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Just bought a 2nd hand laptop 1.3 GHz DVD 128MB 14Inch TFT laptop for £420.

However, it seriously overheats and crashes when it does.
I need to wait 5min before cooling or it won't restart.
The keyboard crashes after about 5min... which is weird, but the external mouse doesn;t.
Can someone help? I use win XP pro

Weisi

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First thing that comes to mind is the fan, But this may not be the case. The fan may not be starting which is a serious problem, I had the same problem in my old laptop, but buy the time i realised what was happening, Most of the inside of my computer had almost literaly melted.

There are may cheap fans that can be bought and simply attached to the side of the laptop to stop it from overheating.

If You want, you could oper the laptop up and see if the fan is running, The fan should be visible, And you can get inside most laptops just by lifting off the keyboard.

But apart from that i have no idea what else it could be.

Welll the fan is working becasue hot air is coming out of it...

I used the laptop for an hour today and then suddenly the keyboard and touchpad crashed again!!!

I mean the external mouse still works.

Accoding to Control Panel, the keyboard is malfunctioning, whereas before it was working properly.

Could this be overheating by why should the keyboard stop working???

Weisi

If its brand new and overheating like that, either a fan is dead (they have multiple fans, so the fact hot air is coming out means nothing). Less obviously, a heatsink may not be properly attached, or something could be overclocked.

You might try to crack the case and have a look, but laptop warranties tend to get voided if you do that. Check for seals first in any case. Laptops are a pain to work with, so I would just return it. Of course, a second hand laptop may be out of warranty anyway. Might be worth contacting the original owner.

Well the keyboard could have moisture in it? A key connection can also be stuck. Keyboards do wear out. Your only solution really is likely to get an external keyboard. You can try cleaning it or drying it out. Testing each key to find out the problem. Cant tell you from here.

The computer overheating could actually be design. It could be a desktop processor.

I would however make sure the processor is not overclocked.

That will be somewhere in bios set up. Go there anyway, and see if you can turn the processor speed down and see if that will solve the problem. You might not be able to. You might have to find your bios manufacturer, and download a non laptop bios. Laptop bios usually dont allow you to mess with the speed.

Try to find where air enters the case ( usually it is underneath) and make sure there is space under the laptop when ur using it.

Currently I have books on either side beneath the laptop.
There is one large circular air vent beneath the laptop so I am making sure air cna get through.

Yes getting an external keyboard is a fantastic idea!!!

However, I still want to know why the keyboard STOPS working after it over heats?

I will open up the laptop now and tell u guys...
Do I need to have the laptop on??? otherwise how would i know if fan works?

Shall I just open the fan section as the laptop has many sections to open?

Please advice this is my first time...

Do not have the laptop on while you open it.

You might be able to power it up while it is open, but that depends on how its assembled. Anyway, check the connections to the fans, check if heatsinks are securely attached, look for and remove excessive dust buildup.

If a fan has never worked, it will be much cleaner than the others, but if its a recent failure there wont be any visible difference. If you cant power the fan you could try and put 5V (the fan usualy has a marking on it for voltage so check that) across it.

Fan is not very dirty, only one fan and definitely works.... very noisy when it does.

Laptop keyboard again froze, BUT Fn keys work (ie: Fn + key) works :s
Windows keys and normal keys don't, neither does touchpad.

External mouse works.
please advice

If the fan is very noisy, it might be dying and running underspeed.

I would find the guy that sold you it and ask him whats going on. Selling a laptop knowing it dosent work is criminal.

Or if its still under warranty you could send it in for repair.

Thanks, I will am in the process of asking him to pay me back some money!
Is it normal to have only one fan?

How do I access BIOS setup on WinXP?

Weisi