Laptop shuts down after some minutes.

[braianknoller]

Hello, my friend has a problem with his laptop and I've been trying to solve it with no success so far.
The laptop boots normally and is working for around 5 minutes and then it shuts down. Here's what I've noticed:

■ It shuts down after some minutes even if I enter to BIOS setup and stay there.
■ I installed CoreTemp and checked the temperatures. both cores seem to run below 60°C, However, I removed the back cover to see the CPU fan and found out it is starting and stopping every five seconds or so.
■ When I'm in BIOS setup and before the laptop shuts down, I can hear around 7 long beeps and 1 short or 3 long and 1 short, randomly.
■ I believe the problem is not caused by Windows or drivers, as it still shuts down in safe mode.
■ The laptop runs an i5 2430m if I recall correctly and 2 gigabytes of RAM in two sticks of 1gb each. Also, it had a 120gb HDD. Taking into account the processor's age, I don't believe this was the original setup. The HDD and RAM must have been changed in the past. So, I tried to run the laptop with each of the 1GB sticks, but it still shuts down.

Any suggestions of what should I test next? The laptop is from national production (I'm from Argentina, the brand is called Banghó) so there's not much support in the web.
Well, I hope you can help me. Thanks for reading my topic.

 

[webworkings]

While none listed are for that particular computer, it should give you some ideas about what is going on. I don't know that brand.

Beeps at start up...

8 Beeps on startup means the LCD on system has failed (or is failing). 6 on startup would mean it is your GPU.

You might want to try running a LCD Test, as well as a Pre-boot System Assessment.

So now you are probably thinking "How to run these tests?"


First, turn off your laptop.

For the LCD Test...

1. Hold down the 'D' key and then turn on your laptop
2. Keep holding down 'D' and you should see color bars on your LCD.


Again, turn off the laptop...

For the Pre-boot System Assessment...

1. Hit the 'F12' key immediately after turning on your system.
2. From the options displayed, choose 'Diagnostics' .

This will tell you if there are any errors that you need to address/fix.


Other beep codes....

NOTE: Due to the fact that different manufacturers with this BIOS have different codes, the beep codes may vary.

Below are the AMI BIOS Beep codes that can occur.

1 short - DRAM refresh failure
2 short - Parity circuit failure
3 short - Base 64K RAM failure
4 short - System timer failure
5 short - Process failure
6 short - Keyboard controller Gate A20 error
7 short - Virtual mode exception error
8 short - Display memory Read/Write test failure
9 short - ROM BIOS checksum failure
10 short - CMOS shutdown Read/Write error
11 short - Cache Memory error
1 long, 3 short - Conventional/Extended memory failure
1 long, 8 short - Display/Retrace test failed
two-tone siren - Low CPU Fan speed, Voltage Level issue

Below are Award BIOS Beep codes that can occur.

1 long, 2 short - Indicates a video error has occurred and the BIOS cannot initialize the video screen to display any additional information.

1 long, 3 short - Video card not detected (reseat video card) or bad video card

Beeps repeating endlessly - RAM problem.

Repeated high frequency beeps while PC is running - Overheating processor (CPU).

Repeated beeps alternating high & low frequency - Issue with the processor (CPU), possibly damaged.

Dell beep codes

1 beep - BIOS ROM corruption or failure
2 beeps - Memory (RAM) not detected
3 beeps - Motherboard failure
4 beeps - Memory (RAM) failure
5 beeps - CMOS Battery failure
6 beeps - Video card failure
7 beeps - Bad processor (CPU)

Below are general IBM BIOS Beep codes that can occur. However, because of the wide variety of models shipping with this BIOS, the beep codes may vary.

