my AAO 751h cuts off suddenly

We bought this about 3 weeks ago at Costco. We like the little computer, but it suddenly cuts off -- about 6 times in the first 7 days. Not quite so often since then, but still every other day or so. It's off, totally off. But it will start up again immediately with no problem. Sometimes it's after the computer has been on for a while; sometimes it's when it hasn't been on 20 minutes. Sometimes the computer is hot on the bottom, other times only slightly warm. It has always been sitting on a hard surface, not a soft one. Usually I'm in the middle of something when it goes, but not always.

I called Costco's concierge service to ask about it -- they had no clue. They offered to connect me with Acer support, but said basically Acer's response would be to mail it to them. Don't particularly want to mail a brand new netbook off for repair when I can return it to Costco.

Has anyone heard of others with this problem? Costco offered to swap it for a new one, but is a new one likely to be more of the same? I'd appreciate any input I can get.

Thanks!

 

Need more information...what do you mean that it just cuts off? Do you mean there is no power, the computer freezes or what?

 

There is no power, instantly.

Sorry if I sound ignorant. I am.

 

It could be a number of things like a faulty fan. Since you just bought it at Costco I would take it back and exchange it for another one. Costco has a 90 day return policy that includes computers.

 

does it happen w/ac adaptor plugged in? because I had the same thing happen while using my gateway laptop, soon discovered it ran out of juice because it was NOT plugged in.

 

Hi, I purchased a 751 2 months ago (the Netherlands, Europe) I bought it next to my home desktop DELL to use it on holidays
for photo's, internet and MSWord (writing journals). It occured multiple times that the power went off, Just as simple as that. power-off,
while i was typing ! I heard a click (HD off) then Power off. It happens on battery (>90%) as well as pluged in (batt attached). Restart Windows
no problem, rebuild session on Firefox, but i had to set word auto save on 5 minutes to keep my work!
Even when i leave it on, not used, it goes off after some time. I tried some settings on energy save, to NOT hypersleep, HD NOT off etc.
had called the problem in for waranty, and now i haveto send it in for repair. What kind of repair i wonder? new HD, drivers, MB?
has any one got an idea? I have read on several other fora this happened on older Acers too. Is it a temperature problem? It is not clear to me whether there is a fan or not! thanks & Greez

 

Hardware error, swap it for another.

 

I have the same problem, albeit much less frequently (several days between random power downs). When you reboot into safemode after the power cuts off, you will see that the error windows reports is a "critical" "power failure". This can happen when plugged in and typing, or when in sleep mode (in which case it doesn't come out of sleep mode properly and windows reports the "power failure" error if you boot into safemode.

Unfortunately, I didn't realize the issue until a few weeks had passed by (I thought it was just failing to return from sleep mode), so I wasn't able to bring it back to Walmart for a direct exchange. It must be some physical hardware problem. Anything ranging from a faulty battery pack to a motherboard related connection or capacitor.
I'm traveling until mid-August and I need the computer so I can't send it in for repairs until then.

In the meantime, Acer's help line is largely useless. Step one is to turn off all unnecessary services (doesn't help). Step two is to reinstall windows from the restore partition (also won't help you, obviously). Updating drivers doesn't help either.

*** If you are still within the store warranty, just exchange it *** If you are not, you have a year to mail it to Acer under warranty. Luckily for me, it only happens once a week or so.

*** Also, activate "hybrid sleep". This way, even if it loses power while in sleep mode, it can still restore windows via the hiberation feature. ***

Maybe this is why the computers were delayed when first shipped. I bet the first batch had power issues like this...

 

Mine frequently locks up during use - generally when moving the cursor. Same model. Not sure what to do. I guess I'll try returning to Costo and exchanging for another, but will probably get one with the same issue. Perhaps I can just do this until I get a winner!

 

That sounds like a different issue than the power shutting off completely. Maybe try turning off the Synaptics Touchpad services and see if that is part of the problem (based on what you said about moving the cursor). You will lose the ability to scroll and use mouse gestures. However, you will still be able to use it like a normal touchpad in all other ways.

--- Do this under: Control Panel --> System and Maintenance --> Administrative Tools --> System Configuration (double-click this icon)
--- Then go to the Startup Tab under that program. Uncheck the Synaptics Pointing Device Driver.


This may not help, but it's worth a shot. You can always turn the startup program back on later if this doesn't solve your lock-up problem.