THE MYSTERY OF MY RANDOMLY SUDDENLY SWITCHING OFF LAPTOP WITH A CLICKING SOUND

Question

Inspiron 15 3521

THE MYSTERY OF MY RANDOMLY SUDDENLY SWITCHING OFF LAPTOP WITH A CLICKING SOUND

I HAVE A DELL LAPTOP MODEL - INSPIRON – 15 - 3521 BOUGHT IN THE YEAR 2015 WITH WINDOWS 7

IT WORKED GREAT WITHOUT ANY ISSUES FOR NEARLY 7 YEARS.

ITS ORIGINAL BATTERY LASTED 6.5 YEARS WITH STANDARD USE NOT TOO MUCH AND NOT TOO LESS WITHOUT ANY ISSUES. I REPLACED THE BATTERY THIS YEAR MARCH 2022.

SINCE THE PAST 4 DAYS IT SOMETIMES RAN SMOOTHLY AND I COULD WORK ON IT FOR 2 TO 4 HOURS 2 TIMES BUT MOSTLY IT SUDDENLY SWITCHES OFF WITH A CLICKING SOUND COMING FROM I THINK THE BOTTOM PORTION OF THE TOP R.H.S. OF THE KEYBOARD.

ONE MORE POINT TO BE NOTED IS THAT THE TIME FOR THIS SUDDEN SWITCH OFF KEPT ON DECREASING – I.E. THE FIRST TIME THE COMPUTER SWITCHED OFF WHILE I WAS WORKING FOR SAY 3 HOURS – THE SECOND SWITCH OFF WAS AFTER A LESSER TIME SAY 25 MINUTES – THE THIRD WAS WHILE WINDOWS HAD JUST FINISHED LOADING (AFTER WELCOME SCREEN APPEARANCE) – THE FOURTH WHILE WINDOWS WAS LOADING – THE FIFTH JUST 10 SECONDS AFTER PRESSING THE POWER BUTTON – AND THE SIXTH JUST 5 SEC AFTER PRESSING THE POWER BUTTON.

I HAD TO KEEP THE LAPTOP JUST IDLE FOR MINIMUM ONE HOUR IN BETWEEN THESE RESTARTS / REBOOTING FOR THE LIGHTS TO APPEAR AFTER PRESSING THE POWER BUTTON.

I ALSO SOMETIMES PRESSED THE POWER BUTTON FOR 15 SECONDS SINCE IT WAS ADVISED BY MANY ON THE INTERNET (FACTORY RESET)

AFTER TRYING FOR 2 DAYS WITH ABOUT 25 ATTEMPTS OF POWER ON AND REBOOTING AS SPECIFIED ABOVE I HAD KEPT THE LAPTOP ASIDE FOR ONE AND A HALF DAY BECAUSE ONE PERSON ON THE INTERNET HAD MENTIONED A SIMILAR PROBLEM LIKE ME AND HAD SPECIFIED ON ONE OF THE FORUMS THAT HE DID NOT USE THE LAPTOP FOR ONE MONTH AND AFTER ONE MONTH WHEN HE SYTARTED THE LAPTOP IT WORKED PERFECTLY FINE FOR MANY DAYS. SO FOR ME ALSO IT WORKED SIMILARLY AFTER KEEPING THE LAPTOP IDLE FOR ONE AND A HALF DAY. BUT UNFORTUNATELY IT WORKED ONLY FOR 1 DAY AND I COULD WORK ON IT FOR 3 HOURS I.E. YESTERDAY – I CARRIED OUT THE FOLLOWING TEST YESTERDAY –

F12 - DELL DIAGNOSTICS – PRE-BOOT TESTS / SCAN – 100 PERCENT PASS – NO ISSUES DETECTED
F12 - DELL DIAGNOSTICS FULL DETAILED SCAN – 100 PERCENT PASS – NO ISSUES DETECTED
F2 – LOADED THE DEFAULT BOOT VALUES
I ALSO WORKED ON THE LAPTOP FOR NEARLY 2 HOUR AFTER PASSING THESE TESTS

THEN I NORMALLY SHUT-DOWN THE LAPTOP VIA WINDOWS THINKING EVERYTHING IS WORKING NORMAL NOW.

BUT TODAY WHEN I STARTED THE LAPTOP IN THE MORNING IT AGAIN SUDDENLY SWITCHED OFF JUST AFTER 5 SECONDS !!!

DUIRING THIS PERIOD OF FOUR DAYS I BROWSED THE INTERNET AND AFTER INSPECTING THE LAPTOP AT VARIOUS STAGES I COULD DECIPHER THE FOLLOWING POINTS –

