Screen goes blank, computer freezes (X23)

[TPNewbie]

Hi everyone, I am hoping for some help with a problem. Thanks in advance.

I received my X23 in the mail about a week ago. Aside from some unmentioned physical problems which I am hoping to work out with the seller, I have had the following happen three times: the computer will be working fine, when all of a sudden the screen goes blank. This has happened both before and after checking the video cable connection; it seems fine. Also, when I press and hold the power button, nothing happens. The only way to turn off the computer is to remove the battery and unplug it from AC power. When I turn it on, everything seems fine. Has anyone seen these symptoms before? Can anyone suggest a diagnostic program I can run? Thanks again and have a greay day.

-Erik

[aceo07]

I've never had that happen before. When you say the screen goes blank, is the screen the only thing that goes off? Do the leds stay on? Have you tried hooking up to an external monitor?

Do you know if the cpu is overheating?

[TPNewbie]

Yes, the screen is the only thing; the power LED stays on. I don't know why I didn't think of connecting an external monitor (though I don't know if I would be able to switch the video to the external display if the computer is frozen; this hasn't yet happened with the computer in the mini-dock). Overheating was my first thought, but I dismissed it because the exterior of the computer only gets slightly warm. However, your mention of specifically the CPU overheating reminds me to wonder if the thermal material for the CPU needs to be renewed. Thanks very much for your thought-provoking questions.

-Erik

[aceo07]

Well, you won't know if the heatsink is working just by feeling the outside of it. Since the effect of the heatsink working is the heat flowing AWAY from the cpu. Therefore you should feel the heat that the heatsink pulls away from the cpu, assuming it's generating a good amount of heat.

You can use the NHC (notebook hareware control) program. That's what I use to monitor my temperature and cpu speed.

My cpu temp ranges from 40C(idle) to 60C(full load). I don't know the proper temps since I did some moding to my heatsink by adding copper sheets and artic silver paste to it. It could be better or worse since I never measure before my experiment. No crashes, so it's probably not bad.

[TPNewbie]

I'll give the NHC a shot; thanks also for the temperatures.

-Erik

[TPNewbie]

After attempting to refresh the thermal material the first time, the X23 was running very hot (80+ degrees Celsius), and would shut off after a few minutes. So I took everything apart again to take another look and I saw that the heatsink bracket (don't know if that is the term; it's the thing the heatsink screws onto) was a bit loose, enough that it could be nudged up and down a little bit at one of the corners. Not what you want when trying to get a tight fit between a heat spreader and a heatsink. After pondering that for a minute, I got the bright idea to take out the motherboard. Sure enough, two of the four screws which are supposed to be tightly holding the heatsink bracket in place were sticking out by about 3/16". I tightened those right down, put it all back together, and fired it up. Since then (this was a few days ago) my temps have been in the 30-55 degrees Celsius range and there has been no freezing, automatic shutting off, or anything of the sort. Thank you all very much for your help.

-Erik

[KillBill]

Good Job!!!

After attempting to refresh the thermal material the first time, the X23 was running very hot (80+ degrees Celsius), and would shut off after a few minutes. So I took everything apart again to take another look and I saw that the heatsink bracket (don't know if that is the term; it's the thing the heatsink screws onto) was a bit loose, enough that it could be nudged up and down a little bit at one of the corners. Not what you want when trying to get a tight fit between a heat spreader and a heatsink. After pondering that for a minute, I got the bright idea to take out the motherboard. Sure enough, two of the four screws which are supposed to be tightly holding the heatsink bracket in place were sticking out by about 3/16". I tightened those right down, put it all back together, and fired it up. Since then (this was a few days ago) my temps have been in the 30-55 degrees Celsius range and there has been no freezing, automatic shutting off, or anything of the sort. Thank you all very much for your help.

-Erik