Help ASAP

My laptop just started to randomly shut down.

As of 4:40 PM central time, I was playing AC when I heard a beep and the computer just shut down. As soon as that happened, I panicked. I tried to turn it back on...nothing. I unplugged EVERYTHING and waited for it to cool down. After awhile I turned it back on and it SEEMED to be working just fine. But once it began windows start up, it shut right back down. So, I let it be for a bit, unplugged everything again and proceeded to get my Dell desktop back online and running. After all that, I went back to my laptop to see if it would work. I soon plugged everything back in and it once again seemed to work, but instead of giving me options of starting windows in safe mode and such, it gave me two options. The first was recommended and it was to run Startup Repair and the second to start windows normally. So I ran the repair. It then told me the first time that it could not find the problem. AKA: it didn't work. Not sure of what to do next, I just shut down the computer and let it rest for a moment before turning it back on.

After that, it worked just fine. But after less than 5 minutes, it just shut off and I had to repeat the same steps, but this time, Startup Repair seemed to work this time because it wanted me to restart my computer. So, I hit restart instead of shutting the computer completely down. After I restarted it, it began to work just fine. Immediately, I went to Norton to see if I could update it but I don't have the money to do so. I let my mom know about the sudden shut down and I'm sure she'll look at it later. But after I couldn't get Norton updated, I went right to the start menu to update the computer, which is hasn't been able to take since my battery turned into crap (about 6 months ago). It is currently stuck on the screen where the little circle is spinning beside the words "Shutting Down..."

I don't know what's going on and I'd rather not get a new laptop. I want to say this laptop of about 2 years old. Sorry, Seath, I thought it was more new.

It's a Toshiba Satellite. If that helps any. The current windows version is Windows Vista. Seath said it could be hard drive failure but he's not sure. I don't know what else do to. I'm almost ready to try to save up and get a new laptop. Which sucks because I am nowhere in financial gain right now with bills and payments.

Any help would be GREATLY appreciated!!!

UPDATE: It finally shut down but I don't know if it's because of the random shut downs or if it really did shut down. I'm just going to leave it alone for a bit and then try it again.

i know the problem:

You have norton installed.

KristallNacht wrote:i know the problem:

i'm a real dumbass that can't help anyone.

I knew that...

Anyways...I got my computer up and running. I figured out that my mom's Toshiba does the same thing when it gets over heated. I guess that's what happened with mine because it's working just fine now.

KristallNacht wrote:i know the problem:

You have norton installed.

We need a like button

JumpingJet wrote:

KristallNacht wrote:i know the problem:

You have norton installed.

We need a like button

Fuck you...sonic fag...

Maeve wrote:

JumpingJet wrote:

KristallNacht wrote:i know the problem:

You have norton installed.

We need a like button

Fuck you...sonic fag...

Norton is pretty bad. Get AVG or Avira (both have good free versions).

Elabajaba wrote:

Maeve wrote:

JumpingJet wrote:

KristallNacht wrote:i know the problem:

You have norton installed.

We need a like button

Fuck you...sonic fag...

Norton is pretty bad. Get AVG or Avira (both have good free versions).

Fuck you, it's what I've got. I can't just tell my mom that some snotty teenage know-it-all says to get AVG or Avira. Fuck that. I have what I have. I was only asking for goddamn help and I getting fucking lip!

JESUS MOTHERFUCKING CHRIST!

You people can't help me because you don't know what the fuck is wrong with my computer! The only one that seemed to care was Seath!

lol sorry to point out that you asked for our help, and we are providing it. Norton is not great, probably less than decent. There are a bunch of other free ones that are far better. As for me, I use spydoctor.

Anyway, the problem is it probably overheated. I suggest cleaning around and inside the pc every once in awhile to make sure there is no lint or dust build up around the fan.

so here is what you do. Remove norton, get something better. Clean it. and try not downloading so much pr0n.

i didn't know you could take apart a laptop 0.o as for how to fix it i have no idea sorry

GreyApothecary wrote:i didn't know you could take apart a laptop 0.o as for how to fix it i have no idea sorry

Sure you can. It's just a bitch to put back together if you don't know how.

Downloadthis, install it, then run it and tell us what temperature it says when the computer shuts off (its gonna be a pain to keep checking it, but this will tell us whether or not its a heat issue.
Download and install this (theres a link to a x64 bit version there as well, pick that if you have an x64 operating system (if you have 4+gb of ram, then that usually means you have an x64 bit operating system) as well to help test stability (run it, and start a test, will put a lot of load on your cpu and ram, if one of the tests fails(there'll be a couple, one for each cpu thread), then it's a stability issue probably caused by heat (you won't be able to do anything really when running prime95, but open realtemp up and check how hot it gets, should run prime95 for about an hour or so, if the computer shuts down while running this, it means the same as if one of the tests stops, its a stability issue).