AHHH!!.  I was just compiling a large program on my Acer 243XC when it TURNED itself off and now won't restart.

THe fan was on constantly but it didn't SEEM too hot.  Now when I turn it on the fan starts-up full blast and then the laptop turns off again.

If I try to turn it on the fan starts but then the computer turns off.  If i then try again I can hear a BLIP from the speaker but nothing else.  I have to wait about 1 min before I can try again.

What's going on?how LONG have you had this laptop on for...leave it for five mins and try to boot it again some motherboards do this to prevent any damage...I had it on for about 1 hour compiling X11 for Linux so it was WORKING fairly hard.  Always been a bit suspicioius of how often the fan came on but then it is a Celeron 2.5gHz - not known for having a low running temp.    

Just tried turning it on again having left it for about 45 mins but the same thing happens.

I think may be the CPU has burned out, but normally the fan will crank up a few notches if it starts to get really hot but it didn't do this.

Ahh, just got wireless working really well in Linux as well.all sorted - it was a dodgy plug and the computers fine!!!!!!!!!