[Tech Help] Laptop Problem

[Durxom]

So, for my brother's birthday, we got him a brand new laptop, so he could use it at high school(he was just starting), and then play all the games he wanted with it at home and etc.

The laptop was fine for the most part, except until a few months ago, where it just randomly stopped playing them. They might run for say 15 minutes at a time, then the computer will just go into a black screen and not do anything at all, no sound, no video, no nothing, and it's not just randomly going sleep mode either.

It could run anything around stuff like Team Fortress 2, Prototype, and Fallout 3, but now it can barely handle anything over Diablo 2.

I tried my best to fix it; downloaded drivers and etc, and looking up online, but I can't seem to do anything for it, so I was just wondering if the tech-smart Escapists could help me with this =S Hopefully we can get this fixed without having to re-format or anything, but nothing is certain. I'll be posting up the laptops specs, on here to help, but if you need any info let me know =S hopefully you guys can help me with this...

Laptop Specs
- HP Pavillion dv6 Notebook PC
- Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
- AMD Turion II Dual-Core Mobile M500 (2 CPUS)~2.2GHz
- AMD M880G with ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4200
- 4GB RAM

 

[Amnestic]

Hmm. If I had to guess, I would say it might be an overheating problem and the laptop is trying to stop itself melting. While hardly the same system, my PS2 used to do the same when the cooling fan got blocked up.

 

[Durxom]

If it's an overheat why would it just randomly start doing this after months of use =S and what would a solution be

 

[Brutus03]

Check the fans in the back to see if they are blowing hot air out. Check the power supply after it goes into auto shutdown mode to see if the green light is on.

Check for viruses\malware on your computer (Could be the cause of the problems). Also check the power option mode under control panel to make sure the setting is set to Always on. Check the ram, remove 1 stick and test it out for a while. If it still shuts down swap the stick out for the other one. If it still does it, then it could be something broken on the motherboard or the CPU itself. Then you would have to call HP support and send it in (Be sure to erase your important information before you do that. Better yet, format the thing).

 

[Amnestic]

If it's an overheat why would it just randomly start doing this after months of use =S and what would a solution be

Fans clogging up with dirt? Playing games on a different surface which has greater heat retention than the old one? Blocking the fans? Ghost Glitch in the Shell Machine?

As for the solution, laptops are fickle beasts and I wouldn't recommend taking one apart without some know-how. I'd go to a close-by computing store (you're probably better with a small one than a larger chain like PC World I've found) and ask them to take a look at it.