AndyB01 Posted June 5, 2023 Author Share Posted June 5, 2023 After months if ongoing investigation I believe I have finally identified and resolved the problem. Certainly heat was the primary problem and the thorough clean and new thermal pad have fixed that - beyond doubt. The secondary problem was shutdown within a few minutes of starting up for the first time. This, it turns out, is a battery problem. It's an old battery and apparently it's something to do with the battery not holding sufficient charge which forces a shutdown. If I remove the battery - problem solved. So where to source a new battery? ?? Preferably from somewhere reliable that (a) doesn't lie about being UK based when they're actually shipping from and based in China and (b) isn't going the sell me something that will burn my house down! All suggestions for reputable suppliers who will ship to UK welcome. Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starship Krupa Posted July 10, 2023 Share Posted July 10, 2023 On 6/5/2023 at 12:34 AM, AndyB01 said: Preferably from somewhere reliable that (a) doesn't lie about being UK based when they're actually shipping from and based in China and (b) isn't going the sell me something that will burn my house down! All suggestions for reputable suppliers who will ship to UK welcome. I've bought several replacement laptop batteries. Always from Amazon, always made in China. I'm not sure what Amazon UK's policies are, but in the US, they have a pretty good return policy. I've yet to have a problem with any laptop batteries purchased in this way. Amazon has another advantage in that you can look at user reviews. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyB01 Posted July 10, 2023 Author Share Posted July 10, 2023 Made in China I can live with, shipped from China is another matter as it can take six weeks. I got one called GreenCell in the end and seems to be working well so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyB01 Posted February 4 Author Share Posted February 4 Nothing like resurrecting an old thread but here goes... This thread details the random shutdown problem with my old Clevo laptop. After many diagnostic checks, I finally decided it was heat related and could see core temps were running hot. I replaced the old spinner drives with SSDs and had it professionally stripped and cleaned, and a new thermal pad and heatsink fitted. I also sourced and fitted a new battery. The operating temps subsequently dropped back to within tolerance and the problem briefly stopped - happy days. Then it came back again... 🙈 I've been managing to limit the issue by cycling the fan at startup (using Fn-1) and about five cycles seems to stabilize the laptop - most of the time. I recently read in a very obscure forum that the fault was likely to be down to a faulty fan temp sensor - so the BIOS thinks the fan is not operating (even though it is) and orders an immediate shutdown. Impossible to say which of the two fans may be at fault. After much searching, I finally sourced two replacement fans off eBay and - since performing some minor open-laptop surgery earlier today - it appears to have finally fixed the issue. The only other thing it may need is a BIOS flash, I have the files for this, but I'm holding off on that because the odds of turning my laptop into a brick are higher than I would ideally like. Early days but no random shutdowns yet (touch wood) so for now at least, I can just delight in having finally solved such a long-standing and annoying problem that proved so difficult to correctly diagnose and yet remarkably simple to resolve. Just goes to prove that you can eventually fix some of these things if you stick at it. Posted for posterity in case it helps anyone else in future. If a mod would like to add [SOLVED] to the thread title I'd be grateful, as I don't seem to be able to. Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amberwolf Posted February 5 Share Posted February 5 FWIW, the most common cause I've seen wiht anyintermittent issue is a connector or wire failure, in decades of fixing things of all kinds--if it's got wires in it, they're usually the cause. usually at the contact itself--either the wire is not correclty crimped into it or it was crimped so hard it broke the conductiors at the back of the cotnatc, or the contact is spread so the open side doesn't fully mate with the pin side, or the side that's soldered to the board is not soldered correclty or at all. Sometiems the wire is borken somewhere alontg the length, usually at the back of a connector or at the board connection point, or at the entrance / exit of whatever casing the wire pases thru. it's not usually a copmlete break, just the conductor inside, and the isnluation looks good but sometiems has some physical difference to working wire.s Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyB01 Posted February 5 Author Share Posted February 5 Yep could've been a wire - who knows - I'm still pinching myself, trying to get used to two whole days without a single shutdown - unbelievable. Shame my home studio is out of action at the moment (we're doing some decorating and room re-configuration) so everything is in boxes or cases and disconnected. I actually have my old MIDI controller on eBay at present, as I'd like to upgrade to a stage piano but it seems there's not much of a market for an 88-key, hammer-action midi controller unfortunately. Still, I'm in no rush... Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starship Krupa Posted February 5 Share Posted February 5 20 hours ago, Amberwolf said: Sometiems the wire is borken Bork happens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starship Krupa Posted February 5 Share Posted February 5 On 2/4/2025 at 2:27 AM, AndyB01 said: The only other thing it may need is a BIOS flash, I have the files for this, but I'm holding off on that because the odds of turning my laptop into a brick are higher than I would ideally like. Advice: yes, do update the BIOS, but check to see how many revisions there are between the version you have now and the latest. The only time in my 35 years of computing that a BIOS update bricked a motherboard was when I was resurrecting a hand-me-down motherboard and updated its original BIOS to the last released one. Did some research and it was a known issue. If updated incrementally, it went fine, but with too large a jump, brickdom happened, with no way to get back to the original BIOS. You don't necessarily need to do them one by one, but do research to find out how BIOS updates have gone for other users of your model. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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