[Dabba]

My Acer laptop seems to randomly shut down now. And its not just bam, no power. The screen goes blank, and the lights still on for a few seconds, then it either reboots or turns off completely. I used to think it was some hardware issue, because it seemed to happen when i moved it, but i just tried the "earthquake test" by shaking the damn thing all about and it stayed on. Could it be a software problem or virus or should i be looking at hardware?

Plus if its hardware id figure id loose all power imediatley

[juane414]

It's probably hardware. I don't know of too many software issues that would cause a shutdown/restart like that. I suppose it could possibly be some wicked virus or corrupted system file, but that doesn't explain the screen going blank. I would guess it's an overheating issue to begin with. If your gpu is getting to hot that might cause the graphics to shut down which would explain the blank screen. Download HWmonitor or a similar program and see what your temperatures are.

[Dabba]

Well, i dont think its overheating since it happend right on startup yesterday. I just dont know whats loose/causing it.

[juane414]

Hmm... well let's hope that it's not your graphics or motherboard. Have you tried running memtest? In my experience spontaneous/random shutdowns are usually caused by bad memory. If you don't have memtest, try taking out one of your ram modules (sticks) and see if the problem stops. If not, try the other stick. If the problem continues with both sticks then we'll need to move on to another option. Bad ram is relatively easy to diagnose, which is why I always start there first.

[Dabba]

Ill try some memtesting haha. It hasnt happend in awhile, which leaves me even more confused. Backed up my info none the less