My girlfriend is moving to Korea and found a used notebook to take so we can keep in communication.
Dell Latitude C640
564MB Ram
60GB HD
Windows XP SP1
There have been no complaints for the 1st month, but now the machine will just shut down (hard) whenever it wants. Being a bit savvy I diagnosed it as overheating when I learned that the cooling fan (bottom-right, underneath the machine) was inoperative. The fan would not even spin during the BIOS start up testing phase.

So one morning when I was able to boot the machine up and run a couple programs before it decided to die, I installed a 3rd party fan control ap. I was able to get the fan running (on fast only) and the machine worked....for only a period. It has since died again. I now think it isn't the fan (only) but maybe motherboard or RAM failure. Thanks all.

On battery power I believe the fan is supposed to work only when required. ie when the temperature rises above a threshold. If it is not automatically running then it may be worn or the fins/vents may be blocked up with accumulated dust. I doubt you have a motherboard or ram problem. Clean out and or replace the fan.

I used to have a signature but it disappeared and I just couldn't be bothered writing another so please feel free to ingore this.

I have no clue what kind of AC power they use in Korea but it is something you need to look at as far as the AC power pack for the laptop is concerned.

Try installing a monitoring program to see if the temps are high. There is a good hardware utility called SIW that will also monitor the MBoard sensors. Google for SIW.

See event viewer maybe dump logs also.

I read it wrong and answer it wrong too. So get off my case you peanut.

I'm not a hardware expert so I haven't the slightest clue how to get at the fan.

SIW doesn't have anything that checks the status of the fans. What do I look for when I run SIW?

Thanks for the responses guys!

You shouldn't care about the fan if the temps are good. Open SIW and leave the sensor reading screen open. Use the computer and monitor the temps. As was previously stated, the fan is not designed to run continously.

Ok I have done that and the temp does not increase to any crazy amount. I have learned that there are two fans on this machine and one is not spinning. But again if the temp is not a problem it may not need to yet. Since I can't get more than five mins out of the machine it makes sense.

Anyways I have had someone suggest flashing the BIOS as it may be a motherboard problem

Incidentally I recently got about 5 mins before it's last death after holding down the the on/off button for 30 seconds and then repeatedly hitting it on a off with no battery or power cord.

If the temps are not excessive the failure may not be related to the fan. Updating the BIOS is done for specific reasons. If there are hardware or software problems that are not specifically addressed by a BIOS update then it would not help the cause. Furthermore if the computer were to shutdown during a BIOS flash, which sounds likely, you will end up with a brick. DO NOT flash the BIOS.

I would check the hardware issues that you can. Boot into safe mode without network and see if the same issues occur. Safe mode does not enable all drivers. For one thing just a basic windows graphics driver is loaded. You could also enter the BIOS and disable some of the integrated hardware to determine if that may be the cause. Leaving the computer idle in the BIOS screens MAY give some indication of a hardware or software issue.

Download and run from a bootable floppy a memory tester. Memtest86 is a good one. Run for at least a few hours. Any errors are unacceptable. Try those things and post back.

It must be a driver problem. As I have left the machine running in the log in screen for like 10 mins now and no death. But once I enter the user account I sometimes loose it right away. Other times it's minutes later.

I try to upgrade to WinXP SP2 (I had SP1 before) and it crashes at the same point everytime - right when the upgrade test the system after it has been extracted.

Perhaps you need to perform a system restore, or re-installation of WinXP.

event viewer?

I read it wrong and answer it wrong too. So get off my case you peanut.