It’s the kind of nightmare that can drive anyone to despair – a computer that for some reason or other seems to keep shutting itself off without warning. You may have just lost the assignment you spend three hours writing, it could have cost you all the progress you’d so far made on the game you were playing or it could just be interrupting your streaming TV service – all of the above never fail to set blood boiling.

Still, there is some good news to be found in all the gloom which is that when a PC or laptop keeps completely cutting out without warning, it’s almost always an overheating issue. A totally different scenario than frequent computer crashes, immediate and sudden power cut-outs occur automatically as a means by which to prevent the internal components of your computer essentially frying themselves and those around them.

More often than not, professional PC repair isn’t necessary – that’s the really good news. Even better, you don’t even need to know a great deal about computer components, hardware or even how the thing works to stand every chance of solving your overheating issue…assuming of course that’s what it is.

So, before panicking, give the following tips a once-over and see if you can get things back on track:

1 – Check the Fans
First up, pretty much every PC on the planet and most laptops feature fans to keep their processors and other chips cool enough to run. If you can’t hear the fans, you should be able to see them by shining a bright light into one of the system’s air intakes. If the fans are running improperly or not at all, you’ve found your problem – a quick plug-and-play replacement should do the job.

2 – Dust Build-up
One of the biggest contributory factors to PC overheating issues is an excess of dust building up in places that should ideally be kept nice and clean. From the air intakes on the outside of the computer to the internal fans to the heat-sink and the chips themselves, if you can see or at least suspect there may be a ton of dust clogging things up, repairing things may be as simple as using a vacuum cleaner to get rid of at least some of the excess dust.

3 – Air Intakes Blocked
It’s wholly common and normal these days to use laptops in any room of the house, but next time you have your computer up and running on your bed, the couch or any other soft surface, you might want to make sure that the air intakes are not being blocked by the soft furnishings…they probably are.

4 – Ambient Temperature Too Hot
Last but not least, a PC or laptop should ideally be able to handle the ambient temperature of the room you’re in, but if it’s particularly hot or your position close to a heating source, this may not be the case. If you suspect that this could be the issue, consider investing in a laptop cooling tray with additional in-built fans, or in the case of PC an upgrade of the system’s existing fans. Alternatively, you could just take your computer to a cooler room of the home!

For more information in simple DIY PC repairs and how to keep your laptop in top working order, give our team a call today.