Laptop Shuts Off - Where Should the Laptop Sit
Where should the laptop sit is a question I often receive. The main thing with modern laptop computers is to sit them where there is little chance for the AC cord to be pulled on while the laptop is plugged in. If the cord has been yanked on and you have a laptop that keeps shutting itself off, you want to begin by determining how soon it shuts off after you power it up. In this article I will focus on the situation of a laptop shutting itself off before it completes POST. This basically means that the laptop will shut off within just a few seconds of being turned on.
First of all, is the laptop running on AC power, and is the battery currently installed in the computer? If the battery is installed and the computer is plugged into the AC power source, remove the battery and try to boot the computer. If the laptop still shuts itself off, reinstall the battery and try to boot the computer with the power cord unplugged from the laptop itself. If the computer completes POST and boots into the OS, then you have determined that the battery is not the likely culprit here.
The idea is to determine whether the issue is with the battery or the AC power adapter. I have often found that if the AC power adapter is the culprit, then verification of which component is required. For instance is the cord leading from the power brick damaged? Often times it may have been chewed by a pet, or somehow something pinched through the insulation. Is the power brick itself ok? Usually there will be a light on the brick which will allow me to see that is receiving electricity as designed.
Once we have made our way from the wall outlet to the power jack on the back of the laptop computer, we now make the BIG inspection. Is the jack damaged, bent, loose or in some rare cases missing all together? If any of these apply, then your laptop will need a fairly expensive jack replacement, or jack repair job. This will involve completely dismantling the laptop and replacing the power jack which is soldered directly to the laptop motherboard.
To avoid a laptop that keeps shutting off, your laptop should sit in a location which will have little chance of the power cord being yanked on.
Toby Barns is a computer and networking consultant with over ten years experience as an independent representative of many major computer manufactures and retailers. Toby has worked in tech support call centers, led teams of advanced technicians in the computer manufacturing industry, done consulting for retail computer outlets, and as a field representative for many major computer warranty service providers.
Toby is pleased to currently be part of the team at http://priceit.biz
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