I've been having a similar problem with an Acer Aspire One netbook. This is a replacement netbook. On the first one the screen failed right at the 90 day warranty so they gave me a new one. Then it ran fine for about 18 months until it started to shut off randomly. It turned out that the way my daughter was using it when plugged in was putting stress on the DC input jack. I brought to the authorized Acer service center in Albany, which is Liberteks. For $130 they repaired the input jack. However, when we got it back it still kept shutting off. I brought it back to them and they claimed they were able to run it all day on a Linux boot cd with no problem so it must be a Windoze issue. I spent $24 to get recovery cds mailed to me, reinstalled XP, then set up a dual boot with Ubuntu Netbook on it, plus I picked up a 9 cell battery for it, since a small netbook like this could be useful on the road to me (I gave my daugher my other working netbook).
The jury is still out, however. When I re-installed XP it had to down load a ^&%load of patches and updates; several times during that experience it shut off. However it seems to run fine when running Ubuntu, although, during that weekend, it shut off when running Ubuntu as well. I'd been leaving voice mails at Liberteks about this with no response, then I emailed them and they said to bring it in. Of course, yesterday I had it on for several hours in both OSs and it didn't shut down either time. Go figure. It's that the way it always goes. Researching this I find: - clogged and dusty fan inputs/outputs can cause overheating, but this one appears to be clean - when it gets too hot it will shut down to protect the chip. This one gets noticeably hot on the bottom, yet now it seems to be not shutting down. - loose DC input jacks can cause it to cut out. Liberteks told me these jacks are a week point, and that when they repair them they use extra epoxy to strengthen the area so this at least should be OK - the Acers are known to have battery charging issues. The replacement 9 cell battery seems to be working OK, though I've not run it long on the battery alone so much since I've been having these issues - heat paste between the chip and heat sink has to be there and working. I'm hoping it is. At this point, until the system settles down, I'm not sure what the problem and/or fix is. I'm not going to write off Acer yet either, since I let my daughter use this box for 18 months and you know how tough on electronics teenagers can be. However, when a system keeps shutting down it's very frustrating for sure. -- Frank L. "Cranky Frankie" Palmeri, Risible Riding Raconteur & Writer “The blues is my business, and business is good.” - Etta James _______________________________________________ Mid-Hudson Valley Linux Users Group http://mhvlug.org http://mhvlug.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mhvlug Upcoming Meetings (6pm - 8pm) MHVLS Auditorium Apr 6 - Introduction to IPv6 May 4 - Inkscape Jun 1 - Zimbra
