Trouble With Acer Laptop

[dnovalkowski]

Hey Guys, I have a problem with an Acer laptop ( Its an Acer Aspire 5738PG-6555 Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T6600 2.2GHz 800MHz FSB, ATI HD4570, 4GB RAM, 250GB HDD (Western Digital)), where, during use, it will slow WAY down quite suddenly, and to the point where you can't use it. (It doesn't lock up however... just craaawls). I immediately thought that it could be HDD issues but booted Hirens and Western Digital's software and found no problems then i decided to test RAM and found the laptop powers off about half way through the test. Then I thought "YES!! FOUND THE PROBLEM!!, so I proceeded to test each RAM stick (2 sticks) individually in same slot and found they tested fine (testing with MemTest86+ btw) Then I though well, maybe its a slot problem and went and tested a stick in that slot and test was fine. SO, I used S + M Stress test on Hirens (which I have found useful before) with both sticks installed to see what it says and during the RAM test the laptop turns off.

Any ideas of what the problem might be?

 

[Digital Micro]

Did you run a scan to make sure it's not infected? Have you checked the processes to see what's running?

 

[dnovalkowski]

Yeah, I did that with Avast Free and Sophos. Haven't done it with a bootup disk or anything like that though

 

[Digital Micro]

There was a peace of malware going around sometime back that would open task constantly until Windows was crawling. I cant remember its name, but malwarebytes will find it.

 

[red12049]

There was a peace of malware going around sometime back that would open task constantly until Windows was crawling. I cant remember its name, but malwarebytes will find it.

If it's crashing while running Memtest, it's not running Windows, and therefore malware is not the issue.

Rick

 

[Digital Micro]

If it's crashing while running Memtest, it's not running Windows, and therefore malware is not the issue.

Rick

I guess i should've payed more attention.

 

[Larry Sabo]

Have you tried it with known-good RAM? Sounds like an overheating CPU to me, which could just get hot enough during memory test to crash, falsely suggesting it's the RAM at fault. What does CrustalDisk Info say about the hard drive health? Can you monitor CPU temps when it is running? Does memtest crash with the drive removed?

 

[Altster]

+ overheating CPU....

Just had an issue like this yesterday. After I cleaned the heatsink(s) and the CPU and other surfaces that the heatsinks were protecting, I applied fresh silicone compound and re-assembled the unit. We were able to then install and use Linux on the unit. It had been shutting down before - similar to what you are describing in the OP posting.

 

[buzzcut]

I had an Acer 5520 series with this problem, at first it would crawl, then shut down.
Then one morning all it did was power cycle off and on.
Took it apart cleaned the fan, put new paste and still would do it.
Heated up the GPU (googled it) and that did the trick,but note this was just a temp solution.
Told client time for a new laptop......it eventually died peacefully a month later.

 

[HFultzjr]

Sure sounds like a hardware issue, not software.
+1 on overheating.
Stress test the cpu.
Replace ram
And a long shot here.....different power adapter.

 

[Krynn72]

Another 2 cents for overheating. To avoid your windows issues, load up Parted Magic and use the included temperature monitor and stress testing software to test it.

 

[dnovalkowski]

Have you tried it with known-good RAM? Sounds like an overheating CPU to me, which could just get hot enough during memory test to crash, falsely suggesting it's the RAM at fault. What does CrustalDisk Info say about the hard drive health? Can you monitor CPU temps when it is running? Does memtest crash with the drive removed?

I don't have any compatible RAM to try with the laptop but I tried taking out the hdd and testing the RAM and the RAM passed the test. I also tried testing the drive with Hirens/Western Digital's software and it passed but with Partition Magic's software for reading SMART, every entry says either Old Age or prepare for failure... something like that. I also tried Seagate's software and it wouldn't even start. CrystalDisk suggests there are no issues. I tried monitoring CPU temps and things seemed fine under normal load (today).

 

[frostbyte5014]

Had an Acer laptop doing the same thing recently. Fan was not cooling properly and heat sink was clogged up with dust. After cleaning the heat sink it wasn't bogging down anymore but still had to replace the fan to get it back to normal.

 

[Larry Sabo]

I don't have any compatible RAM to try with the laptop but I tried taking out the hdd and testing the RAM and the RAM passed the test. I also tried testing the drive with Hirens/Western Digital's software and it passed but with Partition Magic's software for reading SMART, every entry says either Old Age or prepare for failure... something like that. I also tried Seagate's software and it wouldn't even start. CrystalDisk suggests there are no issues. I tried monitoring CPU temps and things seemed fine under normal load (today).

I'm a little confused. You had said earlier that testing RAM with S+M caused it to crash, but now say testing the RAM with the hard drive removed passes. Also, you said the WD hard drive test passes but the Seagate one fails to start. What is the hard drive make? In the SMART display, what are the RAW values in the reallocated sectors, reallocation events and pending reallocation rows? It's the RAW values that are relevant. Whatever, if CrystalDisk Info does not have a yellow background for the drive, it's probably okay.

To monitor temps, I run Prime95 and CoreTemp and see at what temp the cores level off at after 10 minutes. I also use SIW to monitor all temps. It could be the GPU temp is also high, but I forget whether GPUZ monitors them. Canyou run Linux from a boot CD without it dying? MY final thought is, it could be a failed heat pipe, so that's worth checking out.

 

[PcTestCard.com]

I would suggest use the other working power adapter to check again.
Sometimes the failing power adapter that cannot supply suffiicient voltage may have caused the problem.

Hope this helps.
Bill