# Acer aspire 5315 Random Shutdown/Overheat



## MarinersFan000 (Feb 9, 2011)

I have an Acer aspire 5315 and have been using it for about 2.5 years now. During that time I have been running Vista which is what came on the machine when I bought it. I recently formated and installed a version of Win 7 pro. However since I have done that my laptop has been randomly shutting down. 

So I began investigating exactly why that was happening and I noticed that I was overheating really bad sometimes. The fan wasn't running so I knew I had a problem. I opened up my laptop and cleaned out the bit of dust that was in there and while I had it open I put the battery back in and watched the fan spin when I booted the machine. However I am still experiencing the problem. I have noticed that it seems that the fan spins when I'm running off battery but when I'm plugged in it wont spin at all. 

Since this started right as I installed Win 7 I think that it is a cause an effect correlation. I guess there is a chance that my overheating/fan not spinning problems are not because of the Win 7 install but for some other reason but in this case I'm a believer in occam's razor. Any help with either finding some new drivers to fix this problem or any other advice would be appreciated.

Even with the random shutdown Win 7 is so much better than Vista!

Thanks!


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## cl0udedth0ught (Sep 29, 2004)

I have a acer 5739g laptop and had overheating issues with it. I cleaned out the dust in the heatsink/fan and replaced the thermal grease on the cpu/gpu dies with some better arctic silver 5 and that fixed it. With that being said... try and make sure the laptop is always on a flat hard surface that doesn't block the vents. Some fans only run when they reach a certain temp. Does your fan run at all or not ever? If it runs sometimes...what are the temp from inside the BIOS? If the fan runs sometimes, I would suggest checking to see what the thermal grease looks like on the processor as my laptop had almost none and was constantly overheating. If your laptop has dedicated video, change out the thermal grease on gpu die as well.


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## joeten (Dec 4, 2008)

Hi here is a service manual I believe it is the same for your model http://tim.id.au/laptops/acer/aspire 5710 5710g 5310 5310g.pdf
it should help you locate the areas etc


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## MarinersFan000 (Feb 9, 2011)

Thanks guys I'll give it a shot. Still really confused why the fan works fine when I'm running on battery power and cools everything just fine but it stops completely when I'm plugged in. Oh well... I'll just run on batter as often as possible and put it to sleep when I need to charge it. Good thing I have a decent battery.


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## Roybell (Feb 27, 2011)

I had the same problem and found that there were two files that are used in the Acer setup that are removed when upgrading to Win 7.
These files are used to control the fan.
I found these on the Acer website under Empowering Technology.
I can't remember the file names just now but I will search for them and re-post.
It cured my over heating problem after upgrading to 7 from Vista.

Roybell.


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## Roybell (Feb 27, 2011)

This is where you can download the Empowerment Technology files.
I think they control the battery charging and CPU fan speed.

Acer Support: Downloads & Support Documents - Notebook / Aspire / Aspire 5315

Look under the Applications tab.

Roybell.


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## Roybell (Feb 27, 2011)

This post is a mistake and I don't know how to delete it.


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## Roybell (Feb 27, 2011)

Correction!
There was one file and not two.

The name of the file I used is:
ePower v2.5.4311.exe

I have just enabled the Guest account and found that it did not run the file. So I guess it needs to start when the computer starts.
Othewise it works perfectly.

Roybell.


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## MarinersFan000 (Feb 9, 2011)

Roybell, thank you very much! This has been driving me crazy! I have a little of the acer bloatware back on my machine now but I can live with killing their stupid little pop-up green bar when I re-start my machine because THE FAN IS WORKING! I put the fix in place this morning and it hasn't restarted all day and I have been running with and without the power cord. For the first time since I installed Win7 my fan seems to be working correctly. Thanks again.


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## joeten (Dec 4, 2008)

Nice fix well done guy's


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## agfox80 (Sep 24, 2011)

hi guys, i realize that this is an old post now, but i'd like to thank you all for giving me the information you gave me in solving the exact same problem, with the acer aspire 5315. 

