Hardware Netbook technical issues :(

[Blaze163]

My netbook is having some serious problems recently. The back is getting very hot, and it locks up and makes a very alarming noise. I got an error message last night saying that there was an issue with my sound/graphics drivers or some crap, but it vanished within seconds. I've run the maintenance program to see if I can find out what's wrong, and basically Microsoft's response is 'f$%ked if I know'.

This is hardly the first time I've had issues with this bloody machine, but this is the first time it's been this bad and there's been a physical phenomena to go alongside it, notably the ridiculous level of heat radiating from the back panels. It's a EMachines basic barebones issue netbook, Intel Atom N270 processor, 1GB RAM, 160GB hard drive, etc. Nothing flashy but its all I have. It's falling apart A screw has inexplicably vanished from the shoulder, and as such it hangs loose. Makes no difference to performance as far as I can tell, but still...

It's jolly important that this netbook continues to function as its the only link I have to the wider world. I know the info I have is limited but if anyone has any ideas, please share them. If I can find my multi-tool later I'll be opening it up (the warranty expired years ago) to see if anything's rattled loose in there, give it a clean, etc. I doubt it'll help but to be fair these issues started when I cleaned out the air vent on the side, it's possible something flew in there and got lodged somewhere. Can't hurt to look, I suppose.

 

[Foxi4]

...you mean you haven't opened it yet? You gotta clean those things every now and then, y'know - that's why there are hatches on the back. It's a small machine - block access to fans and you're toast. Open that bad boy up and do some exploratory work to check if the fans are working as they're supposed to. If you never had overheating issues before, perhaps the thermal compound got crispy from all the heat and no longer conducts it or the fan is dying/obstructed. Some system maintenance would do the computer good as well. And last but not least, what's the GPU/GPU's?

 

[Blaze163]

What are the what now?

Yeah, should've mentioned this. I have literally NO understanding of computer technology. I use them, I don't build them. Usually when I get a problem like this, the system restore function (the one that rewinds to previous working settings) tends to fix it.

I'll open it up and give it a damn good clean as soon as I can. I don't have a screwdriver right now. Waiting for a friend to return it.

 

[FAST6191]

These things do tend to work better if you have a reasonable selection of screwdrivers and other such tools and the sorts of things that get called multitools or "a screwdriver" are not the best for it. I will note that I rarely bother to try repairing netbooks of that vintage and I otherwise repair everything back to around P4 days and any number of laptops- parts are pricey, things are fiddly and most netbooks were hardly built to last in the first place.

"when I cleaned out the air vent on the side"
Please say you did not use a vacuum cleaner- static and back emf from spinning fans (fans are connected to a motor and as physics probably told you a motor going in reverse is a generator/dynamo) are not a computers best friend. It is certainly not a kiss of death, but scenarios where such things kill a machine are entirely probable.

 

[Originality]

Please say you did not use a vacuum cleaner- static and back emf from spinning fans (fans are connected to a motor and as physics probably told you a motor going in reverse is a generator/dynamo) are not a computers best friend. It is certainly not a kiss of death, but scenarios where such things kill a machine are entirely probable.

Haven't they started building safeties for fan motor back flow yet? Whilst I have seen many laptops killed by just that, I would've thought they would've fixed it over the last decade.

 

[Lanlan]

I say grab a can of air duster, take the back off and the fan/heat sink and give it a good blowin'

 

[FAST6191]

Several companies have started to stick a diode on there for some of them and occasionally they take a tiny step towards isolating the digital side of thing/designing a motherboard to hopefully not be killed by it, a good go with a vacuum cleaner or some canned air can still send it past breakdown voltage and for netbooks the layouts are not so amenable to that sort of design (if you make it fit and it works and you are done being the usual motto here).

If you are thinking some of the stuff you might have dealt with when looking at power supplies (nice capacitors, inductors, proper diode arrays and such) then not a chance of anything that nice outside industrial stuff and maybe some servers.

 

[Originality]

Well, without knowing how laptops are designed, I was thinking that it would only take 2, maybe 3 diodes to properly the BIOS, southbridge and possibly the CMOS. Diodes are supposed to be one-way valves, right?