[ck_evac]

Hi,

My computer has been turning itself off recently. There does not appear to be one particular thing that makes it do this as it has happened when I was listening to music in I-Tunes, Ripping a cd, burning a cd, and/or using the internet. There is no warning, and no error messages appear before the computer shuts off, or after it starts back up. My computer does have a light with lightning bolt symbol in the front between the hard drive light and the battery light. The light is green when the computer is on, and it goes yellow when this unwanted shut down occurs. I may be imagining it, but it seems like my fan is running harder than it used to as well. Is it possible that the computer is getting too hot and it's shutting itself down as a safety precaution? Or is there something else causing this?

Any help is appreciated.

Thank you,

Ryan

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Hi, welcome to this site
remember we are working blind so bare with us
to help others reply to your question
if you haven't mentioned it yet:
- what model of computer
- what os, XPpro or home
- how old is it

to topic then
- if you a handy with a screw driver then it is easy to open the computer(destop type)

to clean inside the computer
get an dry-air can with a straw and blow as much dust out of the comp, keep the hover nozzled at a short distance but sucking away so that the muck doesn't get everywhere. Touch the spinning fan gently with your finger while blowing muck from it or it will just spin.

there are other things to do too, like cleaning the system that might help

Edited by fleamailman, 17 November 2006 - 07:44 PM.

[fleamailman]

Hi, welcome to this site
remember we are working blind so bare with us
to help others reply to your question
if you haven't mentioned it yet:
- what model of computer
- what os, XPpro or home
- how old is it

to topic then
- if you a handy with a screw driver then it is easy to open the computer(destop type)

to clean inside the computer
get an dry-air can with a straw and blow as much dust out of the comp, keep the hover nozzled at a short distance but sucking away so that the muck doesn't get everywhere. Touch the spinning fan gently with your finger while blowing muck from it or it will just spin.

there are other things to do too, like cleaning the system that might help

Edited by fleamailman, 17 November 2006 - 07:44 PM.

[ultimateslacker2]

Usually the common issue for shutdowns is overheating.

First give us those specs, than I will give you a program to download.

[ck_evac]

Hi,

Thanks for the replies. My computer is a HP pavilion zt1260 laptop. I'm running Win XP Home, and it's about 4 years old.

[fleamailman]

um, so much for my advice about how to clean a desktop then, still you could try a spring clean of the computer to deminish the burden on it

Time to use your "runbox" to clean your computer,
(all these steps are done with the run box then)

deleting the prefetch files
-----------------------------
runbox command
- press keyboard buttons: winkey + r
- paste in the slot: prefetch
- press: enter
(the prefetch folder opens)
- press: ctrl + a
(select all is the same)
- press: shift + del
(deletes without prompt)

disc clean up
---------------
runbox command
- press keyboard buttons:winkey + r
- paste: cleanmgr.exe
- choose drive(normally C: )
- press: enter
(this process can take a long time)

checkdisk
------------
runbox command
- press the keyboard buttons: winkey + r
- paste in the slot: chkdsk /f /r
- press: enter
( black window appears)
- press: Y button
- press: enter
- reboot the comp
(this process is the longest, worse the screen may be
lost before hours later the computer arrives at the welcome screen)

disc defragmenter
----------------------
runbox command
- press the keyboard buttons: winkey + r
- paste in the slot: dfrg.msc
- press enter
(this process can take a long time)

deleting internet cookies, files and history
-------------------------------------------------
- press the keyboard buttons: winkey + r
- paste in the slot: inetcpl.cpl
- press: enter
- click: delete cookies
- click: delete file
- click: clear history

disable unwanted startups
------------------------------
runbox command
- press: winkey + r
- paste: msconfig
- press: enter
- click tab: start ups
- keep: the AV and firewall entriies enabled,
- disable: 100% unused or unneeded entries
- Unsure about the start up: http://www.bleepingc...r.com/startups/
(IMPORTANT: enable all startups before running the Hijackthis program)