Laptop suddenly shutting off - no warning!

[Mabes]

Hi guys! I've been here a few times and you're always helpful, so I thought I'd give it a go.

I have a Toshiba L355-S7831 laptop that is about 3 or 4 years old. Its been fine in terms of how it runs up until tonight (other than that I have a few minor issues with some parts chipping and cracking, as can be expected from having a laptop for so long.

Tonight I turned it on and was chatting with a friend, opened photoshop, then about 10 or 15 minutes after turning it on it just POOF shut off. No shut down process or anything...I went from doing things normally to having a dead computer. Naturally I f reaked out, tried to turn it back on again. Everything was fine, it started right up, then POOF...shut down. I figured this meant it was too hot (even though it didnt feel too hot) so I let it sit for about 15 minutes to cool. I got my external drive ready so I could try to transfer files over in case this is the end of my laptop...turned it on again...and it lasted ten-fifteen minutes before shutting itself off. I tried it one more time, managed to get a couple minutes into transferring all my files onto the external drive, then it shut off again.

A couple things: I'm pretty sure its not the power supply - that light is green and everything says its plugged in when I can manage to get it on. I'm also pretty sure it isn't any sort of power settings, because I managed to get in there and look around last time before it shut off. I've read there is a computer virus that shuts your computer down by giving it a count-down, so it can't be that - mine just shuts off in a moments time. When it is on, I can hear at least one of the fans going, but I am no computer hardware expert. I've read that you can take it apart and get rid of dust...I'm scared to do that. Never done it before! Is that my only option right now? If I took it somewhere like Circuit City, do you think they'd be able to help?

I'm also worried that this is my RAM acting up. If so, how do I check that/fix it?

Oh and one more thing - the hard drive light doesn't look abnormal when its on. My last computer died after the hard drive light turned orange, so I know what to look for there! Any help would be GREATLY appreciated!! Thank you!

-Edit-

It is staying on in Safe Mode. It's been on for about 20 minutes now! That's got to mean something, right?

-Edit again-

It stayed on for a good 40 minutes and then shut itself off again. Grrrrrr. Well, I managed to get most of my files copied over. Still...any help?

[BC_Programmer]

Try removing the battery and running directly from AC.

If that doesn't work, try another AC adapter. (just because the light is  green doesn't mean it's working.

[Mabes]

Sorry, I'm not good at this. How do I remove the battery? I'm just not sure which parts of the computer are where, and I'm afraid of messing something up. 

Also, if this helps, I'm running it in Safe Mode right now and so far so good. Does that change anything about the diagnosis?

[Mabes]

A couple of updates, in case anyone out there can help me:

I'm on the laptop right now...its managed to stay on for about 20 minutes so far after sitting turned off all night. Last night it stayed on for about 40 minutes in Safe Mode before shutting off after I got 5 or so minutes into transferring all my files to an external drive.

I downloaded this thing called SpeedFan to test the fans because I think this may be an overheating issue.

I'm not 100% sure how to read what SpeedFan is telling me but CPU usage is fluctuating pretty quickly anywhere between 10% and 60% as I sit here with just Firefox and my e-mail open. Normal?

The temperature icon is reading
Core: 0:50C
Core: 1:50C
And going up and down a few degrees every minute. Is that normal, too?

Thanks for any help!!!

[patio]

Those aren't too bad....any other readings listed ? ?

[Mabes]

Thank you for the reply!!

No, that's it, and my suspicions about the fans are growing, because I went into "Configure" on SpeedFan and it wasn't showing any fans for me to select. I know they were working last night...I heard at least one of them come on.

Do you know how I might check to see if they're turned on or off?

[patio]

SpeedFan will not always list all fans on some machines....those temps are acceptable.

To see if it's a RAM issue DLoad and run MemTest...let it run 2 hours...
Any errors at all and you've found the culprit...

[Mabes]

Great, I will do that right now! Unless, of course, it starts shutting itself off again

So far I'm going on about 40 minutes without it turning off! Its getting a little warm on the bottom and no fans have come on yet, but according to SpeedFan its right around 50C for temperature, so I think that's okay!

If it isn't the fans, and it isn't the RAM, do you know what it might be...? There's a computer repair shop in my town that will look at it for 50 bucks and then fix it pretty cheap. I might just go for that, but I'm not sure yet. Money is tight, even 50 bucks would be stretching it for me!

Again, thank you for any help!!!

[patio]

Lets hold off on spending 50Bucks til we've exhausted all other possibilities....

PS MemTest is a bootable CD so a shutdown probably should not occur as the OS is out of the picture...

[Mabes]

I have to ask a silly question. I googled the Ram test thing and there were a lot of download options. What I DLd didn't look like a program. If I'm on Vista, do I just want the first thing listed on the following link under Free Download?
http://www.memtest86.com/

Thank you!

[BC_Programmer]

what you download is an ISO; you need to burn it to a disc. You can use IMGBurn to do it.

[Mabes]

Oh! Ok, I'll probably wait until my mom is home later tonight, she's really good at that kind of thing.

Thanks guys, I'll post it when I can!!

[truenorth]

You are in excellent hands with patio and BC on board. I would like to draw your attention back to BC's suggestion re the "Try removing the battery and running directly from AC." and "If that doesn't work, try another AC adapter. (just because the light is  green doesn't mean it's working."
It is my impression you have not tried this yet. The fact that you can achieve longer usable time when in safe mode could be reflective of an issue in that area. Safe mode is far less intensive in terms of computer usage and could account for the longer run time with a battery that is taking a charge but a very limited one. If you can i recommend you revisit that suggestion--certainly before you spend any money.truenorth

[Mabes]

Hi Truenorth, thanks so much for the response 

Okay, I definitely will try! I was just weary of it because I've never removed the battery before. I completely forgot to mention something in my first post (d'oh!)

For several months, the part of my power chord that plugs into my computer hasn't been able to go in all the way. I've been too afraid to unplug it from the laptop because I'm worried it won't go back in! It will kind of sit there and slowly slide out until I push it back in. Last night I found a forum where another Toshiba user said this had happened to their laptop too and their computer would sometimes turn off, and someone suggested that they might have a loose connection that is making it so the laptop cannot hold a charge very well.

My only problem with that  solution in my case, is that my laptop always says it is  at 100% charge when plugged in. Does that not matter, though? You say that the green light indicator doesn't mean it's working properly. Do you think this might the case, with a loose connection? I read that is pricey to fix, so I'm concened. Sorry that I forgot to mention it before!