Chosen Solution

Hello, My laptop DELL inspiron 14 7470 shuts down every 30 minutes exactly. I have already tried to repair it a another company but they said they need to replace the motherboard but couldn’t find the spare parts in Singapore. This is the message they wrote: “PCB related problem. Was previously replaced 1/0 chip bust still same issue. Possible internal PCB layer. Through hole connection adapter sets hot then PCD has result Thermal expansion that results to lose contact on internal layers” After that I made a troubleshoort with DELL and they said the motherboard needs to be replaced but it is out of stock in Singapore and needs 6 weeks for delivery. So my question is could it be software problem that I could repair myself? Thank you for your assistance.

Here are two things you can try, to test and maybe fix the computer:

  1. Shut the computer off. Remove the battery and unplug everything from it. Then remove the CMOS battery. Test the CMOS battery to see if it is low or dead; if so, replace it. After allowing half an hour for all power to completely dissipate from the computer (doing this totally resets the computer), reinstall the CMOS battery, then the main battery. Then plug everything back into the computer. Now power the computer on, to see if resetting it in this way has fixed the problem.
  2. Boot with a Linux Live DVD, to see if the problem exists when you are in Linux. If the problem does not exist when you are in Linux, then it is either a Windows issue or a hard drive issue (you won’t be using your hard drive while in Linux Live, so the hard drive won’t be tested by doing this; so you won’t know for sure if it’s the hard drive or not.) If it’s a Windows issue, you could try doing a restore point, if you can recall when the problem started. You will do the newest restore point which was created before the problem started. If a restore point doesn’t fix it, then you can either reinstall Windows or restore a good backup.

There is something fishy going on with Intel attempting to cause shutdown if you use less expensive support chips with their main line processors. I have found documents on this going back several years. I have a case open with Intel right now and they are denying. No ideas what tripped it to go koo koo but I believe it. I just ran an Intel provided CPU test and its perfect. Whether hot or cold, in windows, or sitting at a prompt to choose BIOS options at 30 minutes it powers off. Nothing in the windows logs. Absolutely zero load waiting in BIOS for you to choose an option. And again, exactly at 30 minutes. Sleeping resets it, so its tied to a timer in a powered up chip. Again, BIOS would not allow this. And the BIOS has not been updated. There are other random posts about this but no clean answers. Forced purchase of a new laptop after X hours of use?? PS - My system I an HP EliteBook 850 G1 Notebook PC ENERGY STAR