is quite a good thing to do regardless. just be careful running it as is, because extended overheating will kill it sooner or later.


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## Bongbuster (Oct 18, 2011)

Thank you every one for your help.



stinger608 said:


> I could be the thermal paste/pad. It could be what is called "bake out" which causes small holes (so to speak) in the thermal material that can cause serious heat issues on processors and graphics processors.
> 
> Another issue with stock thermal material is air voids in the thermal material. Even if it was installed by a computer tech at some point this can be a problem. For a quick read on thermal material installation and some overall knowledge on thermal material, Innovation Cooling who makes IC Diamond 7 is a great place to get information.
> 
> ...



I installed a program to measure core and video temp and screen shots of the results have been attached to this thread. The results look ok. Is there still a possibility of a thermal paste issue?



viczulis said:


> sounds like video card is heating up. Run memtest on memory and test hard drive. My boys laptop was shutting off on utube vids. I ran CCleaner, system care 4 (everything on system 4) defrag the works. And so far no more shut downs been a week.
> 
> Hopefully that helps



System care 4 was run before this thread was started. I just installed Ccleaner while in safe mode with network options and ran everything on it. Rebooted and now running in normal mode. Over 15 minutes with no shut down yippeeee (kind of sad).

I'll finish this post, do a bit of work then try using an external monitor.


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## FishHead69 (Oct 18, 2011)

Thats your cpu temps I think , download and run to get gpu temps http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/2039/TechPowerUp_GPU-Z_v0.5.5.html


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## 95Viper (Oct 18, 2011)

Bongbuster said:


> For the last week the lap top has been booting and running like normal then shutting down



Is it shutting down (as in, the normal windows shutdown/sleep/hibernate sequence) or is it bluescreening or just SLAM! off... no power... period.
Is the power brick working properly and is the battery charging to 100%?
What is the battery charge state when the shutdowns happen?

You are not alone with the issue.
Seems others have had this problem with their Y450s.
This is a link to the Lenovo web site:IdeaPad Y450 shutting off randomly

Seems there is a bios update to address the problem when running off the battery.
And, Lenovo made a bios fix for that problem.
Quote from the release notes:


> 17CN28WW:
> 1.Fixed probable auto shutdown issue when running system in battery mode.
> 
> 17CN26WW:
> ...



Lenovo Driver & software download page
How to use WinFlash to install BIOS update on Lenovo IdeaPad Y450

You might want to try the Lenovo system repair and/or the One-Key recovery, to make sure it is not a software problem before opening up the laptop to replace TIM and such.

Also, if you can, and, you use the system restore feature of Windows; you can try to restore the system to an earlier point when you did not have the trouble.
Especially, if you have installed any software, drivers or updates, right before this started.

You might want to test your laptop's memory.
Just saying, some things to look at or try, is all.



Bongbuster said:


> I installed a program to measure core and video temp and screen shots of the results have been attached to this thread. The results look ok. Is there still a possibility of a thermal paste issue?



You really need to run something like Prime95 and Realtemp/Coretemp at the same time to see what temps the CPU is under load to get an idea of the max it is hitting.

Like they said, you need to get something like GPUz/HWinfo32/HWmonitor for the video temps and put a load on it to see what it is maxing at.


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## Bongbuster (Oct 19, 2011)

Thanks fishead and Viper



FishHead69 said:


> Thats your cpu temps I think , download and run to get gpu temps http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/2039/TechPowerUp_GPU-Z_v0.5.5.html



Just installed that program and attached a screenshot of the results



95Viper said:


> Is it shutting down (as in, the normal windows shutdown/sleep/hibernate sequence) or is it bluescreening or just SLAM! off... no power... period.
> Is the power brick working properly and is the battery charging to 100%?
> What is the battery charge state when the shutdowns happen?
> 
> ...



Great suggestions, thank you.

