Helping people with computers... one answer at a time.
A common cause for computers shutting down unexpectedly is overheating. An external drive probably doesn't add heat - but the software drivers might.
I am a DJ and use my laptop (1.2ghz Intel Celeron, 256mb ram, no spyware or viruses, up to date with windows patches and drivers) to play to the music. Ever since i started playing the music from my usb2.0 external hard drive my laptop would turn off by itself with no warning after say.. a few hours, then more and more frequently. So i thought it was overheating but not sure.
As you know mp3s need to be decoded before playing. I tried converting a DJ set into wav files (no compression, therefore not as much processing) and played a set all night from my external hard drive using wav instead of mp3s without my laptop turning off once. I can do a set using mp3s on my internal hard drive without my laptop switching off but my internal is only 40 gig.
I want to DJ music via my external hard drive without having to convert all my mp3s to large wav files! Is it overheating?
Would buying more ram eliminate the problem? Maybe i should get a Firewire external hard drive instead of a usb2 one because they are a little bit faster? Or is the only answer to buy a bigger expensive internal laptop hard drive?
Maybe put my laptop on bricks of ice?
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Well, I certainly agree that it feels like an overheating problem.
And I suppose, depending on where you're working, putting your laptop on ice has a certain appeal (make sure it doesn't get wet, ok?).
More realistically, though, there are some clues and some things to try.
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My first guess is that the driver for accessing that external hard drive is using all available CPU time. It shouldn't, but I've seen it myself. I have a PCMCIA adapter for reading SD ram cards from my camera and cell phone that does exactly that - as soon as I start copying files from it, the CPU usage spikes, and then stays at maximum until the files are copied off. There's poor design in there somewhere, in either the driver or the hardware itself.
So my first suggestion would be to use task manager to monitor your CPU usage while this is happening. Decoding MP3's is nothing to a 1.2ghz processor, so I really doubt that's the sole problem -though it might be enough to push things over the edge, I suppose. But the fact that it works OK from the internal hard disk really points to the primary issue being that external one.
You might visit Windows Update to see if there are any non-critical updates available for the USB or hard disk drivers, since non-critical updates don't get downloaded by Windows automatic updates.
If the CPU is spiking, I'm not sure that switching to Firewire will help, but if you can try it before you buy a replacement drive, it'd be worth checking out. In fact, even trying a different external drive would be a worthwhile test.
Grasping at straws here, but you might see if you can try a different USB adapter. For example, rather than using the internal one, see if you can borrow a PCMCIA-to-USB adapter - it should use different drivers and that could affect what you're seeing. As I said, it'd be nice to try before you buy, since there's no way to guarantee it'll help.
One other long shot, particularly if you're not seeing a spike in CPU usage, is to try a different MP3 player. Even if it's not the toolkit you might normally use, running a test to see if the problem reproduces or not with different MP3 playing software might be informative. The issue here boils down to statistics and timing: things might happen at different times depending on the speed of the hard disk or its connection to your PC, and statistically speaking if something has a chance of happening say one in a billion times ... well, a billion might be only a second for a CPU, or a few minutes or a few hours for software that's performing a repetitive task such as decoding MP3s. It's a long-shot, but I'd throw this into the mix of things to try as well.
Article C2818 - October 22, 2006 « »
Leo A. Notenboom has been playing with computers since he
was required to take a programming class in 1976. An 18 year career as a programmer at Microsoft soon followed.
After "retiring" in 2001, Leo started Ask Leo! in 2003 as a place for answers
to common computer and technical questions. More about Leo.
January 4, 2011 9:59 AM
Guys there is a new divice witch includes extra 3 fans go to ur local techno shop and ask them for it it connect to ur pc with a usb leed it makes things much better especially if ur having alot of shut downs the other solution is to raise ur pc abit up by putting a book at the back of it so that the fans under the pc ear easier ( do not put ur pc on soft areas e.g bed , and on ur laps
March 18, 2011 10:27 PM
I always used 2 play games on my dell inspiron laptop.
When my laptop was new i used to play Call Of Duty Modern Warfare & Pototype,etc. But It never Shut down automatically but one night i left my pc on & after 2-3 days later i installed Call Of Duty World At War & while Playing It Shuts Dwn automatically & when I restarted it it says PHYSICAL MEMORY DUMP on BLUE SCREEN......
My Configuration is , Win7,4GB RAM DDR3,512 MB ATI RADON Graphics Card,320GB HD & Intel(R) Core(TM) i3 CPU M350 @2.27GHz 2.26GHz
19-Mar-2011
May 4, 2011 9:15 AM
This problem sounds a bit interesting with me problems concerning pc's shutting down automatically could be one of the following overheating, hardware related errors, computer virus or your opearting system, if you have connecting any device recently and then the problem occurs, i might say that your external drive is infected so firmwire issue,
November 10, 2011 2:56 AM
A laptop shutting down unexpectedly is a symptom of dirt and dust getting in the vents of the laptop case and clogging the fan and heat sink on the CPU of your computer. With less air getting in the case because of the clog, and less air reaching the heat sinks on the CPU, it's no surprise that it might overheat. Thanks.
Computer Repair Melbourne
November 12, 2011 8:21 AM
i have a problem with my system , that it gets shutdown automatically after half an hour . it may be any work . i could not complete my work and it is only can started once again if i start it after 15 mins .
pls dear solve my issue.
12-Nov-2011