Strange laptop chrashes..

[utopiomania]

Me and my girlfriend was sitting with our laptops late saturnight, surfing the net, tv flickering, and the stereo playing, then suddenly both laptop screens turned bright white, and then shut down within a second.. Mine is dead, her laptop survived..

How can this happen, no electrical storms, no sign of problems with the other electrical equipment ?

[Zebuddi123]

CME or HARRP your certainly more subject to CME than here in the uk or it could have been an EMP

Seriously you could try opening the laptop and see if anything has been fried though unlikely

Zebuddi.

[Inf0Byt3]

Strange ... The sudden white screen could mean that the graphics chip got itself partially unsoldered from the motherboard due to the generated heat (common for BGA chips). Dust gradually accumulates on the heatsink and after some time cracks in the chip's joints could appear. This happens because of the increasing difference between the temperature when the laptop is not running and the temperature under load (contraction -> expansion). Most of the time they can re-ball the chip and put it back in.

What I don't understand is why they both failed at the same time. Maybe there was a sudden voltage spike. Most other bigger electronics like TVs and stereos are not as sensitive as computers. On the other hand the power bricks for the laptops are regulated and they also have some big filter capacitors inside so the chance for this is slimmer.

CME or HARRP your certainly more subject to CME than here in the uk or it could have been an EMP

I stick with the heat theory .

[utopiomania]

Well, i have seen a blue screen before, but not a white screen and shutdown on two laptops at the same time, so I'm confused. Scary if you ask me, and I'm serious.

I have been working with industrial control systems and software all my life, but this one is weird ????

[IdeasVacuum]

Apart from the white screen incident itself, what other common denominators are there? For example, were both on the same website? Are the laptops identical, bought at the same time and fairly new? I use an APC inline surge/spike protector with my laptop as the electricity supply here is a bit inconsistent. What the laptop manufacturers build-in as protection varies wildly, many do not even mention it, so I think the power supply zap theory has some merit. Equally, it could be a nasty virus.

[RASHAD]

@utopiomania hi
The white screen is not rare it happens always
First check your laptop with external monitor
if it works so your problem is in the laptop screen or the ribbon between
the laptop and the screen
It could be the ribbon(feed back line is broken) and that will be simple one
Or the screen itself need to be changed

Good Luck

[Zach]

I'm leaning towards an AC spike or other such anamoly.


Several years ago, a tree in our yard was struck by lightning during a storm, and it fried my PC (which I was foolishly messing with at the time, it blew caps on the mobo), my moms PC which was not even turned on at the time, it also appeared to jump to our CAT5 lines and blew the traces clean off our router's PCB (it still powered on otherwise) and our cable modem much in the same way (still powered on).

all other electronics in the house were fine though, including TV's etc.


PC's really are a lot more sensitive to stuff. It could have been an AC spike caused by anything.

[MachineCode]

utopiomania, you didn't mention whether both were running on batteries or AC power. If AC power, then it was probably a power spike. If batteries, then you have poltergeists in the house.

[utopiomania]

Rashads explanation seems plausible, but the chance for this to happen to two pc's at the
same time is slim and why did they shut down immediately??

My theory is a voltage spike, but both power supplies survived, and one laptop died, so maybe
the poltergeist theory is whats up

Anyhow, the laptop is going to the doctor tomorrow, so, I wonder what the say about this.

[IdeasVacuum]

So what did the doctor say?

[Zach]

No more monkey's jumping on the bed!

[utopiomania]

Hi its still on repair, haven't heard from them.. I think its dead, zapped by a poltergeist.

[IdeasVacuum]

If the screen has failed, it is probably cheaper to buy a new laptop.....

[buddymatkona]

Just a wild guess...

http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/alerts/archive ... month.html
Space Weather Message Code: ALTK04
Serial Number: 1630
Issue Time: 2013 Mar 23 2241 UTC

ALERT: Geomagnetic K-index of 4
Threshold Reached: 2013 Mar 23 2240 UTC
Synoptic Period: 2100-2400 UTC
Active Warning: Yes
Potential Impacts: Area of impact primarily poleward of 65 degrees Geomagnetic Latitude.
Induced Currents - Weak power grid fluctuations can occur.
Aurora - Aurora may be visible at high latitudes such as Canada and Alaska.

[Zebuddi123]

@ Inf0Byt3 there you go buddymatkona`s post right day late evening CME 2 laptop`s same time

PML

Zebuddi.