When the laptop shuts down, it turns off. You go straight from using it to blank screen, no power. Just like you turn the power of. This happens both when on battery and when battery is removed and mains power is used. When battery is installed, it works properly and is charged properly when connected to the mains with battery installed.

This laptop is around 21 months old and only had this problem in the last week. Could it still be that bios issue?

I'm a little reluctant to try the recovery function because I use this laptop mainly for work and a week of lost work/data would be very bad.

It is plugged into an external monitor and keyboard 9-5 five days a week and has been for the last 20 months. Could that be responsible for damaging GPU?

Before testing it in safe mode I considered physical hardware damage because this laptop has been in m back pack traveling with me many times to pretty remote rugged locations.


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## Mussels (Oct 19, 2011)

61C at idle clocks seems rather high. really does seem like its overheating.


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## 95Viper (Oct 19, 2011)

Well, the bios may or may not help, really don't know until it is tried.

However, those cpu temps and gpu temps are ok, but that is at idle.
You really need to get some load on the parts and get the temps to really tell anything.

And, I sorta doubt that an external monitor is going to any damage the the chipsets.

Also, for the heck of it, you may want to run a memtest and disk check, if you have not already.

You may have to just backup your data or clone your drive to an external device, or the like; and, bite the bullet and restore/reinstall, that way if it does not fix it... you can put it back the way it was.

Not being mean or anything, but it, probably, ain't going to fix itself.


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## Bongbuster (Oct 19, 2011)

95Viper said:


> Well, the bios may or may not help, really don't know until it is tried.
> 
> However, those cpu temps and gpu temps are ok, but that is at idle.
> You really need to get some load on the parts and get the temps to really tell anything.
> ...



Hi Viper, You are right, it is not going to fix it self so I've just done the following
-run memtest and came up with pass complete and no errors
-run diskchck had errors in C: that were fixed. Those errors were probably due to so many shut downs 
-flashed bios with most recent update
-run system restore which is no good because it takes me back to most recent successful start and all starts are successful, they just get shut down with out warning.

After all that, the lap top is still getting shut down in a matter of minutes and only works in safe mode.

Is the only alternative now to reinstall windows and hope that works? I'm tempted to take the laptop to the butchers and the local IT market and see if they can fix it


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## stinger608 (Oct 19, 2011)

After flashing the bios and you still get the same thing, will you then change the thermal material on the processor and video card? 

Most of the newer laptops run a single cooling system for both processor and GPU. The fan could be starting to have issues and not turning at its full speed. None the less, it would have taken about the same length of time as downloading all the programs to have pulled the back off and cleaned the fan and factory thermal material and apply new thermal paste.


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## 95Viper (Oct 22, 2011)

stinger608 said:


> After flashing the bios and you still get the same thing, will you then change the thermal material on the processor and video card?





Bongbuster said:


> Is the only alternative now to reinstall windows and hope that works?



No, to answer your question, that is just one option.

You can do what stinger608 has stated, however, I would run Realtemp/Coretemp or something equivalent and GPUz along with some programs which puts stress or 100% use on the system.  
Check the temps then, not at idle.

If, it does look like it it is a heat problem, then pull the laptop apart and replace the thermal paste (some use thermal pads that are thicker, so you might need to, either, get some pad material or shim it with copper or aluminum shims).
If you have never pulled one apart, it can be a daunting task for a virgin.  You will need to look at some tutorials, see if Lenovo has a one or a set of instructions.
You could also, hope someone has done a Y450 before and can walk you through it.
But, you will will need patience, coffee, time, and happy thoughts the first time.


