Laptop shutting off after post

Hello all,

I'm a new member needing some help/advice so please bare with me.

I have an Acer TravelMate 8210 that's been shutting down after post. Actually it my uncle's and I've been trying to help out with it. I would go onto the BIOS to see if everything is in order and while I'm there it would randomly shut down.

He removed the hard drive to retrieve some data he saved but I'm thinking even without a hard drive it shouldn't just shut down like that.

Can anyone suggest what I should look for or checkout?

Thanks in advance...

 

Check RAM- if you have two sticks test both in each slot one by one.
Replace the RAM for testing if you can.

 

While testing the ram I noticed that after turning on the laptop the internal fan would only stay on for a few seconds then stop spinning. Is this normal? Now there's nothing showing on the screen but the power is staying on. Hooked up an external LCD monitor and still nothing. Hope this laptop isn't pooched.

Any suggestions as to what to try next. I actually used to put pc's together for a manufacturer but have very little experience when it comes to laptops, can't see anything overly different though.