unexplained shut down

[Guest]

for about the last 3 months my laptop has developed a nasty habit of turning
itself off when it pleases, without any warning. i sometimes get a brief
error report, saying something about insufficient memory, my HD is not full
and i have plenty of free RAM. the problem seems to happen at random, but
particularly when i attempt a system scan/virus check. i have run AVG and
removed a trojan virus, but the problem remains.

not being a computer wizard so help or an explaination would be great. i
have been told it may be a battery/temperature problem, but dont know how to
resolve the issue if i dont fully know what the problem is.

regards gareth

 

[John]

start by doing a chkdsk /f c: just to make sure that there's nothing wrong
with the hard disk.

try anti-spyware to see if that leads to any results. www.download.com -
then search for spybot and then search for ad-aware -- download them both,
update them, run scans, delete anything they find.

if that doesn't work, then use msconfig (start/run/msconfig) to take a look
at what's in startup & remove anything that you've never heard of. when in
doubt, use google to search on the name of the software, but fewer is
better.

you could also use hijackthis http://www.majorgeeks.com/download3155.html to
see if there's anything hidden in the browser settings.

go through add/remove programs to make sure that everything listed there is
something you installed (or has been installed by your laptop maker)

as for your battery/temperature problem, I'd only start considering it after
you've done all of the above. battery problem means that it's running out of
battery power after lots of hard disk activity... maybe even just switching
off quickly. plausible, but unlikely. disprove it by doing all of the above
on electric power & if it still is shutting down by this point, then it's
something else.

temperature is again with the hard disk... is the hard disk activity (virus
scans make a lot of hard disk activity) making the machine too warm... and
therefore it's shutting off due to the excessive heat.

will george bush lead the americans out of iraq this year now that there's
been free and fair elections and a stable democratic government put in
place? well battery/temperature problems are probably even more likely...
i.e. possible.. but not very likely at all.

also... if you write back, tell us more about the machine. how much free
disk space? how much ram? what processor? what service pack? what make of
laptop? all these things matter... more than you'd have thought.

-jb



for about the last 3 months my laptop has developed a nasty habit of turning
itself off when it pleases, without any warning. i sometimes get a brief
error report, saying something about insufficient memory, my HD is not full
and i have plenty of free RAM. the problem seems to happen at random, but
particularly when i attempt a system scan/virus check. i have run AVG and
removed a trojan virus, but the problem remains.

not being a computer wizard so help or an explaination would be great. i
have been told it may be a battery/temperature problem, but dont know how to
resolve the issue if i dont fully know what the problem is.

regards gareth

 

[Guest]

I'm willing to bet on this being an overtemp issue. I had the same problem
when the cooling fan on my laptop croaked. No warning, just an immediate
shutdown.

 

[Guest]

ok so what do i do?

ive tryed running adaware etc and to limited success, been trying to sort
this out since 8am this morning, everytime i run any system
check......instant shut down. i have registry mechanic installed now but a
full scan causes yet another shut down.

along the lines of brian's comments when it does shut down, it takes a about
5 mins before it will reboot without shutting down........oh and yes it gets
very hot and the fan is running constantly

john......ive tryed what you've suggested.....hard disk is OK and ive
removed some programes i dont recognise + some spyware and dataminers. my
laptop is a DELL smart 250N, xp home sp2, 23.8GB free HD space, 512mb RAM (i
think) 2.4ghz

i've just read that the battery i have is only good for 500
recharge/discharge cycles, so that might be US,


as for good ol' georgie bush..........its oil not WMD in my opinion

gareth

 

[Guest]

oh and i have a scanlog from hijackthis if this is of any use?