Laptop spontaneously restarts, most often when unplugged from AC or when moved

[stalequinoa]

Hi all,

I am using an ASUS laptop running Windows 10. Issue I am having is a persistent restarting of my laptop on its own -- roughly 2-3 times a day. It most often occurs within 10 seconds after I unplug from the AC, or if I am moving the laptop around. However, the problem has also occurred when it's been plugged in, though less often. A couple times it also restarted within a few seconds of replugging into the AC after using it on battery.

Does this sound like a hardware problem?

I have taken out the battery and left the laptop plugged in per a suggestion I received to see if it's a battery issue. Since then, it has only spontaneously restarted once (early on within a few hours) and it's been almost 3 days.

Any leads would be much appreciated, thanks.

[DaveLembke]

What does system event logs show for error if any recorded there? Any additional info such as when this all started anything specific happen that lead up to this such as laptop dropped, hit floor or anything?

[stalequinoa]

What does system event logs show for error if any recorded there? Any additional info such as when this all started anything specific happen that lead up to this such as laptop dropped, hit floor or anything?

Thanks for the reply.

Did not realize there were logs to look up, but I've found them now. I am guessing the relevant events are:

Level: Critical, Source: Kernel-Power, "The system has rebooted without cleanly shutting down first. This error could be caused if the system stopped responding, crashed, or lost power unexpectedly" -- there have been 29 of these events since Oct 15th, which seem to represent the restarts.

There hasn't been any notable event that I can think of which may have caused these problems.

[stalequinoa]

Should also add: each time it happens, the screen freezes for a few seconds and if I'm watching a video, it makes this weird elongated sound, before shutting down and beginning the restart.

[DaveLembke]

Memtest86 should be run on this system. Also make sure RAM is properly locked into the slot(s) if accessible to verify. Some laptops are easy to confirm and others require just about complete disassembly to get to the RAM. I wouldnt disassemble the laptop to get to the RAM unless you know what your doing. The freezing before reboot wouldnt be a loose power connection but more likely the cause of RAM issue or main board issue. Hopefully just a failing RAM stick that can be replaced. Memtest86 would point out if the memory of the computer has issues.

Have you ever added any RAM to this system or RAM upgrade?

http://www.memtest86.com/

[patio]

Flakey power brick...backup all your data asap...

[stalequinoa]

Memtest86 should be run on this system. Also make sure RAM is properly locked into the slot(s) if accessible to verify. Some laptops are easy to confirm and others require just about complete disassembly to get to the RAM. I wouldnt disassemble the laptop to get to the RAM unless you know what your doing. The freezing before reboot wouldnt be a loose power connection but more likely the cause of RAM issue or main board issue. Hopefully just a failing RAM stick that can be replaced. Memtest86 would point out if the memory of the computer has issues.

Have you ever added any RAM to this system or RAM upgrade?

http://www.memtest86.com/

I haven't added any RAM to the system, or done any other changes. I'll do some research into how the RAM is fixed on my laptop before I try having a look.

I will try the memtest soon, but at this point its looking like a battery problem even though I don't understand how. I haven't had a restart problem since taking the battery out, aside from the initial hiccup. That's easily the longest problem-free period since this all began.