My laptop crashes and makes a weird noise.

[DetlefK]

From time to time (recently ~once a month), my laptop (Sony Vaio, triple core 1.8GHz, Windows 7 64bit Home Premium, warranty has run out) crashes, just out of nowhere. The screen goes black and there's suddenly a bone-chilling, rattling loud noise (sounds like electronic shortcut or disturbance) coming from the corner of the turn-on-button.

- It occurs less frequently since I place my laptop with 1 inch of air underneath it. (I even bought an external DVD-drive, so the internal one won't produce so much heat.)
- It occurs less frequently since I dust off my desk every time before switching the laptop on.
- It occurs frequently (about 1-in-10 times) when I play videogames that need a lot of RAM.
- It also occurs when I played something that needs a lot of RAM and then watch a video on the Internet.
- Might have something to do with the speakers as they make that horrible sound for about a second inbetween (without crashing) 1. when my laptop has been running a while and is hot and I listen to something, 2. when a videogame all of a sudden needs lots of RAM.


A tried to blow dust out of all available openings with an aerosol-can, but that didn't help.
I checked the RAM with the Windows-tool and MemTest 4.0, but they say that it's okay.

I'm out of patience and out of ideas. And I'm afraid that, out of pure statistics, it might crash while doing something important.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

1. My Acer laptop has done that a few times

twice, I think but not for a long time. Both times I was watching a video, and I think the noise was from the speakers.
I think you are right that heat has something to do with it.

[ChromeFoundry]

2. Blow it out with some compressed air

either from a compressor or from canned air. All vent holes.
Note: Do this OUTSIDE.

[DetlefK]

10. All that came out was one tiny splinter of plastic...

but it came out of exactly that corner of the case where the noise originates from.

Maybe it was just the splinter allowing a short-cut when getting hot.

[TygrBright]

3. You may need to dump & replace your video driver...

Possibly the driver has gotten corrupted.

Another possibility is that if you have a separate video card, running hot has damaged it or reduced its working life, and it's in the process of failing.

Try dumping and reinstalling the driver first.

The previous poster's suggestion about blowing out the dust is a good one, too. Dust can increase the challenge to your cooling fans and impair their function.

helpfully,
Bright

[2naSalit]

4. I had that problem once last year

and when I looked at the update register, I found I had several driver updates that needed to be addressed. Also, I found keeping dust off the unit is essential. I have mine on a table with a 1/2 inch plate of glass under the laptop... haven't had that happen since the driver update thing.

and a rootkit scan might be a good idea.

Good advice in my book.

[DetlefK]

5. Update: Last night the screen went black (energy-save) and didn't come back.

I tried another RAM-test last night. I had run one before, for 6 hours straight, so I wanted to let it run 10 hours straight overnight.

In the morning, as I expected, the screen was turned off due to the energy-save tool, but this time it didn't come back on (had happened once or twice before). The laptop was somehow turned off, but the USB-plugs were still able to recognize and power devices.

I'll try replacing the video driver. Thanks for the tip.

[hobbit709]

6. Sounds like an overheating problem.

Is the sound like a two tone screech?
download this temp monitor and check to see what your cpu core temps are
http://alcpu.com/CoreTemp/

[DetlefK]

7. No, it's a rattling, like holding a wire into a spinning fan...

but clearly electronic in origin.

[frylock]

8. sounds like a bad fan bearing..

start googling your make/model to see if there are known issues. we experienced that issue here at work with the Lenovo T60.

[DetlefK]

9. But why would this cause the laptop to crash?

Suddenly the screen goes black and the noise comes up.
Either it restarts automatically or it stays that way and I restart it for fear of sustained damage.
The fan runs smooth when the laptop comes back on.

[frylock]

11. overheating caused by the defective fan..

so the fan doesn't rattle or struggle to spin up on boot?

[DetlefK]

12. No.

It's always a continuous "swoosh", sometimes louder, sometimes more quiet.

[Drew Richards]

13. Sounds familure... high end vid card...fan fins broke off inside case

Opened case remove broken pieces replaced vid chip and fan.