[randomonium]

My laptop, which is a Toshiba Satellite A60, likes to shut down at random times. Sometimes it will shut down after 5 minutes, sometimes it will shut down after an hour. It doesn't matter what I'm doing, whether I'm running programs, or leaving it alone while I do something else. I thought I had the problem figured out last night, when I changed the hibernation settings so it wouldn't hibernate at all, and after I did that it seemed fine for about 45 minutes, but then it shut down. The computer originally came with XP home edition, but my dad installed linux (or linspire, I'm not sure if that's even an os, but that's what the background says) and he said it worked fine for awhile, but it's shutting down again. I sent in the computer once, and toshiba replaced the cd drive (I'm not sure why, it seemed to work fine before), and my dad has replaced some things, although I'm not sure what. But I guess what I'm asking is, why does my laptop shut down at random times?

[Lone Stranger]

Does the computer do the proper shutdown that an operating system does when it's supposed to shut down or does the power suddenly go off? It would help to have that bit of info to help with the troubleshooting.

[TerryNet]

Some possibilities include overheating, memory fault, battery/power supply problem and a faulty circuit board.

For the first make sure the air vents are clean and that you don't block them and that you hear the fan running sometimes.

With Linux you may have a memory test option on your boot menu.

[namenotfound]

Toshiba laptops are known to fail. Everyone I know that has owned one, had it crash on them rather quickly. Even the salesman at my local BestBuy comments that they are known to crash a lot.

[randomonium]

Originally Posted by Lone Stranger

Does the computer do the proper shutdown that an operating system does when it's supposed to shut down or does the power suddenly go off? It would help to have that bit of info to help with the troubleshooting.

Sorry about that, I should've said something. Its kind of hard to explain, but theres this thing that looks kinda like this: [------------------287/369mb--- ]. And it says something above that, but I can't remember what. I know this probably doesnt help much. Next time it happens, I'll snap a picture of it and post it.

Originally Posted by TerryNet

Some possibilities include overheating, memory fault, battery/power supply problem and a faulty circuit board.

For the first make sure the air vents are clean and that you don't block them and that you hear the fan running sometimes.

I'm pretty sure my dad replaced the memory and the circuit board when he had the computer for awhile. The air vents are clean, and I always set it on a flat surface, I've even gone so far as to raise the back of it up so the air can flow better. The fan's always running, but sometimes it runs faster than normal.


And I know toshiba laptops are prone to failure, 2 of my friends both had toshiba laptops, and have had problems with them.