Computer turns off by itself, then boots by itself to a blank screen
 

Symptoms:

My laptop will be fine, then it turns off then immediately boots itself to a blank screen and no hard drive activity. This has happened 3 times today and never before.

what ive done so far
The first time this happened i tried turning it off and back on, still no screen and no hard drive activity so i took one of the RAM sticks out. Booted fine... To confirm that the RAM was bad i put it back and tried booting again, unfortunately it booted fine... i thought it was a fluke.....

.... Until his happened a second time and instead of taking the RAM out, i waited a half hour and rebooted and it started booting fine, i turned my back for a sec and it was dead again....


I have taken that RAM module out and am hoping it will not happen again, but it could well be the other RAM module since i really don't know or even if it is RAM at all..

Question is...

Is this a RAM issue or something else?

And...
Where can i find a log to see what happened immediately prior to it offing itself?

What's the chances it's the heatsync? (the laptop doesn't feel as hot as it sometimes does)

Hi,

Yes, indeed the RAM could be faulty. I would recommend that RAM to be checked in some other machine.

But, first please examine /var/log/messages. I believe we (as well as you) can get a hint from there.

Turns out it was the RAM. thanks.

Glad you figured out the reason. Please mark this thread as solved (follow my signature).

This is an old trick I use with RAM modules.

RAM has a tendency to have copper buildup over time that can cause connectivity issues to the motherboard.

For obvious reasons this would cause the computer to malfunction.

An easy way to fix this (Learned it from my computer service technician teacher) is to use a pink pearl eraser and very gently rub the connection terminals of the RAM module with it.

It HAS to be a pink pearl eraser! Other erasers will leave a residue on the RAM module.

You would not believe how many RAM modules I have fixed just using this simple method.

I know this thread was solved but I thought maybe this would help. Sorry if I was late.

What is this Pink Pearl Eraser ?
I have never heard about it. Could you please elaborate ?

Pink Pearl Eraser:

http://cdn.content.compendiumblog.co...7aed811ce8.JPG

You can find them at almost every single store that sells erasers.

Unless you live out of the USA.. then... I don't know.

FYI, the base metal is copper but typically most electrical contacts are plated with either tin, gold or silver and the buildup is the metal oxidizing. Copper turns green, iron turns red i.e rust.

A little bit more elaborate but still the same concept.

Very interesting never the less!