Sudden, uncommanded shutdowns plague Win10 laptop

AskWoody subscriber John Mackin’s laptop was badly malfunctioning, and the problem remained unresolved even after some top-notch troubleshooting and maintenance.

“Fred, I have a three-and-a-half-year-old laptop (Dell Inspiron 13”, i7, 12 GB RAM, 1TB M.2 SSD, Windows 10) that has recently begun to periodically shut down during use.

“Suspecting CPU overheat, I downloaded the CoreTemp program and verified that that is the problem.

“I opened up the laptop and cleaned the fan and vents as best I could (although there did not seem to be much dust or debris), but still the computer shuts down intermittently.

“The CPU temperature seems to vary widely from about 110 degrees to 205 (Fahrenheit) or so when it shuts down. I do hear the fan operate at times.

“Any suggestions as to how I can get the laptop to operate reliably?”
“Fred, I have a three-and-a-half-year-old laptop (Dell Inspiron 13”, i7, 12 GB RAM, 1TB M.2 SSD, Windows 10) that has recently begun to periodically shut down during use.

“Suspecting CPU overheat, I downloaded the CoreTemp program and verified that that is the problem
“I opened up the laptop and cleaned the fan and vents as best I could (although there did not seem to be much dust or debris), but still the computer shuts down intermittently.

“The CPU temperature seems to vary widely from about 110 degrees to 205 (Fahrenheit) or so when it shuts down. I do hear the fan operate at times.

“Any suggestions as to how I can get the laptop to operate reliably?”

That’s excellent troubleshooting so far! In fact, I think he’s almost solved the problem — there are just a few more steps to a successful completion.

How to track down and correct even stubborn, subtle, or indirect causes of potentially-damaging, heat-related PC crashes is the topic of my column in this week’s AskWoody Plus newsletter.

Also in this week’s AskWoody Plus edition:

• SMALL BUSINESS COMPUTING: Office tools: Something old, something new
• BEST OF THE LOUNGE: Understanding a Service Set Identifier (SSID)
• PATCH WATCH: Windows 10 2004 is slowly rolling off the assembly line
• BEST UTILITIES: Freeware Spotlight — Spydish

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• SMALL BUSINESS COMPUTING: Office tools: Something old, something new

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