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## nsmike (Jan 19, 2012)

hey stinger wounder if u can figure this one out i have a Toshiba satellite a70 i recently changed the ac dc input adapter and now every time i use the laptop on battery power only it will shut down randomly no warnings or anything just shuts down and then when i plug the ac adapter it will run like nothing happened. ive already done the bios update and now i dont know what els to do any help would b appreciated 

Thanks 
Mike


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## Mussels (Jan 20, 2012)

nsmike said:


> hey stinger wounder if u can figure this one out i have a Toshiba satellite a70 i recently changed the ac dc input adapter and now every time i use the laptop on battery power only it will shut down randomly no warnings or anything just shuts down and then when i plug the ac adapter it will run like nothing happened. ive already done the bios update and now i dont know what els to do any help would b appreciated
> 
> Thanks
> Mike



your battery is probably stuffed.


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## nsmike (Jan 20, 2012)

Mussels said:


> your battery is probably stuffed.



what do u mean stuffed its a new battery and new charger i let it die completely and still nutting


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## Mussels (Jan 20, 2012)

nsmike said:


> what do u mean stuffed its a new battery and new charger i let it die completely and still nutting



well in that case, its either faulty or incompatible with the laptop.

or possibly the laptop itself is damaged, and not operating on battery power regardless of what battery you use.


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## nsmike (Jan 20, 2012)

Mussels said:


> well in that case, its either faulty or incompatible with the laptop.
> 
> or possibly the laptop itself is damaged, and not operating on battery power regardless of what battery you use.



well it runs off the battery but out of no where it will shut off and then i plug it in ac and it starts off again i thought it could be the thermal compound on the cpu but i have no idea cuz some times i can drain the battery depending on what im doing but when i use multiple tabs on the internet it wont handle it on battery power but nothing happens when i have it pluged in the ac


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## Mussels (Jan 20, 2012)

nsmike said:


> well it runs off the battery but out of no where it will shut off and then i plug it in ac and it starts off again i thought it could be the thermal compound on the cpu but i have no idea cuz some times i can drain the battery depending on what im doing but when i use multiple tabs on the internet it wont handle it on battery power but nothing happens when i have it pluged in the ac



that means the battery is flat, or has come loose. no need to go reaching for weird things like thermal paste.


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## nsmike (Jan 20, 2012)

Mussels said:


> that means the battery is flat, or has come loose. no need to go reaching for weird things like thermal paste.



ven if it runs with the battery when im only doing one thing at a time on the net but when i have more tabs and doing multiple thing like watching youtube vids and chatting on facebook thats when it gives out and i can still start it some time i have to pull out the batt and put it back in but it still turns back on and then it dies again 10 minutes later so if what your saying is that the battery i bought is no good ??


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## Mussels (Jan 20, 2012)

if it works for low power tasks but when you do more it cuts out, then yes, the battery is no good. sounds like its voltage is dropping too low for the laptop.


i'm guessing its some cheap battery off ebay?


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## nsmike (Jan 20, 2012)

Mussels said:


> if it works for low power tasks but when you do more it cuts out, then yes, the battery is no good. sounds like its voltage is dropping too low for the laptop.
> 
> 
> i'm guessing its some cheap battery off ebay?



lol your guess is right its a 12 cell battery i picked up for 40$ but its got a 3 year warenty on so im surprised its not that much better


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## nsmike (Jan 20, 2012)

nsmike said:


> lol your guess is right its a 12 cell battery i picked up for 40$ but its got a 3 year warenty on so im surprised its not that much better



well ill find out soon enough im going to test it with the old battery to find out if it still does the same thing i bought the new battery because the old one only lasted for about 1 hour to 1 and a half so if it still does the same thing could it mean theres something els wrong with it


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## Mussels (Jan 25, 2012)

my brother had a similar situation to this and then he realised the system was just automatically going into a sleep state due to inactivity. that isnt happening to you, is it?


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## nsmike (Jan 25, 2012)

Mussels said:


> my brother had a similar situation to this and then he realised the system was just automatically going into a sleep state due to inactivity. that isnt happening to you, is it?



no i found out it was just the battery because i tested it with my old battery and it wont do it ive been trying to figure a way to make the one i bought on ebay work but havent been able to yet if u may know a way that i can get it to work would b appreciated 

Thanks 
Mike


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