Random Shutdowns

Hello!
When im playing games i experience alot of random shutdowns wich makes me very sad..

I have read that the bios might be the problem. When i enter the Bios it appears to be version 1.09. So i downloaded the latest version(1.16) from zeptos homepage wich i burned with nero and IsoRecorder. Burned it just like a normal iso.. Worked fine!

.. But when i boot up the disk i just get a underline (_) for 2 mins, i hear some reading from the disk and then windows boots up as normal. I reboot to check the version of my bios. Oh! its still 1.09. Hum?

Can someone help me asap? I just want to get rid of this really annoying and destructive restarts..

Edit: I just went through a guide i found on the net on how to create a boot up cd. I followed its easy 5 step tutorial and ended up with a _ for 15 min when booting it. I then removed the cd and quit my try..

 

Which notebook? Did you get the right BIOS?

It's possible that the update program doesn't give an error message when it sees that the BIOS update and the computer don't match, and then times out.

Another possibility is that although the ISO file appeared to burn OK there is an error which is either stopping the program from loading or it detects and stops.

Rene should be able to explain what's happening.

John

 

Never heard about that BIOS update CD boot problem. I would recommend you try and download the .iso file again and use another CD to burn it. See if that help. About the random shutdown that can be just about anything.

 

Probably a silly question but. Do you have your comuter set to boot from CD first, otherwise it won't try. I have noticed that Zepto's seem to hang a bit if there is a bootable CD inserted when you switch on or reboot the notebook if you don't have it set to boot from CD first in the boot order of the bios.
Don't forget that most Zepto bioses reset to default when you perform an upgrade so there may be changes specific to your notebook that need to be made prior to booting into windows, especially if you have an intel turbo memory module installed.
As far as random shutdowns are concerned, are they actually shutdowns where the computer switches off or are they BSOD's followed by an automatic reboot? Random shutting down of any PC is usually a hardware error, Processor overheating, memory fault etc whereas BSOD's are nearly always related to drivers and memory errors-not necessarliy hardware faults.

 

thank you for the answers. It's an Znote3415W.
I will try to burn it on another cd.. and maybe the random shutdowns aint because of the bios so ill try to reinstall my os and software to start with.

 

I just had a complete shutdown of my 6625 without any warning (nor BSOD), and I were browsing the internet...

 

I have been having the same problem with my 6625WD. I've been running Ubuntu 7.10 and started experiencing random reboots. There doesn't seem to be any pattern, the CPU isn't under any stress and there are no reports of high temperatures. I tried updating the BIOS from Z15n008 to Z15N011 and Z15N015 but they were even worse; I couldn't even get to the login screen.

At first I thought this was just a Linux problem as WinXP seemed to work. But now that I've been forced to use it more often I've had a couple of reboots in WinXP as well. I've also found that with the Z15N011 and Z15N015 BIOS sometimes WinXP also reboots before reaching the login screen!

I'm guessing that this is a hardware fault and I'll have to send it in for repairs but If anyone has any other ideas/solutions I'd appreciate hearing them.

 

Well I only had one and It might be cause too low voltage on CPU (altho Iv had this voltage for 2 months )

Downgraded to 008, Ill see what happens

 

Zepto is (hopefully) looking into my own random shutdown problem now
with my 6625. I was using 015 when they occured the most often.
Downgraded to 011 and this reduced the problem.

 

I also had this shutdown today. Seems to be a common problem. I thought I could be a "lucky winner" to get a non-faulty Zepto. Well, I'm obviously not.

 

Random shutdowns might be due to insufficient power drawn from the power supply. I know desktops have this problem when you don't have a powerful enough power supply

 

Hm, mine outputs 19V at 4.74A (makes about 90 Watts if I'm not wrong, and that should be quite sufficient for a notebook. Although it does really get hot sometimes. I sometimes use it as a footwarmer )

 

Well actually, when I resumed windows from the shutdown, it was charging the batterys, so there might be some ground in the theory

 

I think I've managed to solve my reboot problems under Ubuntu by uninstalling the powernowd package that handles CPU frequency scaling. I've had no reboots so far with the 011 BIOS whereas before I was lucky to get to the login screen.

