[SOLVED] Acer 5742g turns off instantly, not overheated

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dmk

Geek Trainee
Hello!
I would really appreciate if anybody could advice me, what should I check and do in a following situation. Notebook Acer Aspire 5742g, a little older than a year, turns off without any errors a little time after starting, usually around 5-10 minutes. If I start it again immediately afterwards, then working time decreases to 3-5 minutes, on the next try it hardly loads. All temperatures are normal, cooling system is ok - there is a grease and it's bolted right.
It doesn't depend on os and type of stress - all the same thing happens even in BIOS utility. Futhermore, BIOS utility freezes when i try to exit and save settings, they are however saved. Also nothing changes if I try to start with disconnected USBs, modem, WiFi, hdd; niether with any of two RAM modules.
Visual examination of capacitors hasn't helped - everything looks rather normal.
Thanks in advance for any advice!
 
Signed up just to share this: weird as it is, try removing/replacing the CMOS battery. I was having a similar issue with a customers Acer Aspire 5742Z, cleaned everything out, reseated the cpu and heatsink, updated the BIOS, nothing worked, with the exact symptoms you described, right down to the BIOS stalling on a Save and Exit. So I took out the battery for about 10 minutes, put it back in, and the machine has stayed on, rebooted properly every time, and has been pretty rock solid since.

What I THINK happened in this case was that the computer was mis-reading the temps (was showing 90C for the CPU), which reported to the BIOS "oh crap, turn off NOW!" Temps are now reading around 45-50C, and again, no issues at all. So I sincerely hope this helps someone out there.
 
I had a similar problem after taking my laptop out in the sun. It got really hot but still behaved itself until the day after where it would shut down after 5 minutes, pretty much on the dot every time.
Turns out you need to restart the BIOS by disconnecting the CMOS battery for an hour. It takes a bit of dis-assembly and the CMOS battery is a little round thing on the bottom left hand part of the mother-board. Detach on of the connectors (and they don't go without a fight so be careful) and leave for an hour.
Reattach, re assemble and switch back on. If everything went as expected then the clock should show the time and date when your machine was first assembled. This shows the BIOS is back to where it should be.
The problem seems to be that once the 5742g gets insanely hot for whatever reason it doesn't seem to get over the trauma and still thinks it is overheating when it is not.
This is a very fiddly and complicated way of "switching it off and on again" but it works!
 
You're the BEST! And I'm lucky I found this solution before smashing my 5742G to bits! I had exactly the same issue - turned off after about 2 minutes (length of time dimishing with each turn-on attempt). Issue started just over a year after I bought it - just after the warranty was up. Took it apart, checked for dust, tried freeze spray, tested with no hard drive installed to see if it was the operating system or not. Assumed I got stuck with a lemon.
I had to unsolder & resolder my cmos battery, but I'm so grateful this seemed to fix the issue. Hoping it stays fixed for a long time...
 
Quite a pity that I haven't got a chance to try it - I had replaced mother board and returned laptop to the owner like 2 days before PawfectPC wrote the message about trying to disconnect CMOS battery) But I'm glad to see that the thread is still helping somebody)
Btw, now I always check this thing, when I have to diagnose malfunctioning motherboard))
 
My Acer Aspire 5742 shuts down before the OS even starts booting. No sound. Runs in 5 sec and then shuts down. I changed the HD to an older 80gb Acer and then it started booting to DS option, but neither "start normal mode" or "start safe mode" worked.
"To old HD for this computer" I thought.

So I went and bought a new one named Seagate SSHD 500Gb (the orginal hd has 500GB and I thought; why not upgrade when I have the chance.)
later I found that the new HD are thinner and has an seperate power input (I think... at least an extra input of some kind.) but thanks to the screws in the HD rack I could make it fit. But then. Same shut down problem accured. Changed to the old kinda-working 80GB HD again but now, the same happend here. Suggestion?
 
I would suggest we discharge the laptop first.
1. remove the power sources including the powr adapter and battery.
2. Then pressing the laptop power button over 15 seconds do not let go.
3. connect the power adapter only, power on the laptop again.

Get to the Bios menu, reset the Bios default, save and exit.

If still the same problem, I would suggest we check the mobo for any damaged capacitor and overheat issue.

Hope this helps.
Bill
Tech Manager
 
dmk said:
Hello!
I would really appreciate if anybody could advice me, what should I check and do in a following situation. Notebook Acer Aspire 5742g, a little older than a year, turns off without any errors a little time after starting, usually around 5-10 minutes. If I start it again immediately afterwards, then working time decreases to 3-5 minutes, on the next try it hardly loads. All temperatures are normal, cooling system is ok - there is a grease and it's bolted right.
It doesn't depend on os and type of stress - all the same thing happens even in BIOS utility. Futhermore, BIOS utility freezes when i try to exit and save settings, they are however saved. Also nothing changes if I try to start with disconnected USBs, modem, WiFi, hdd; niether with any of two RAM modules.
Visual examination of capacitors hasn't helped - everything looks rather normal.
Thanks in advance for any advice!
Click to expand...
I also had this issue and did all of the tests you did. I also ran a Seagate HDD test from a boot disk (ie eliminating windows and virus) and it quit in a few minutes. I got the same result running a memtest from a boot disk. I then stuck in a blank HDD and got the same result. I must say I thought the board was bad but the CMOS battery removal worked !!!! :) The CMOS battery on the 5742Z was easily accessible under the HD, RAM, wireless cover
 
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I have similar kind of problem.
For normal usage my laptop works ok but if I try to play any game it shuts down.
I know it is because of overheating but is there any way to avoid this.
Like software under clocking
 
Most Laptops /Notebooks cannot be overclocked /underclocked.. Most Laptops are not made for Gaming, I would get a desktop if you want to do Any gaming..
And quaker: Please start you Own Post ...
 
hey...i have an acer 5742 with the same problem....i changed the motherboard and the problem still exist, should i still remove the cmos battery even though i installed a new motherboard
 
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