BATTERY IS NOT THE ISSUE – I WAS WORKING SOMETIMES ON THE BATTERY & SOMETIMES ONLY ON THE MAINS
THERMAL IS NOT THE ISSUE – THE LAPTOP SUDDENLY SWITCHES OFF WHEN THE LAPTOP IS ABSOLUTELY COOL – AS SPECIFIED ABOVE JUST AFTR 5 & 10 SECONDS ALSO AFTER KEEPING IT IDLE FOR HOURS IN BETWEEN THE RE-TRIALS / RE-STARTING
I HAD ALSO INSTALLED EXTERNAL COOLING PAD FANS FOR ENSURING THAT THE SYSTEM REMAINS COOL SOMETIMES DURING CARRYING OUT THESE DIAGNOSTICS
I NEVER USE THE EXTERNAL FANS YESTERDAY WHILE CARRYING OUT THE DELL DIAGNOSTICS TESTS YESTERDAY I.E. WHEN THE LAPTOP WORKED 100 PERCENT NORMAL FOR NEARLY 4 HOURS & LATER I NORMALLY SHUT IT DOWN VIA WINDOWS.
THE OPERATING SYSTEM WINDOWS 7 IS NOT THE ISSUE SINCE ONE PERSON ON THE INTERNET HAD SPECIFIED THAT WE SHOULD TURN THE SYSTEM VOLUME DOWN TO ZERO AND THEN IF HEAR A CLICKING SOUND THEN IT RULES OUT A SOFTWARE OR WINDOWS ISSUE AND 100 PERCENT INDICATES A HARDWARE ISSUE – I TURNED THE SYSTEM VOLUME DOWN TO ZERO AND STILL THE LAPTOP MADE A CLICKING SOUND BEFORE SUDDEN SWITCH-OFF.
ONE MORE POINT I HAD REPLACED THE ORIGINAL EXPIRED 6 CELL BATTERY WITH AN ORIGINAL AUTHORISED 4 CELL DELL BATTERY ABOUT 6 MONTHS BACK BECAUSE THE AUTHORISED SERVICE CENTER / DEALER TOLD ME THAT DELL HAS STOPPED MANUFACTURING 6 CELL BATTERIES FOR THIS LAPTOP - THE NEWLY PURCHASED BATTERY WORKS PERFECTLY FINE TILL DATE & I THINK THATS NOT AN ISSUE

MY QUESTION IS HOW CAN A LAPTOP HAVING A FIXED CIRCUIT / HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE BEHAVE RANDOMLY LIKE THIS & WHAT COULD BE THE ISSUE?

VSK11111 · Accepted Answer

Dear All Advisors & Dell Technical Support, The laptop finally got repaired 3 days back & is working perfectly fine. The Laptop Repair Company has repaired the motherboard for just Indian Rupees - INR. 4500 (@ 55 US Dollars) & has also given one month warranty which is a standard for refurbished laptops. Normally if any device works fine for one month it should work fine in the future also. The Laptop Repair Company said that some  ICs (Integrated Circuits) had to be replaced as they had got burnt due to high voltage. I would also like to say that I had initially given the laptop to some other Repair Company who could not repair the laptop, since they said it was an Internal Tracks damage issue (PCB Repair) which is a very difficult process. With Thanks & The Very Best Regards, Mr. Vikas Kulkarni.

AdrianG001 · Answer

If your Windows 10 PC shuts down abruptly, the first thing I would recommend you do is to check if it's overheating. Overheating could be due to damaged or underperforming fans, poor ventilation, dust, and inadequate power supply.

VSK11111 · Answer

Dear AdrianG001, Thanks for your reply. The fans are working properly and as specified in the contents of my question Thermal (Overheating) is not an issue. But yes the laptop does require internal dust cleaning - which I will do & also maybe some component eg. Faulty Capacitor, etc. may interrupting the power supply. And off course the Hard Disk working has to be checked as mentioned by Fireberd. I will get the laptop Cleaned and the Hard Disk Checked soon. Thanks & Best Regards.

ejn63 · Answer

If the problem continues after the system is thoroughly cleaned, it's likely a system board component that's beginning to fail due to age and use. Given that the value of the system is between $30-75 at most, any repair will cost more than the system is worth.

VSK11111 · Answer

Dear ejn63 -  All Right - Thanks for your reply & information -  With Best Regards.

VSK11111 · Answer

Dear All, My mother and subsequently me got diagnosed for Corona (Assay Positive for SARS CoV 2) on 8th October 2022 and advised quarantine for 7 days. Therefore the process of calling the Technician at home and everything else got delayed. Will continue this discussion once I start feeling well & everything is OK. With Best Regards.

VSK11111 · Answer

Dear All, Finally I had called the Hardware Engineer/ Technician to my home for Servicing & Diagnosing the laptop issue today morning. They fully opened the laptop & cleaned the dust and other black oxidation process deposits. The Hard Disk is working perfectly fine. They also did General Servicing of the laptop. They also tried checking the Power Supply - It was OK till whatever extent they checked it when the laptop was opened. But after closing the laptop when they connected the power adapter then no lights on laptop i.e. no power is detected. Adapter is working fine. Finally they said its not possible to repair this issue at home since its either a BIOS issue or a Motherboard issue & lot of equipment is required to correctly diagnose this issue which is not possible at home. They also said its a common issue and can be repaired if the laptop is taken to there Service Center. There quotation is only @ Rs. 3000 (@ 36 Dollars) (Maximum Probability) to Rs. 8400 (@100 Dollars) (Minimum Probability) - They said final exact estimate can only be given after taking & inspecting the laptop in detail at the Service Center. With Thanks & Best Regards To All.

Inspiron

THE MYSTERY OF MY RANDOMLY SUDDENLY SWITCHING OFF LAPTOP WITH A CLICKING SOUND

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