AboutShot Expertise I can answer most questions concerning Microsoft operating systems from DOS through Windows 2003. Hardware or software questions welcome. This is what I do for a living, and I love it! So instead of giving extra to Uncle Sam, I decided to give a little for free. Fire away!
Experience I have been working with computers for over 20 years, currently hold a full time job as a Network Administrator for large financial institution, and run my own PC/Network consulting company since 1998.
Education/Credentials Microsoft Certified;
Novell Certified;
Comptia A Certified;
IBM Certified Business Partner in Desktops/Laptops/Servers;
HP Certified Technician Desktops/Laptops/Servers;
Toshiba Authorized Service Technician;
Question My laptop has been having this issue about a week now. It's a Dell Inspiron 9300. I'm not sure if these other problems presaged it, so I'll just sketch them quickly. My cat chewed through the original ac adapter, so I bought a new one, a generic replacement. (Not dell.) When I'd boot, the comp would give a message that it won't run at optimal performance with the replacement. These warnings, I ignore. A week or two later, my screen freezes. No weird video things, no blue screen of death, it simply freezes. I reboot, some time later it freezes again. Now when I try to reboot, it won't respond to the power button. The lights will flutter on, then it dies. Later I try it, and it boots. But now when it freezes, it gives a whirring sound (as if the fan is going nuts) and a popping noise (a bit like the sound a tv screen makes when shut off sometimes, an electric pop). When I reboot, I get a message telling me the computer overheated. It doesn't feel that warm, but I install a temp monitor. Sure enough, it does get fairly hot, but not much about 100 degrees, Fahrenheit. I don't know if that's dangerous or not. Anyway, the laptop can run just fine for quite awhile, but eventually, coincidentally or not as it warms, it then will freeze. It seems to freeze when I nudge it, as if I've moved something lose. But I can't be sure of that. What is wrong with the laptop? The fan sounds like it is working, I feel air out of the vents, the vents have been cleaned, etc.. What else could it be?
Answer Hi Alex, that does sound like an overheating problem. There are several fans in your case, it's possible one of them is not working. There's a heatspreader on top of the CPU that could have come loose so that it's not cooling properly. Both require disassembly, but I think the instructions are in the service manual available on Dell's website.
It's also possible that the generic power supply doesn't supply enough juice to run them all. Any chance you could borrow someone's original power supply and see if that helps?
