Asus N56VJ randomly shutting down

I just purchased a new N56VJ a few weeks ago, It's a N56VJ-S4164H with 16GB RAM and 512GB SSD.

I'm having the very annoying problem that it just randomly shuts down for no apparent reason. So far it's happened 4 times, once while scrolling through Thunderbird email, once while viewing a website on Chrome, once while editing a Word 2007 document and once while viewing a pdf in Adobe X. What hapens is that it simply loses power - not a clean shutdown, but almost as if I just powered it off.

It's running Windows 8. There is nothing in the event logs to suggest a problem. All I see is "the last system shutdown was unexpected".

I have speedfan installed, and running constantly and I've never noticed any core reach more than 64C in normal usage, and usually they are below 60C. The GPU rarely reaches above 50C. I don't play any games. I bought the laptop for running some statistical computing software, which I haven't even installed yet sue to this apparent instability.

Any suggestions ?

 

Battery or A/C?

 

On A/C

Believe it or not, but I just left the room and when I came back - it had powered down

Only had Thunderbird, MS Word and a few pages open in Chrome....

 

Does it do this on battery at all?

On A/C is the battery full?

Since it's not under heavy load, it can't be a thermal problem. At best it could be a connection somewhere.

 

It hasn't done in on battery yet, but then I only use it on battery for 5-10 mins per day.

Battery is currently shown as "96% available (plugged in, not charging)"

 

Try using it on battery and see what happens. At least you will be able to tell the service what's going on with great detail and maybe they'll know what's wrong.

 

Thanks, OK, will try on battery, but I didn't understand your last sentence - could you elaborate ?

 

If you cannnot fix this on your own, you will take it to a service, right? The more you know about the problem, the easier will be for the service to find what's wrong.

 

I have the exact same problem with my Asus N56vz! I was actually just about to post about it.

Mine happens every few weeks, very randomly. On average it's about twice a month, I'd get an abrupt loss of power (usually plugged in at the time, not sure if it happens when on battery).

My laptop is 6 months old, and it has done this since I've had it. I didn't return it because I don't want to go through the hassle of a return process for something so random (random things are very hard to check). I have seen that Asus put up a new firmware about a month ago, that updates the electronic controller firmware - so I hope that's a fix - but I haven't updated yet.

 

I see what you mean. Thanks.

So far it has not happened on battery power,

 

Do you have a link for this firmware update ?

 

This should be the done at BIOS level. Do you have the latest? 217.

ASUSTeK Computer Inc. -Support- Drivers and Download N56VZ Just select the OS and go from there. Remember to update the BIOS from the BIOS itself and not Windows. I do it from Windows and had no problems over the past years, but since some people did have problems (I guess they had more problems with Windows itself rather the procedure), I say go with the safer option.

 

It happened on batter power today

 

Thanks for that,

 

Did it work? The new BIOS?

 

I am having the same issue. I tried the firmware and no dice. I think its time to send it in for service

 

According to the download page, the latest BIOS for my laptop model (N56VJ) is 203, and that's the version that is currently on board.

 

True

I guess service is the last option.

 

I have the same problem with my N56VZ. Entire laptop just switches off by itself. So can none of you guys fix it without taking it to ASUS? I only ask because ASUS will charge me if they can't find anything wrong with it, which is what I think will happen since this problem happens so randomly and thus is extremely difficult to re-produce.

 

Mine does it too, but how often does yours happen? Mine hasn't gotten in the way of my productivity yet and I've been using it on a daily basis for the last 3 months. It happens every few weeks or so / about twice in a month. I'm not sure if there's a pattern - but it happens around the 13/16th and the 25/26th each month - leading me to believe it's some kind of "cycle".

I don't want to send it in for the same reason - it's too random to pick up! They may hold it there for months.

 

It's completely random for me - there was one instance where I went couple of months without anything happening, then in the following week I got it 3 times.

It hasn't affected me hugely either, but it just makes me want to pull my hair out when I'm watching a movie, or in the middle of an email and the whole thing system just disappears!

Well anyway I rang ASUS last week to lodge a warranty claim but the guy suggested I try updating my firmware first. I've noticed the latest firmware version for my laptop (N56VZ) was dated June 2013 so its fairly recent and apparently it updates the embedded control (EC) system. A quick google search suggests the EC has something to do with regulating power in the laptop so that may be a fix for this problem. Here's hoping it works - and that I have better luck than the posters above who've tried the same.

 

Hi guys,

Just a quick update. After installing the firmware update I'm happy to report that the problem hasn't occurred again. Now it's only been 2 months since the update but with no problems I'm pretty confident that the firmware update has fixed the problem. Good job Asus!

 

I am currently having the random reboots quite often and hopefully someone has figured out something by now. I am new to the forum, but here is my laptop info: N56VJ-DH71. Please let me know what other info would be helpful because I really want to get this issue fixed!! Thanks!!!

 

maybe found a solution fpr n56vz, maybe for n56vj too


give it a try:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/asus/707459-asus-n56vz-just-shuts-down-2.html#post9827948