[SOLVED] Laptop Shuts itself off during XP Install

Luk07 · 02-14-2009, 07:11 PM

Tonight i borrowed my sisters laptop to reinstall XP as it runs really slow because she has installed so much stuff on it. After booting into my XP install disk it shut itself down (power cable in, battery in) and continued to do it many times even after i left it to charge for an hour or two while switched off and eventually got a bit further (after format, first copying files part, before reboot) and then shut off at ~65%. This isn't a reboot it just completely shuts off as if out of power, so then i decided to try without the battery in just connected to the mains to make sure it wasn't the batteries fault and it shut itself off again at ~65%. I know its not the install disk because i reinstalled my own copy of XP from the same disk just yesterday. Now prior to this my sister had mentioned her battery not holding a charge and for the most part she'd have to keep her laptop plugged in for it to stay on.

The laptop itself is a Packard Bell IGO 3491 (specs here). Another thing to note is that i also attempted to run Ubuntu from disk (where it makes no changes to your computer) and that failed as well. I'm not sure if this is normal for laptops but the back left area of the laptop does feel very hot to touch.

Thanks for any help :)

**TriggerFinger** · 02-14-2009, 10:35 PM

If you have ruled out the drive, may be the laptop is overheating? If you can feel hot air coming out of the vents, may be it needs some cleaning inside. May be it is clogged with dust. Try using air compressor or a can of compressed air.

Luk07 · 02-15-2009, 07:44 AM

Okay, deciding I didn't really want to open it up I took it outside (its 1 degrees out there) and tried to get the install going. It went through and i've got windows up and running just fine! Thank you for the overheating suggestion it appears to have been correct, so far it hasn't overheated while running windows (im indoors now) and seems to be fine. My only problem now is that i don't have a program that monitors the battery on it, so its impossible to tell how much battery life is left. Are there any freeware programs that work as well as a proper one? Or maybe packard bell has one you can use. I've googled it only to find bad freeware programs/pay programs and no programs offered by packard bell. Thanks for the help.

edit: Miraculously there is a battery monitoring program on it, one that i didn't even install, don't ask me where it came from but its there. Although it doesnt predict the amount of minutes remaining which is something that my sister would really need preferably. So that request is still on :) Thanks.

edit2: After working on it for 2 hours installing necessary software with the power cable connected i disconnected it to see how long it would work wirelessly and the power light immediately went orange, then after 10 seconds or so red. I'm assuming this means the battery just dies very fast as soon as you unplug it. Does this mean the battery is basically dead?

**TriggerFinger** · 02-15-2009, 08:01 AM

As for the cleaning bit... you need not open it up. Use a can of compressed air and shoot some thru the vents. Give it a few blasts until you do not see any dust coming out.

As for the fast discharge...you say 10secs? Yep.. could be a dying battery

Luk07 · 02-15-2009, 08:04 AM

Since I don't have any on me, i'll have to ask her if she wants to pay for some to use on it, so its her choice im afraid. Thanks for the help. And btw the phantom battery monitor utility only comes up when the power is disconnected heh. Strange. Still looking for that decent battery monitor :)

**TriggerFinger** · 02-15-2009, 08:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Luk07

Since I don't have any on me, i'll have to ask her if she wants to pay for some to use on it, so its her choice im afraid. Thanks for the help. And btw the phantom battery monitor utility only comes up when the power is disconnected heh. -- AFAIK this can be set in Power Options under Control Panel.

Strange. Still looking for that decent battery monitor :)

Luk07 · 02-15-2009, 08:41 AM

Well now i feel dumb for not checking there! Never worked on a laptop before :). Thanks alot, and i think the battery is rather dodgy, it says it has 100% charge and has only been charging for 10mins since it died. And i just conducted a test with it, it said it had 30 minutes of battery left so i timed it and it only lasted 10 minutes. I'm going to charge it for a few hours+ and see if the battery lasts.

Luk07 · 02-15-2009, 12:20 PM

After having it charge for a few hours i turned it on and it only lasted about 5 minutes before cutting out due to low battery. So will a new battery fix this?

edit: Looked up how much it would be for a new battery, the cheapest price i saw was £95 so theres not really any point in paying so much when a brand new/second hand laptop that works fine would be not much more than double that. Thanks for the help anyways and i'll mark this as solved.

02-14-2009, 07:11 PM	#1 (permalink)
Luk07 Registered User Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Kettering, Northamptonshire, UK Posts: 447 OS: Windows XP Pro SP2 My System	[SOLVED] Laptop Shuts itself off during XP Install Tonight i borrowed my sisters laptop to reinstall XP as it runs really slow because she has installed so much stuff on it. After booting into my XP install disk it shut itself down (power cable in, battery in) and continued to do it many times even after i left it to charge for an hour or two while switched off and eventually got a bit further (after format, first copying files part, before reboot) and then shut off at ~65%. This isn't a reboot it just completely shuts off as if out of power, so then i decided to try without the battery in just connected to the mains to make sure it wasn't the batteries fault and it shut itself off again at ~65%. I know its not the install disk because i reinstalled my own copy of XP from the same disk just yesterday. Now prior to this my sister had mentioned her battery not holding a charge and for the most part she'd have to keep her laptop plugged in for it to stay on. The laptop itself is a Packard Bell IGO 3491 (specs here). Another thing to note is that i also attempted to run Ubuntu from disk (where it makes no changes to your computer) and that failed as well. I'm not sure if this is normal for laptops but the back left area of the laptop does feel very hot to touch. Thanks for any help :) __________________ It's all fun and games until the monkey craps on the carpet! I've got your nose Mr. Anderson and i intend to keep it!

