My laptop Aspire 5 turns off totally randomly AND Geeks are unable to diagnose it for months

OlgaM

Dear Acer community!

Please advise me on how to proceed: Back in November 2022 my 1-year-old Aspire 5 Acer Laptop F5H2KFR2. It absolutely randomly shuts off regardless of what program is running (Outlook/YouTube) or whether it is idle. These episodes occur with such a random frequency: sometimes the laptop works smoothly for 3 days, and then next it can shut off every 5 or 20 minutes.it is essential to notice that when it shuts off it does not shut off entirely, because after pressing the power button, I feel that some remaining activity under the keyboard finally halts.

I gave my laptop to my local Microelectronics, and they stated that they kept the laptop working for 5 days and could not catch such a sudden shutting-off occurrence, which seems strange to me, since it shuts off pretty frequently. They checked the battery, and it turned out to be fine, and we tried to replace the charger, and with the brand-new charger shutting off episodes still persisted. The senior tech from the store could not offer any solution. I paid almost $700 for this laptop over a year ago, and still hope to fix it.

I took it to a local computer repairman, who charged me $85 and said that it needs heating paste. I doubted it, since my laptop does not suffer from overheating. Please advise me where to start (what to start checking first) and whether it is worth trying to fix it. This laptop has McAfee installed, so I do not expect any viruses. However, after several months of attempts and a total of $150 of diagnostic fees wasted, I would like to finally pin down the problem.

I very much appreciate a piece of good advice.

Olga

[Edited the thread to add model name]

JackE

I took it to a local computer repairman, who charged me $85 and said that
it needs heating paste. I doubted it, since my laptop does not suffer
from overheating

How do you know it does not suffer from overheating? What software, app or tools did you use to measure processor chip temperatures? These measurements cannot be done by feeling outside of case or exhaust air from vents. The symptoms you describe strongly suggest localized CPU overheating from dried out thermal paste with the heat sink. In fact, if paste is dried out, the air exhaust vents will seem cooler than they should be because the heat building up inside the CPU chip is not able to escape.

jhondrake412

Hi Olga,

I'm sorry to hear about the issues you're facing with your Acer Aspire 5 laptop. Given that you've already tried a few troubleshooting steps and visited local technicians, it's worth exploring a few other possibilities. First, it might be helpful to check the Event Viewer logs in Windows Tool to see if there are any specific error messages or warnings related to the shutdowns. Additionally, you can try updating the BIOS and all the drivers for your laptop from the Acer support website. If the issue persists, it could be worth contacting Acer's customer support directly for further assistance. Hopefully, they can provide you with a more precise solution to fix the problem. Best of luck!

JackE

I took it to a local computer repairman, who charged me $85 and said that
it needs heating paste. I doubted it, since my laptop does not suffer
from overheating

How do you know it does not suffer from overheating? What software, app or tools did you use to measure processor chip temperatures? These measurements cannot be done by feeling outside of case or exhaust air from vents. The symptoms you describe strongly suggest localized CPU overheating from dried out thermal paste with the heat sink. In fact, if paste is dried out, the air exhaust vents will seem cooler than they should be because the heat building up and trapped inside the CPU chip is not able to escape.