I have an Advent 7012 with 40 GB hardrive, with 14 MB free.

My laptop overheats and shuts itself down without warning after an hour or so.

Is there anything I can do to stop this? I do make sure there is enough air at the back of the computer when it is working but it still shuts itself down often.

Would using less memory stop it shutting down? Any other ideas to avoid this happening?

Stephen Maule, June 2004

the advent 8111 is a shoddy laptop but to avoid over heating i keep it about 4 inches from the worktop surface ..usually on a small plastic fruit crate which is full of holes and helps circulate the air around the fan area..also i though my dvd ad gone ....it wasnt in the bios niether ...i was about to wizz it away and get a new one ..but before i did i took it out and were the connections are at the back i used a nail file and gently run it over to clear anything that could be causing a bad connection....i push the drive case back in the laptop fasten it in then rebooted the laptop..went into the bios and the dvd had returned and my dvd works fine...so b4 you throw away make sure the points are clean..maybe yours will work again as mine did ..

mr phil, December 2009

yes prop up and dont run tomany progs at same time ie video games etc

gaz, October 2009

i have Advent 8111, it shutdowns after 15 or 10 minutes , and i see the fan area is really hot, i tried to clean the dust , but i dont know how to take the fan out to clean them anyway of dismentling it? any help will be really appreciated, thanks in advance!

Safeer, May 2009

I had this problem which was resolved by accessing the fan and heat exchanger and gently cleaning to remove dust and build up on the heat exchanger and the fan blades. The area is covered by a metal plate which is visible when you remove the plastic cover (the one with the fan vent). Note there is a warning sticker over one of the cover screws (re warranty), not an issue if laptop is out of warranty.

chris, August 2008

PS I always get a "RunDLL" error message a second before the Advent 7012 shuts down.

Stephen Maule

Stephen Maule, December 2004

My CD RW drive broke after about a year as well. Now I have to use an external disk drive for CDs. I am not happy with the Advent 7012. I will try to clean the fan if I can figure out how, thanks for the tip. Any ideas on how to open the processor housing cover to access the fan for cleaning?

Stephen Maule (original poster of this question)

Stephen Maule, December 2004

THIS IS NOT A DESIGN FAULT IF THE PROCCESSOR IS CLEAN IT WILL RUN ANY TASK FOR ANY AMOUNT OF TIME. I USE MY 7012 FOR VIDEO EDITING WHICH IS PROBABLY THE MOST POWER HUNGRY THING YOU CAN DO WITH ANY PC NOT JUST LAPTOP BUT IT HANDLES IT FINE WITH NO PROBS. MY MACHINE IS NOW 2 YEARS OLD AND IT WORKS AS GOOD HAS THE DAY I BOUGHT IT. YOU SAY IT WORKS FINE WITH WOOD UNDER IT SO IT SHOWS THAT YOUR PROCCESSOR IS BLOCKED WITH DUST. I BET IT NEVER DID IT FOR THE FIRST YEAR. THE POWER PACK IS DESIGNED TO TAKE HIGH TEMP THIS IS NOT A FAULT THIS IS NORMAL. YOUR TECH GUY DOES NOT SEEM TO KNOW MUCH ABOUT THESE LAPTOPS HE SAYS ONE MELTED WHEN IT WAS LEFT ON ALL NIGHT DID SOME ONE SET FIRE TO IT. (COME ON) I NEVER TURN MINE OFF SINCE GETTING BROADBAND I RUN THE MOST POWER HUNGRY PROGS ALL THE TIME AND SINCE CLEANING MY PROCCESSOR IT NEVER SHUTS DOWN ONCE. MINE IS MADE OF THE SAME PARTS HAS YOURS. I WOULD RECCOMEND THIS LAPTOP TO ANYBODY IF IT IS LOOKED AFER IT WILL OUTLAST MOST OTHER SO CALLED LEADING BRAND LAPTOPS......THAT SAID IF YOU NEED HELP WITH CLEANING YOUR PROCCESSOR I WILL ONLY BE TOO GLAD......ANDY CASS

ANDY CASS, December 2004

i had the same problem and found it was a years worth of dust
causing the problem take the proccessor housing cover off and blow out all the dust which collects a round the fan itself when i did mine i collected a small rug from the inside of the fan you could use a cotton bud i will bet that 99 times out of 100 this is the problem .........andy cass

andy cass, December 2004

You can order a Chill Pad from www.targus.com. Some local department department store will carry them as well. About $30.00 (usd)

Lisa H., August 2004

This is a design fault on the model. The P4 chip is a desktop model, runs hot and intensive processor work will overheat it and it shuts down. I found propping it up with a couple of struts of wood allows more air to get into the fan below. This stops it shutting off most of the time.

Incidently my CD Burner in the unit has stopped working and my tech guy reckons that the heat of the machine has dried out the lubricant and damaged the burner. Many other people seem to have the same burner fault. The powerpack also gets so hot it is nearly to hot to touch.

The same tech guy told me he saw a 7012 that had been left on all night - most of it had melted, so probably not a good idea to leave these things unattended for too long.

Basically it is a shoddy product. Cheap and nasty.

Jared, July 2004

I have the same problem with a Hp Pavillion Laptop to cure it I bought a cheap ergonomic stand for it and drilled a hole through the perspex base, I then attached a standard Pc cooling fan and wired it to a ac to dc adapter. It's not attached to the laptop so I dont lose portability but when in my office I can keep it on longer without it shutting down due to over heating.

Andy Thornton, June 2004