02-14-2009, 10:35 PM	#2 (permalink)
TriggerFinger Moderator Hardware Team Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: USA Posts: 11,846 OS: Vista SP1, XP SP3, PCLinuxOS2007	Re: Laptop Shuts itself off during XP Install If you have ruled out the drive, may be the laptop is overheating? If you can feel hot air coming out of the vents, may be it needs some cleaning inside. May be it is clogged with dust. Try using air compressor or a can of compressed air. __________________ DBAN - Memtest86+ - BartPE - Linux LiveCD - ImgBurn - HDD Diags - Disk Copy HOW TO BURN AN ISO FILE

02-15-2009, 07:44 AM	#3 (permalink)
Luk07 Registered User Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Kettering, Northamptonshire, UK Posts: 447 OS: Windows XP Pro SP2 My System	Re: Laptop Shuts itself off during XP Install Okay, deciding I didn't really want to open it up I took it outside (its 1 degrees out there) and tried to get the install going. It went through and i've got windows up and running just fine! Thank you for the overheating suggestion it appears to have been correct, so far it hasn't overheated while running windows (im indoors now) and seems to be fine. My only problem now is that i don't have a program that monitors the battery on it, so its impossible to tell how much battery life is left. Are there any freeware programs that work as well as a proper one? Or maybe packard bell has one you can use. I've googled it only to find bad freeware programs/pay programs and no programs offered by packard bell. Thanks for the help. edit: Miraculously there is a battery monitoring program on it, one that i didn't even install, don't ask me where it came from but its there. Although it doesnt predict the amount of minutes remaining which is something that my sister would really need preferably. So that request is still on :) Thanks. edit2: After working on it for 2 hours installing necessary software with the power cable connected i disconnected it to see how long it would work wirelessly and the power light immediately went orange, then after 10 seconds or so red. I'm assuming this means the battery just dies very fast as soon as you unplug it. Does this mean the battery is basically dead? __________________ It's all fun and games until the monkey craps on the carpet! I've got your nose Mr. Anderson and i intend to keep it! Last edited by Luk07; 02-15-2009 at 07:59 AM.

02-15-2009, 08:01 AM	#4 (permalink)
TriggerFinger Moderator Hardware Team Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: USA Posts: 11,846 OS: Vista SP1, XP SP3, PCLinuxOS2007	Re: Laptop Shuts itself off during XP Install As for the cleaning bit... you need not open it up. Use a can of compressed air and shoot some thru the vents. Give it a few blasts until you do not see any dust coming out. As for the fast discharge...you say 10secs? Yep.. could be a dying battery __________________ DBAN - Memtest86+ - BartPE - Linux LiveCD - ImgBurn - HDD Diags - Disk Copy HOW TO BURN AN ISO FILE Last edited by TriggerFinger; 02-15-2009 at 08:05 AM.

02-15-2009, 08:04 AM	#5 (permalink)
Luk07 Registered User Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Kettering, Northamptonshire, UK Posts: 447 OS: Windows XP Pro SP2 My System	Re: Laptop Shuts itself off during XP Install Since I don't have any on me, i'll have to ask her if she wants to pay for some to use on it, so its her choice im afraid. Thanks for the help. And btw the phantom battery monitor utility only comes up when the power is disconnected heh. Strange. Still looking for that decent battery monitor :) __________________ It's all fun and games until the monkey craps on the carpet! I've got your nose Mr. Anderson and i intend to keep it!

02-15-2009, 08:41 AM	#7 (permalink)
Luk07 Registered User Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Kettering, Northamptonshire, UK Posts: 447 OS: Windows XP Pro SP2 My System	Re: Laptop Shuts itself off during XP Install Well now i feel dumb for not checking there! Never worked on a laptop before :). Thanks alot, and i think the battery is rather dodgy, it says it has 100% charge and has only been charging for 10mins since it died. And i just conducted a test with it, it said it had 30 minutes of battery left so i timed it and it only lasted 10 minutes. I'm going to charge it for a few hours+ and see if the battery lasts. __________________ It's all fun and games until the monkey craps on the carpet! I've got your nose Mr. Anderson and i intend to keep it!

02-15-2009, 12:20 PM	#8 (permalink)
Luk07 Registered User Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Kettering, Northamptonshire, UK Posts: 447 OS: Windows XP Pro SP2 My System	Re: Laptop Shuts itself off during XP Install After having it charge for a few hours i turned it on and it only lasted about 5 minutes before cutting out due to low battery. So will a new battery fix this? edit: Looked up how much it would be for a new battery, the cheapest price i saw was £95 so theres not really any point in paying so much when a brand new/second hand laptop that works fine would be not much more than double that. Thanks for the help anyways and i'll mark this as solved. __________________ It's all fun and games until the monkey craps on the carpet! I've got your nose Mr. Anderson and i intend to keep it! Last edited by Luk07; 02-15-2009 at 12:25 PM.