Computer randomly shuts off

[mrjoey98]

Hello all,

I'm having a bit of a problem with my computer. Within the last 36 hours of the time I'm writing this, my computer has randomly shut off more than once; I was waking up my computer out of sleep mode and got the "Windows did not shut down successfully..." message the first time; next, I was waking up my computer again and it shut down right after I pressed the Power button, and most recently, it shut off while I was working. What exacty could be causing this? This week alone I've had to replace the hard drive and the CPU fan. (I read elsewhere that a bad CPU fan or overheating components can cause a computer to shut down out of nowhere.) Could this problem be easily fixed, or is my computer on its way out already?

My computer is an EliteBook 8470p and I am currently running Windows 7 (32-bit).
Thanks in advance.

[Ken1943]

When you changed the fan did you check for "dirt" in the cooler fins ? The fans can pull in a lot of dust.

[mrjoey98]

When I swapped out my old CPU fan with the new one, there was some dust in there, but not a lot. Just a few minutes ago my computer shut off again, even with the new CPU fan, so I'm starting to think that that's not the problem. 

[mrjoey98]

Bump.

For the first time since last weekend, my computer randomly shut off on me twice today so far (the last time being while I was in a lecture!) and I still don't really know what could be causing this. 

Since the last time this happened, I ran some tests and they all said that my computer (memory, hard drive, battery, etc) was okay.

In the meantime, I'm going to see about backing up my files in case disaster strikes for real.

But anyway, any help with this issue would be greatly appreciated.

[Ken1943 · Accepted solution]

Just to check, the laptop is siting on a flat surface and not your lap or blanket ? When you changed the fan, did you have  to

move the heatsink in any way ? Sometimes while changing the cooler fan, the cooler is moved and breaks the bond between it and the cpu surface. Other than that I can not offer anymore ideas.

[mrjoey98]

To answer your question, yes-- my laptop would be on a flat surface (i.e. not my lap or on a blanket or anything else). When I changed the fan, I didn't have to move the heatsink at all. 

Most recently, my computer has shut off a few times even while it was plugged in. It was only shutting off on battery before.

[mrjoey98]

Another bump, but only because I figured out what was wrong.

It turns out my battery was the problem. After buying a new battery and putting it in, my computer hasn't been randomly shutting down like it had been before.

The battery test in HP Hardware Diagnostics said FAILED (without a failure ID) for both my old battery and my new battery (what could that be about?) but I'm guessing it's nothing to worry about when it comes to my new one.

But long story short, I've gotten down to the root of the issue-- the battery.