Laptop becomes unresponsive when plugged in

I cannot leave my laptop powered on for more than an hour at a time without my laptop completely locking up.

What happens is that everything will freeze up with no warning. The display stays on, but nothing will happen with the computer, not even a BSOD. It is as if time just stops for my laptop. The hard drive indicator shows nothing, either. Also, when this happens, a sound akin to static from a TV can be heard for a split second before it stops completely.

I feel like this might have something to do with electricity, because this sometimes happens before my laptop even gets a chance to warm up past 160F, locking up 5 minutes into a game of League of Legends, and because this has been happening ever since I plugged my charger into an outlet which began popping. I took it out, but perhaps the damage has already been done.

I'll post additional info as needed.

 

what laptop is it and what is the spec. how old is it. have you ever cleaned the fans and vents out with compressed air. what temperatures are you getting on cpu/gpu
we need all this info before we can advise.

that sounds like a dodgy psu power brick if its popping.
106f is 41c so thats perfectly fine.

 

Does it happen with it on battery power? (If available)

If your outlet is tripping off (breaker popping) Your PSU is defective.

 

Your power settings may have differences between "ON BATTERY" and "PLUGGED IN", in the advanced power options screens. Make sure that EVERYTHING is identical between the two power settings that you normally use, ie, there is High Performance, Balanced, and Power Saver. Each of those has TWO sets of many settings---one for ON BATTERY and one for PLUGGED IN. I suggest you pick the Power setting that you use, and go in to EVERY SETTING in Advanced Power Settings, and set everything up to be IDENTICAL. I think you have some setting that is causing more heat to be generated, or some other stress on the system, when plugged in.

 

ive never heard of that before
the idea is to set them differently so you get more battery time with lower settings.
if it was a heat issue it wouldnt just lock up but turn off to protect the hardware.
stattic and popping is a power brick issue and continued use could damage hardware if its somehow shorting.
im no electrician but im sure ive read on here before about a compacitor is faulty in the brick when you get popping.

 

Run safe mode and see if it is software related.

 

agreed that the popping sound he indicates, isn't normal, but my earlier comment was simply for testing purposes. PLUGGED IN settings generally are going to have more aggressive settings than ON BATTERY, so perhaps he has an electrical fault that is locking up the PC? If he sets PLUGGED IN settings to match ON BATTERY, and the fault isn't replicated, then it would indicate a component fault that was due to increased temp, or current draw. just a thought.

 

I've got a P150EM with:

i7-2630QM
8GB DDR3 RAM
GTX 560M
And one of those Seagate hybrid flash/platter drives as my boot drive, don't remember the model.

I have cleaned my laptop before, and I've never gone above 195F CPU temp, which as I understand it is above average but not critical. I just played several games on battery without any problems: League of Legends, Vindictus, and Warframe. The latter two are fairly graphics intensive.

As for testing my computer with identical power settings, I don't want to risk damaging hardware any more than I may have already by using my computer while it is plugged in.

EDIT: So I did end up using the computer while it was plugged in with identical power settings and it locked up faster than usual.

Also, looking my charger plug, I can definitely see burns on the flat prongs.

 

burning = replace immediately and i would also suggest a rma to check if it hasnt damaged any of the hardware but hopefully it hassnt as you can run ok on battery.

 

Is there an easy way to check if anything power-related in my laptop also has issues?

 

Easy way - no. You can use tools like volt-ohm/multimeters to test for proper voltages.

 

Quick update - I bought a new adaptor, but my laptop still has issues. Where do I start troubleshooting for the hardware?

Or is there an off chance this could be a software issue?

 

IF you see a big spark when plugging in the charger, (at the prongs) that's pretty normal! I have LOTS of electronics, chargers, etc, and if I plug in a power block, it usually makes a good size spark. nature of electricity. that's not to say u don't have some sort of issue, but don't let the arcing at the plug make you think that indicates a fault.

 

doesn't surprise me. i never thought it would be the source of the issue. it's a fault in a component, as I indicated earlier.

 

Run exhaustive hardware tests (memory, CPU, video). perhaps you'll get a report indicating what's faulty.

 

Did you do any software side test, say try a linux distro or safe mode?

 

Quick update: I took my laptop to a shop and they asked me for $30 to look at the graphics card. I think they redid the connection between the GPU and the board. Kinda makes sense, because discolored areas could be seen on the display as my laptop locked up during diagnosis, and because my laptop underutilizes the GPU on battery power. Plus, I could afford to dish out $30. The problem looks to be gone, as my laptop can work for more than an hour now. I'll update again tomorrow.

 

That's good to hear.

 

I was able to find some free time and crank out a few hours of video games today. Everything seems to be in order.

Thanks for the help guys.