I've never belonged to a forum before but was so impressed I decided to join you guys. I thought I'd add some additional information regarding this problem, should anyone else google this and find this forum. I did exactly the same and wiped vista because it was crashing all the time after being on since getting the laptop. I didn't have vista disks so I wiped the computer and put ubuntu on, (nice os). HOWEVER, after this my computer kept overheating and the fan wouldn't work. I tried taking it to bits, tried bios, but no option for fan control. And as one of the other posters says, with these old acers, acer bundled fan control in with the acer e-management, (green bar on the desktop), so when deleting vista, you lose the programme. As the another poster states you can just re-install the acer e management software. I've not done this, but assume it works. HOWEVER for me it wasn't an option as I only had free linux os's to use. 

After 3 weeks of experimenting and not knowing anything about computers really, I found another option. I installed Linux Fedora from their site. It's intended for more advanced users than ubuntu, but still good once you get into the swing of it. On Fedora you can enable and add additional programmes. If you go to' activities', then 'applications' and choose 'add/remove software'. Then search for 'temperature'. Lots of different programmes come up. But there is one called 'Gnome Shell Extensions that adds an applet on the panel which reveals current CPU temperature in Degree Celsius and Fahrenheit' .ADD THIS. Restart the computer. This will now check the cpu temperature, (displayed top of screen on right side). HOWEVER. For some reason it doesn't start registering the temperature or controlling the fan unless you suspend/hibernate the computer first. I think, (but don't know for sure) that this is because there is no fan control in bios when you begin, but when you suspend/hibernate you allow Linux Fedora to take control instead, thus enabling the programme to work. I've had no problems since, with my cpu now hovering around the 45-50 degrees C. And will hopefully get a good deal more life out of my acer aspire 5315. You just have to REMEMBER to HIBERNATE/SUSPEND, once you initially first turn on. If you forget, when you do hibernate and turn back on you will be shocked at how high the temperature will go. I forgot the other day and my cpu was registering 80 degrees celcius, when i did hibernate/suspend and returned the fan was going like the clappers to cool it down, and it obviously does the laptop no good at all.

Anyway, although a long convoluted way to fix it, it is an alternative and hope it helps people who haven't got the option of restoring a windows based os and re-installing the acer e-management system.


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## Roybell (Feb 27, 2011)

Perhaps some of you geeks can find a way to make this program "Gnome Shell Extensions" start on boot-up for agfox80!! (And for me then I can change from Win7 to Linux)

Roybell.


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## agfox80 (Sep 24, 2011)

now that is an awesome idea...thankyou rorybell


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## Bitfiddler (Nov 12, 2011)

I had similar overheat problems with my Acer Aspire 5315 after a clean install of Win 7 home premium. I solved my problem by updating the bios to version 1.43. I found (and since lost) a list of release notes for some of the bios versions working up to version 1.43 on the Acer/Europe support site. In two or three places were mentioned cooling fan control tables and thermal sensing updates. My problem seemed to be the fan not starting after resuming from hibernate. With bios v1.43, after resume from hibernate the fan would start and stay running (strange) for quite a while until cpu temp got up a ways (strange) and then the fan would start normal cycle on/off to maintain cpu temp. I don't think they got it perfect, but at least the overheat problem went away. I notice that Acer has a Bios v1.45 available, but I won't install it until I find release notes somewhere that gives me a good reason.


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## Bitfiddler (Nov 12, 2011)

By the way, go to this Acer Europe support site:

Download

Find your way to support, drivers and downloads.
Select your Machine (notebook, Acer, Aspire, 5315)
Note that when you select operating system Win 7 home premium x32, they list only one application (The Dritek launch manager), and a couple of drivers for card reader and tv tuner, and Bios v1.45. They do NOT specify any of their bloatware as required or desired for use with Win 7. I believe that's correct. I believe the thermal issues were solved with bios.


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