No Beeps - No Power, Loose Card, or Short.
1 Short Beep - Normal POST, computer is ok.
2 Short Beep - POST error, review screen for error code.
Continuous Beep - No Power, Loose Card, or Short.
Repeating Short Beep - No Power, Loose Card, or Short.
1 Long and 1 Short Beep - Motherboard issue.
1 Long and 2 Short Beeps - Video (Mono/CGA Display Circuitry) issue.
1 Long and 3 Short Beeps. - Video (EGA) Display Circuitry.
3 Long Beeps - Keyboard or Keyboard card error.
1 Beep, Blank or Incorrect Display - Video Display Circuitry.

 

[braianknoller]

While none listed are for that particular computer, it should give you some ideas about what is going on. I don't know that brand.

Beeps at start up...

8 Beeps on startup means the LCD on system has failed (or is failing). 6 on startup would mean it is your GPU.

You might want to try running a LCD Test, as well as a Pre-boot System Assessment.

So now you are probably thinking "How to run these tests?"


First, turn off your laptop.

For the LCD Test...

1. Hold down the 'D' key and then turn on your laptop
2. Keep holding down 'D' and you should see color bars on your LCD.


Again, turn off the laptop...

For the Pre-boot System Assessment...

1. Hit the 'F12' key immediately after turning on your system.
2. From the options displayed, choose 'Diagnostics' .

This will tell you if there are any errors that you need to address/fix.


Other beep codes....

NOTE: Due to the fact that different manufacturers with this BIOS have different codes, the beep codes may vary.

Below are the AMI BIOS Beep codes that can occur.

1 short - DRAM refresh failure
2 short - Parity circuit failure
3 short - Base 64K RAM failure
4 short - System timer failure
5 short - Process failure
6 short - Keyboard controller Gate A20 error
7 short - Virtual mode exception error
8 short - Display memory Read/Write test failure
9 short - ROM BIOS checksum failure
10 short - CMOS shutdown Read/Write error
11 short - Cache Memory error
1 long, 3 short - Conventional/Extended memory failure
1 long, 8 short - Display/Retrace test failed
two-tone siren - Low CPU Fan speed, Voltage Level issue

Below are Award BIOS Beep codes that can occur.

1 long, 2 short - Indicates a video error has occurred and the BIOS cannot initialize the video screen to display any additional information.

1 long, 3 short - Video card not detected (reseat video card) or bad video card

Beeps repeating endlessly - RAM problem.

Repeated high frequency beeps while PC is running - Overheating processor (CPU).

Repeated beeps alternating high & low frequency - Issue with the processor (CPU), possibly damaged.

Dell beep codes

1 beep - BIOS ROM corruption or failure
2 beeps - Memory (RAM) not detected
3 beeps - Motherboard failure
4 beeps - Memory (RAM) failure
5 beeps - CMOS Battery failure
6 beeps - Video card failure
7 beeps - Bad processor (CPU)

Below are general IBM BIOS Beep codes that can occur. However, because of the wide variety of models shipping with this BIOS, the beep codes may vary.

No Beeps - No Power, Loose Card, or Short.
1 Short Beep - Normal POST, computer is ok.
2 Short Beep - POST error, review screen for error code.
Continuous Beep - No Power, Loose Card, or Short.
Repeating Short Beep - No Power, Loose Card, or Short.
1 Long and 1 Short Beep - Motherboard issue.
1 Long and 2 Short Beeps - Video (Mono/CGA Display Circuitry) issue.
1 Long and 3 Short Beeps. - Video (EGA) Display Circuitry.
3 Long Beeps - Keyboard or Keyboard card error.
1 Beep, Blank or Incorrect Display - Video Display Circuitry.

Thanks for your very complete answer and the advices on the test. I'll try them now. The BIOS is AMI. By the way, I forgot to mention the following in the post. The LCD screen was failing, it shows a distorted image and incorrect colors, so I disconnected it from the motherboard and connected a monitor to the VGA port instead. So, should I still consider the LCD as a possible failure? Anyway, could that shutdown the system unexpectedly?

 

[webworkings]

Yes the LCD could still be your issue as it really isn't meant to run with the main display disconnected.