So it seems that either there's a bug in powernowd or in the BIOS frequency scaling.

 

Do you get random shutdowns when you have your battery or when you don't have your battery?

 

After some more investigation, I've discovered that WinXP and Ubuntu (without powernowd) both seem pretty stable with the 011 BIOS, but only if the ac cable is connected when the BIOS starts up. If the cable is not connected when the BIOS starts, or if I only connect it later, e.g. at the boot loader screen, then I get the problems with reboots under WinXP and Ubuntu.

Could the BIOS be behaving differently depending on whether or not the power cable is connected?

 

Hello all,

I am very interested in buying a zepto 6324, you may thing is this guy stupid, well no. I post here in order to get some informations.

I hered that this shutdown-problem is heatrelated; first of all i think its not only a problem of zepto, i hered that from earlier macbookpro, asus(earlier G1S), acer and i even owned one clevo barebone (IFL 90 i think, the specs and plastic from zepto looks like that, too). This Clevo had the same behaviour as you describe it here: Well performance to let you scream of fun, stuttering errors during playing the binkintro of generals, complete freeze with repeating sounds or restart without warning, and you nearly kicking the book through the wall.
I couldnt solve the error on it by software so i sent it back. Now i think i may have to give them a chance fixing it, that is what i would do now in same case as it apperars on many manufacturers.

In another forum someone opened his book and found bad cooling conditions: the coolingpaste was somehow not connected and ther was a metal plate that even looked like it blocks the heat. So this could explain why it dont occurs out of the box: At first your coolingpast must dryout or something. Well my Clevo had it right from start so ...


- I wonder if someone has been succesfully beating this error with a big cooling-pad or something?
- If you work on it "mobil" so no grafics-power is used and you only work on textes and stuff, does the error occure too?
(at my clevo it also happened if i had more than 4 applications opened, ok perhaps one was wmp with visualization but that should not count same as a game)
- Can you give information when you bought the book and were it may have been manufactured?


I dont blame zepto of not beeing capable of this all, i even hope they can fix it as apple did with the macpro. I am only interested because if i understand why this all happens i much more dare to buy a zepto, and even if i have an error i can trust in zepto that they fix it (like the problem is known and its solution).
But i must have information if it is like i think and if it are likely random machines (which were hit by manufactionerror, well cruel for all those who have it, they should get a solution offered) or a problem that will occure at every modell after some time.

 

Random shutdowns during gaming are most likely heat-related and indicate cooling problems. Incorrect application of thermal compound is one cause and has been discussed in one of the threads here. Also, a cooling system which gets clogged by dust will not be as efficient as in a new notebook.

Do not consider that the contributions in this forum represent the majority of users. Many people only sign up because they have a problem they want to discuss.

John

 

I agree entirely with that statement. If you look at Zepto's sales they far outstretch the number of people complaining on this forum. As such you can bet that there are an awful lot of happy people out there with these notebooks. Just a shame there isn't too many "real" solutions to the problems encountered here.

 

Hm, thanks for your replies.

Well i think i can dare to buy a zepto then. As i wrote i already bought a laptop before. It had the random shutdownerror just from start although i skipped through every driver/bios version and reinstalled the pc several times... So these problems can occure (and i believe that its hardwarerealted).
But it can happen to every machine from every manufactor. It is the risk with comes with this sort of powerful laptops. I even have heard of Dell Xps 17inch going down after 2 years, it was like you said dust in the machine and the graphics ram was sortof burned. Well they changed it to a better card for free .

If i notice some error like that i must rely on the service and let them clean it... (mayself aint not? warranty). And if it damaged something.. well then its hard but not to change.
I will keep you up to date how it developes for me

 

You've evidently read the other threads about keyboard removal and warranty. It's quite simple to remove the keyboard and clean out the cooling system. Provided you don't damage or break anything then you won't damage the warranty since Zepto will be none the wiser. As also discussed in another thread, the keyboard has ventilation holes so keep the liquids away from it.

John