As Dell phone support couldn't really do much more than try to sell me a new battery for the system, which I know isn't the problem, I thought I'd try here for some help instead. Fingers crossed I can solve this mystery.
I have an older Dell Inspiron N17 N7010 (2011) laptop that has been great for years- however, in the last year it's developed a rather unusual fault. Sometimes, when it loads certain programs, namely Skype, Steam, and some Microsoft Office Online programs, it will just stop. Black screen, shut down, knocked out. I've looked for dump files, but as it's behaving like it's been unplugged, there's no evidence of it being software related. It also seems to happen totally at random. It can go weeks between episodes, then crash every time for a few days, then be fine for awhile. It's a total gamble whether any of these programs will actually work. So, here's what I've done thusfar to try and fix it:
I opened it up, took it apart, and cleaned out any dust and debris I could find. When that didn't do much, I reseated the cooling system onto the processor. My first thought was that it was heat causing it to quit. But, this hasn't solved the issue, nor narrowed it down any further. I have a video rendering program which also heats up the processor as much, if not moreso, than Skype ever will, and it does NOT crash the system.
I use the laptop at a desk, so it's always plugged in. I did consider it was some problem with the battery, and so I had it replaced this summer with a new one. However, this also has had no effect on it. This is also why I was so baffled that the phone tech wanted me to just get a new battery- must have been low on his sales quota or something.
I have scanned and cleaned the system for any signs of malware or adware that could be causing this, as well as background software conflicts, but I've come up empty. I can't think of anything software wise that could cause the system to get totally knocked out, but as it's not creating any dump files or error logs when it dies, I've got no way to really investigate it further.
In the end it's a light-duty system that I use mostly for skyping with family and coworkers, and the occasional round of Civilization V when it will let me get to steam. If it's a big problem or a major issue, it's not like the system hasn't had a good run over the past few years.
