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Recieved my M5550, and it already has shutdown problem

post #1 of 9
9/30/06 at 2:37am
Thread Starter 
I finally got my M5550 Core 2 Duo on 9/27, about 29 days after I ordered it. It was nicely packaged, and it worked flawlessly for the frist two days.

Today, after the laptop was on all day, it randomly shutdown while I was surfing the internet. Since I have been reading this forum for awhile now, I was fully aware of the shutdown issue. One post even said that the Core 2 Duo suffers from this problem less.

I still am very satisfied with the laptop, and plan to try to fix the shutdown issue. Some threads said it was the RAM, and some suggested a fresh install of Windows. If it occurs again, I might considered doing this.

During the time the laptop was on all day, I played Battlefield 2 for a couple of hours, and the fan never came on. The laptop did not feel overheated, as most other people reported.

Has anyone else with the Core 2 Duo had this problem too?
How likely is it that a fresh install of Windows will fix this problem?
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post #2 of 9
9/30/06 at 3:45pm
I have the older, Core 1 Duo 2.0 ghz. I notice the same problem with the fan not coming on often enough, while under heavy load.

Also, I have had the random shutdown problem since day one, at various times. Both under heavy load, and also under almost no load at all (ie, just surfing the net)

However, on the plus side, the problem has been gradually occurring less and less frequently. When I first got the laptop, it would happen around once every other day. Now, its been roughly 1 week since it has happened.

If it is a heat issue, it sometimes improves with time as the thermal grease compounds used to seat the CPU and GPU gradually seat and improve cooling.

I have not done a fresh install of windows. Too much of a pain in the ass, after all the programs I have installed.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that my (and hopefully other peoples too) shutdown problems improve with time as the internal components seat themselves.
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post #3 of 9
9/30/06 at 3:54pm
HEre we go again... What the heck is AW doing with this model??? Anyways try reseating the memory, flashing your bios or tightening your heatsink. Apparently one of these combinations supposely fixes the problem. Good luck!
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post #4 of 9
9/30/06 at 4:04pm
got my 5550m also and so far 2 shut down problem. But I believe one of them was my fault. I was testing out all the buttons on top of the keypad and saw a picture with a fan on it. I pressed it, 5 seconds later, the screen went black. Needless to say I ddidn't mess with that button again.

2nd instance was when I was running 3dmark 2005 and it gave me an error about dx9, and than it exit the program. 2 minutes later, poof the screen went black. I also believe this to be a program conflict of some sort. No big deal though.
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post #5 of 9
9/30/06 at 4:36pm
Try reseating the RAM in your system.

Ever since I did that, it hasn't shutdown on me once yet.

I also switched the positions of the modules to see if that would help.

So far so good!
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post #6 of 9
9/30/06 at 7:21pm
Again, I wouldn't worry about one shut down, especially if you had the thing running all day. If it becomes repetative, then worry about it.

I remember back in the days of Win95 that two or three reboots a day was pretty standard to keep windows running right...
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post #7 of 9
10/1/06 at 12:54am
Fatez:

The fan button does no harm, unless you are running a power scheme that forces the CPU to run full speed (ie, no scaling). Then, it can occasionally lock up/crash the system.

If you are running a power scheme, or a Notebook Hardware Control setting, that allows scaling, the fan button will get you a LITTLE extra battery life. It shuts off/slows the fan, and reduces CPU speed further.

See my pics.

In the top pic, you see that the regular idle CPU speed is around 1 ghz

In the bottom pic, I have pressed the fan button, and the idle CPU speed drops to 970.

Helps a little while running on battery power w/ CPU scaling enabled. Again, don't press the fan button while forcing the CPU to run full speed.
LL
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post #8 of 9
10/1/06 at 6:39pm
Is the random shutdown problem still occuring or is fixed? keep us posted and good luck!
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post #9 of 9
10/1/06 at 6:45pm
anyone got some good pictures of the reseating the RAM process or tightening the heatsink?

mine has randomly shut down like twice in ~10 days and i may consider doing this if it happens anymore, but i'm a bit scared to crack it open without know what i'm really doing
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