Spontaneous Shut-down

[JohnSocal]

Has anybody encountered spontaneous shut down of their system with no warning or error message in Windows XP?  This has been occurring on a regular basis for about a month.  First time it happened was while doing a full system scan in Norton Antivirus.

I know that a lot of far-reaching problems occurred after downloading the new XP service pack from Microsoft.  I dumped the upgrade and did a system restor, however, things just ain't been the same since.

[merlin_2]

are the power settings set to never.......control panel power icon click.....have a look in the events viewer log admin tools icon click......scan for trojans......nav.....does miss some of them......does this happen if the pc is on for a long while??

[JohnSocal]

Thanks for the response.  The shut down can occur whether or not the computer has been running a long time.  It has shut down while typing and while idle.  If I close the cover (Toshiba laptop Satellite) and hibernate, I don't get the idle shutdown, however, if I leave it open and let the screensaver activate, I will get a shutdown.  Never a warning.

Fans are working properly so I can rule out overheating.

Should I follow your instructions for the "never" setting?

[merlin_2]

most laptops do shutdown when not in use......power saving...my one is set at 15 mins......if not used with in the time....personal preferences to set to never....but it puts a drain on the lion battery.....if you have it connected via adapter thats difference.. have  you checked the  bios settings check them......battery=full power......auto power=disabled  power on display=auto detect......examples of  a tosh bios settings........there may be need to look at them.....maybe the lion battery is not holding its charge......and shutdown would happen.........do it do it when connected to the mains adapter......

[Neil]

Try starting up your computer in safe-mode and leaving it. Does the problem still remain? Even if your fans are in place and moving, if they are old they might not be as effective as they should be. Has this problem always happened? How long did the computer work fine?

[Flame]

Probably a worm or trojan hiding in your computer somewhere.....

[glb]Flame[/glb]

[JohnSocal]

Thanks for all the tips.  I tried them all, but finally paid some bucks and had a whiz come over.  Did a pretty exhaustive diagnostic.  Turns out that I have some bad memory and a faulty motherboard and/or a combo of the two.  Luckily I have warranty time left with Toshiba.