💬 My cousin's laptop kept shutting down and the fix was free

My cousin brought me her laptop last month, saying it needed to go to a repair shop. It kept shutting down by itself every hour or so, and she'd already lost an assignment. She was ready to pay for a diagnosis. I told her to wait 1 day. First I asked her where she used it. She said on the bed, every night. The vents were full of dust and the bed was blocking the bottom of the laptop. I switched it off, cleaned the outer vents gently with a small blower, and put it on a hard table. No more shutdowns after that. It had just been getting too hot and protecting itself. She's very annoyed that she nearly paid for something that took 10 minutes. Another time a friend spilled tea on his keyboard. First he kept using it, which was a mistake. You should shut it down fully and unplug the charger right away. Let it dry for at least a day or 2. Don't use a hair dryer, the heat can damage things. After that it worked for him, though a couple of keys stayed sticky. Some things do need a technician, like a damaged charging port, liquid damage or overheating that continues. Back up your files first, and don't open the laptop yourself if it's still under warranty. When a laptop is slow, I check Task Manager first to see what's eating the memory. What problems have you fixed yourself, and what was a mistake you regret?

Mine had the same problem and I only found out the vents were blocked when I used a torch. Your cousin was lucky it was just dust and a bed, because a failing fan is a different story. The spill advice is right too. I once used a hair dryer on a wet keyboard and regretted it. Sticky keys are annoying but a lot cheaper than a new keyboard, so I'd call that a win.

My roommate's laptop did the same thing and he kept using it on a pillow for months. After reading your post I tried the hard table trick on mine, and it hasn't shut down since. The vent cleaning bit made me realise how long I'd ignored all that dust, probably 2 years. Next time I'll try the free stuff before running to a shop. Thanks for writing it up.