Samsung R540-JA08 Random Shutdown/Start Up

[jcc3279]

I have a samsung r540-ja08us laptop PC that I bought in 2010 and it's now starting to act up by doing random shutdowns and power ups and I've only replaced the DVD burner just recently because the factory one quit working and started not to Read/Burn anymore so I bought a new one for this machine installed it and that problem has been fixed.

This machine had 3gb of DDR3 when it was new all samsung oem ram and the one 1gb stick started to fail tests when I would run Memtest 86+ on a CD or even a flash drive.

so I'm just using the 2gb stick on ddr3 that is still working but I've checked the cooling fan/heatsinks and caps they are all testing good.

could it be something I've overlooked.

I would like to get this machine up and running again soon.

The specs are

Samsung R540-JA08us

Intel Core i3 @ 2.53Ghz

Seagate 320gb hard drive (SATA) two partitions one for Windows Xp Pro and the other is for Windows 7 Pro 64bit the Xp Install is from a boxed copy that I never opened until now and it's properly licensed and activated and xp is the 32bit version of it)

2gb ddr3 memory (used to have an extra 1gb of memory that failed)

Intel HD graphics

Atheros Wireless Card 802.11 b/g/n

This is my main machine for when I fix computers as a side job for people.

any help would be great.

"i've already checked the capacitors ESR they are testing good.)

I have opened this machine up more then one time for just blowing the dust out with ether canned compressed air or using my grandparents air compressor to blow it out at about 10 - 20 psi output on the regulator.

and yes the fans are working in this machine.

[domas]

Re: Samsung R540-JA08 Random Shutdown/Start Up

I assume you have checked the temperatures of components with some software?

[jcc3279]

Re: Samsung R540-JA08 Random Shutdown/Start Up

Yes I have checked the temps with a laser thermometer that and nothing seemed out of the normal ranges for the intel Core i3.

I actually got the machine to boot somewhat today before it started acting up again.

I was only able to get into the bios for about 15 seconds before it started doing the random shutdowns/start ups again..

I used a laser thermometer because I cannot get the machine running long enough to access the bios or the Operating Systems that are currently installed. I'm currently using my old Apple eMac to post this as I'm working on a Hardware conflict on my Dell Desktop PC running Windows 7 Pro

if anyone is curious Windows 7 isn't getting along with my old Promise Ultra 66 PCI IDE controller card that I've had for many years. It's not really a big deal I was just using this old card as a test project to pull some of my old data off a old 4.5gb quantum bigfoot hard drive that was installed back in 1998 when I was a kid and that drive has some old School Stuff on it from back then that I'm trying to keep for personal reasons it's not a big deal if the old PCI card doesn't work anymore I have a old AMD compaq PC kicking around that I can always boot up to pull this data..

[pretorlf]

Re: Samsung R540-JA08 Random Shutdown/Start Up

Hi,
Just some ideas that you can check out:
Did you check the power supply (power brick) for stability and ripple. I've had this problem in the past on Samsung lappy's. Caps go low value and / high esr and power brick is unable to supply correct load to laptop. Also high ripple, because of dried up caps can cause havoc on the laptop.
Carefully clean the Ram modules contacts as well as the slot.
Unplug the DVD writer and see if system is stable
I have also had issues with disk drives , causing system restarts- unplug and see if you can get the bois screen to stay on without restarting.
Check for dry joints near voltage regulator and or socket.
Hope this helps
Leon

[pretorlf]

Re: Samsung R540-JA08 Random Shutdown/Start Up

Almost forgot:

disconnect power, battery and back up battery for a couple of hours, and then try the laptop again
Regards
Leon

[Elysarian]

Re: Samsung R540-JA08 Random Shutdown/Start Up

The laser thermometer was aimed at the heatsinks?

If this is the case you may not be getting accurate readings if the thermal compound isn't doing its job (could be dried out or just seperated enough to prevent proper transfer to the heatsink).

I have an AMD version of this laptop (the R525) and have had issues with thermal shutdown - I took the heatsinks off, replaced the stock thermal compound with AS5 and cleaned everything & it seems ok now.

If it's rebooting every time though you might want to disable the auto reboot feature in windows so you can see if there's a bluescreen which may assist in troubleshooting (could be as simple as a bad driver)

[Ian1357]

Re: Samsung R540-JA08 Random Shutdown/Start Up

try using a diagnostic tools like EUROSOFT PC CHECK, it really helps a lot on troubleshooting.

[jcc3279]

Re: Samsung R540-JA08 Random Shutdown/Start Up

The Thermal Compound was redone yesterday as I used some arctic silver 5 thermal compound to see if that would fix it but it didn't the factory compound was not dried out. and I pulled the hard drive out to pull a piece of data off my drive and both my Windows Installations were working just fine.

But I'm just going to order some new DDR3 ram as I need some anyway for a neighbors computer that i'm fixing needs an upgrade so I'm just going to order some extra just to play to try plus I run out of DDR3 all the time when I get systems in that take the stuff and I hardly ever keep ddr3 in my stock of parts.

I've confirmed it's the ram in the system because I tried it in another computer and it did the same thing. the other computer I tried it in was a beat up Dell that takes ddr3 memory.

So if it's the motherboard oh well I got a free 320gb hard drive out of the deal. LOL! sata drives are nice for that even if it's a laptop hard drive you can still connect it to a desktop PC because the connections are the same...

[jcc3279]

Re: Samsung R540-JA08 Random Shutdown/Start Up

I'll try that later on today...

[newtothis]

Re: Samsung R540-JA08 Random Shutdown/Start Up

Do you get a blue screen?

Nevermind only just noticed you confirmed it was the RAM

[jcc3279]

Re: Samsung R540-JA08 Random Shutdown/Start Up

I'm typing this reply right now on my Samsung r540-ja08 thanks to everyone who gave me advice on how to fix this machine it has now been repaired I have replaced the RAM and I also noticed a small crack in the heatsink so I replaced both the fan and heatsink the system is running better than ever after the repairs have been done.

Have a great day everyone.

[Elysarian]

Re: Samsung R540-JA08 Random Shutdown/Start Up

Glad you got it sorted

As a matter of interest, is yours made from the same crap plastic as mine? - the grille that covered the heatsink air vents on mine has all disintegrated

[jcc3279]

Re: Samsung R540-JA08 Random Shutdown/Start Up

Well my Samsung r540-ja08us has died on me for good

During Christmas of 2013 I came downstairs to where the computer was setup and I had it charging the battery from the night before and I turned the computer on to use it and it started smoking and I had to put the computer out with a Carbon Dioxide fire extinguisher

I have since scrapped this computer and finally got around to buying a new laptop so this thread needs to be closed.