M6809 on battery sometimes just shuts down - Page 5

I have all the original parts, and multiple times while trying to reinstall windows the fan goes on and the computer goes off. It has to do with the sensor, and hopefully it can be fixed with a BIOS update...

It's not the memory

After a few hours it shutoff again, this time while restoring a newer backup. After leaving it to cool down overnight and doing over half the restore on battery it did manage to restore the newest system backup to my alternative disk.

One of the difficulties debugging this is that it is so inconsistent. Sometimes the machine will hardly boot before it keels over, other times it will run for a week.

I'd send the machine back, but I see no sign that eMachines has any clue what the problem is. They are highly unlikely to be able to reproduce it on demand as it is so inconsistent.

Graham.

My thoughts exactly re my BB extended warranty -- even under the best circumstance they'd have my unit for a couple of weeks. With this issue -- inconsistant and undetermined -- who knows when I'd get it back...

Since I've had Windows x64 on my laptop, it has happened very rarely, only 3 times so far, and I think one of them was the laptop actually overheating (oops). I wish laptops were as easy to build as desktops, that's the only reason I bought this thing. Maybe next time I'll get a Sager. :P

Now trying to get the thing fixed. What a struggle

I collected extremely detailed information, including the information about my eMachines ESP plan, and emailed it to them.

They told me I had to register it. So, I registered it. Again. And checked the box which says I have an ESP plan.

Next I get this piece of infuriating blather:

"I regret to inform you that your system is no longer covered by the
standard warranty. In this case, you will want to take your computer to
your local computer repair shop.

I understand how this issue can be quite bothersome. I hope that this
information is helpful in addressing your concern."

Bothersome!!!!!!!!!! Yes, this is BOTHERSOME you turkeys, why the **** do you think I gave you my ESP plan details and checked the box when I registered it?

So, I pointed out to them, almost completely politely, that if they just bothered to scroll down, they'd see the ESP details, and pointed out that I had checked the check box.

Next step is they want 5 business days to check my warranty details. And they are only acknowledging that I reported the shutdown problem and cracked hinges. They ignored the fact I told them I have the screen flicker problem too.

So, I've had to point that out to them again too. eMachines claim "award-winning service": I wonder what award that would be - dumbest people dealing with customers perhaps?

Further details as and when it happens ...

Graham.

Mine ran OK, but...

After reading these threads I had to check my 6807 to see what it would do.

As lwgray wrote, “What happens is when I removed from AC, sat down and powered up the machine, it would resume out of hibernate, allow me to login and use for a couple of minutes. The CPU fan would come on hige speed for a few (maybe 5-10) seconds, then the power goes off completely.”

I did the same. I noticed that my fans were running high, just like you have power set to “Always On” but on AC.

I then checked my CPU speed… 1800Mhz! I restarted after 5 minutes because I don’t know if battery, battery contacts and power rails are designed to run laptop at 1800Mhz for any length of time. If so you would get maybe an hour out of a hot battery?

I wondering if other users are having a voltage problem when coming out of hibernation while on battery? This may explain the sudden shutdown syndrome? Any one that had notebook shut down check the CPU Freq.? I right click on “my computer”, nothing fancy.

All of the above was just for curiosity sake. As a rule I always have used standby in stead of hibernation but as always other mileage will vary.

Cheers

The eMachines support runaround

It took a threat of legal action last Thursday to get eMachines to do anything other than respond with their infuriating supposedly placating comments. I though I was making progress when one email later they agreed to "service" the machine, and asked if I wanted a shipping carton. I said yes. And waited. And waited. So, yesterday I asked when I might expect to see it. They said they need another five days to process my RMA request!

In the meantime I've had one email and a phonecall at work surveying me about their customer service. Unbelievable! There's been no customer service, just a struggle to get them to do anything at all.

LW, any news one month later?

So the solution to the problem is to try to get it fixed, in which case it disappears?

I had the random shut down problem on my M6811. When I RMA'd it, they were able to fix it. I was told simply that the CPU fan had been replaced. After I got it back, the fan did sound different, but I have no way of knowing for sure. I haven't had a problem with the shut downs since.

I've been having this problem for a while now on my M6809.
Annoyingly enough, I just got it back from eMachines yesterday, after sending it in for the cracked hinges problem, and for not being able to plug it in (which was my fault for not taking care of it)... and yes, it's happened.

I have a question though - would it be safe to say that, as a general rule, that this doesn't start happening immediately? It only started happening to me around March, and I got the computer some time around last July.

Since I'm out of warranty, emachines refuses to do anything about. They told me to go to best buy. I asked if the problem has been solved, or if I would just get another defective part, but the person was an idiot. He tried to beat around the bush, but I get the feeling that emachines is trying to avoid it as much as possible...

I have had similar issues as well right after startup. I think it's that same fan problem because whenever it crashes the fans are never running. Must be a stuck fan or something. Does this sound plausable?

Got it back, finally

Today my supposedly fixed M6807 returned. The cracked hinges are fixed, the "E" on the lid is damaged, the rest I don't know yet.

They'd restored the initial hard drive, so I just turned it on, set it to "always on" and will now leave it to sit on a nice cold tiled floor for a month and see what happens. I'm not going to trust it not to damage some more data any time soon.

In the meantime I've built myself an XP x64 box and have migrated everything to that. Well, not *exactly* everything, some things just won't work, but that's not for here.

Graham.

See, if my computer hasn't shut off after about an hour or so, I would say I'm good. It seems as if it happens within 20-30 minutes of power on. That could just be my luck though...

48 hours and still running

I also had to contact them to find out what they'd done (apart from the obvious hinge fix). They seemed fairly certain they'd changed the m/b, which is what I think needed doing, but they were suffciently vague for me to remain dubious.

Whether the failing component has been fixed on replacement m/bs or whether we'll see the exact same problem reappear a few months down the road remains to be seen.

My next step will be - without turning the thing off - to restore a two month old backup and leave it running that for the rest of my burnin period. That'll get it close to the environment it had when it started shutting off.

Graham.

There are a few temp sensors on the motherboard and components especially the CPU and card reader. But these sensors are reserved for the components themselves and are not related or controlled by the BIOS. If the heat rises over the limit due to a failed fan/blocked vent or whatever, the computer or component WILL shut down.

So if they are not controlled by the BIOS, then are these seperate compenents faulty or are they actually detecting a real problem?