Strange Laptop boot problem

[shriekz]

All,

I have a strange problem on my laptop. The configuration of the laptop is

Lenovo 3000 Y410
T5250 1.5 Ghz
2 GB RAM
Hitachi 160 GB HDD


Here is the problem:

Everytime i try to boot, after a certain period of time, the system completely powers off (no shutdown, no BSOD).

I suspected a faulty HDD, so i created a Bart PE boot disk and booted from that, it worked fine the first ever time. I could log in and actually see my files!!! From the next time onwards, everytime the XP splash screen came within 5 seconds, the system powered off again.

Since BartPE does not need a HDD, i removed the HDD and checked to see what happened and exact same result.

I check the RAM modules and they were inserted properly and seemed to have no issues.

What is frustrating me is that i was able to get in just once and post that it has always been powering off. Could it be a problem with the processor or any other component? I did clean the heat sink and ensured that dust was removed.

I am now lost as to where to look for next :-(

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

- shriekz

 

[Guest]

Is the power supply or battery causing the problem ?

 

[shriekz]

Is the power supply or battery causing the problem ?

Well, the battery is dead, so it is running on power. I doubt if that is causing the issue though since i am able to go into the bios and live there for a really long time without any issues at all.

 

[Guest]

Try removing one RAM module and see if that helps -- if not, replace that one and remove the second.

 

[shriekz]

Try removing one RAM module and see if that helps -- if not, replace that one and remove the second.

Thanks for the suggestion. I did that. It worked for the first time. I was able to get into BartPE with no problems. I shutdown and tried again and it failed. Even in the past occasionally it has worked, but 9 out of 10 times it does not work.

 

[shriekz]

still no luck....any hints/tips from anyone?

I removed the processor and re pasted the heat sink and ran the box, still it suddenly stops exactly when it around 5 seconds into the windows xp screen

 

[Guest]

You've tried starting Windows in Safe Mode (press F8 just before Windows tries to start) ?

 

[shriekz]

Sorry, for the late reply, was out of town...

No, this does not work either. I am not sure what would make a computer system suddenly shutdown when booting.
I am going to install linux and see what happens.

 

[Guest]

"I am going to install linux and see what happens."

My recommendation is to have a second hard drive handy for situations like this as you can then figure out what the problem is without necessarily trashing your existing install.