Pavilion shuts down while in use

Dear sirs,
I have a 4 yr old HP Pavilion A6110E computer running Vista
This weekend it started to shut down (power lost) while it was bein
using......it just shuts down!! If you press the On/Off button, it wil
boot-up using the recovery mode & then work fine for awhile till i
decided to shut down again (no rhyme or reasons) I tried another powe
sources, checked all connections and even confirmed that there was n
dust build-up in the system. The odd thing is that it will start-u
immediately once you hit the power button. It does do a recover
start-up because it was turned-off incorrectly......almost like someon
pulled the plug!! There is no set time frame or warning.....just seem
to loose power. All the fans are working fine (rotating), the CPU fa
does speed up at times then slows back down. I was thinking it might b
the power supply, but from past experiences once the Power supply is ba
the PC will not boot......plus the light stays on at the back of th
power supply. Is it possible for the system to be overheating eve
though all the fan are working? Are there any other possibilities that
might be missing? Thanks in advance for any help you can offer!!!

Mik

 

Hi, Mike
Yes it could be the power supply, it has to provide a decent regulate
smooth 'ripple free' current on demand... if it can't then the whol
machine will give up

Certainly do no harm trying a replacement as long as the power rating i
Wattage is equal to or greater than the one that is in.... it's the mob
and it's fittings that determine the amount of power drawn, all th
supply has to do is to be able to provide it for, if it can't thing
start to get into difficulty

Also, look out for dust build up around the fans and CPU heatsink,
small clean paint brush is ideal here for dusting purposes

If you think about it the PSU (Power Supply Unit) does more work tha
the CPU because it provides ALL the power that is demanded, the mos
common failure in power supplies are the capacitors, they age ver
quickly with heat and ripple current

dav

 

check for bulging capacitors

http://www.badcaps.net/pages.php?vid=5

 

Hi Davy,
Thanks for your response!!! I have already removed the heatsink
confirmed it was clean.....also used compressed air to clean everythin
else in the box. Truthfully it was the cleanest PC that I've worke
on.....no dust buildup at all except a couple of dust bunnies. I wa
thinking it might be the Power Supply, but then I read the H
Troubleshooting process & since the LED was always lit & the PC woul
start-up, it led me to think it was OK & look for something else. I di
install a temperate monitoring software & saw the CPU peak to 97C s
that led me to believe it was either the heat sink / CPU fan or mayb
the box cooling fan. Unfortunately, I don't have spare parts t
troubleshoot with so I need to get the different items.....hoping to bu
the right one.

Thanks again!!!
Mik

 

With the CPU getting to 97 degrees, look at the following possibilities.
1) The CPU fan has failed. Do the blades rotate freely? If not the
lubrication may have failed. The fan may not be moving enough air to
keep the CPU cool. ->Replace the fan
2) The heat sink is plugged with dust. You seem to have ruled this out.
-> Clean the heat sink.
3) The heat sink is not mated to the processor properly. It must be in
close contact. The mounting hardware usually has some sort of spring
mechanism to hold the heat sink onto the processor. -> Check and fix.
4) The heat sink grease may have failed. This is a grease-like substance
between the top of the processor and the heat sink. If this has dried
out or not providing uniform coverage heat will not transfer from the
processor to the heat sink well. Since you have removed the heat sink
you should clean both parts and apply new grease. -> Clean and replace
the grease (Arctic Silver is popular.) Ideally there is a thin, uniform
layer of grease between the processor and the heat sink.
5) Airflow through the box may be bad. The processor could be getting to
97 degress partly because all the air in the box is getting too hot. ->
Make sure all vents are clear and the case and power supply fans are
moving air properly. The bearing can also fail in those fans, reducing
airflow.

 

Thanks Davy & Gman for your help & directions on fixing my issue!!!
Last evening I replaced the Heat Sink with a Rocketfish Universal CP
Cooler that I got at BestBuy. It was a little "OverKill" as compared t
the OEM part but it did the trick.....now the PC barely hit 50C (a
opposed to 60-90C). The PC ran all night & is still running.......so
think my problem is solved!! So this closes my help request!!!

Mik

 

Bad Capacitors

 

Looks like graphyc card overburn