Laptop Keeps Turning Off!!

[wizard]

Can anyone help me? My laptop has an error that is seriously annoying me now! Everytime I do something that requires a good bit of laptop performance, e.g. watching video's on YouTube, playing Flash games etc my laptop sounds like its venting off loads of air for about 1 second then it just turns itself off in the middle of something! When I turn it back on i dont even get to the XP logon screen, it just gives me some blue screen saying that the system had a "fatal error" then an error code of 0x00000008202 or something similar. Can anyone help? Thanks

[Ethel]

Sounds as if it is over heating - possibly due to a clogged up fan (have you ever cleaned it) or not enough RAM.

What are the specs?

[wizard]

Never cleaned it as I didnt want to take it to parts and invalidate my warranty etc? Its a 2.4ghz Pentium processor with 512mb RAM so its not overly massive but is still pretty good for everything else I use it for!

[stevie21]

512MB of RAM is just about enough to run XP efficiently, let alone play games or watch videos. Definitely sounds like it's overheating but I'd want to add more RAM anaw.

[Ethel]

My laptop and ancient desktop both run XP successfully and I don't have a problem with YouTube or any other programme.

Taking the cover off the fan is easy - use compressed air (available at maplins and pc outlets) to whoosh the dust and fluff away. Or if your vacuum cleaner has a low suction setting, you can use that with care.
It will make a big difference, I'm sure.

If you want to fit more RAM this is also straightforward, but make sure you buy the right sort.

Also, make sure the air can circulate round your laptop - don't sit it on a soft surface which will block the vents.