Toshiba Satellite s533-s7812 shuts down within 30 seconds

[densolis]

HI,

I have a Toshiba Satellite s533-7812 laptop running Windows 7 Home Premium 32 bit. The POST completes successfully. When I boot it, it starts the to boot, but then shuts down and / or reboots about 30 seconds into the boot. It is hard to say if it is powering off and then re-booting or just re-booting.

I have tried the following, and none of them worked:
1. Removed the battery and just using the power supply. I have also tried a different power supply.

2. I have run Memtest386 and it has run for an hour or two and found no memory errors. I have also replace the memory and still have the same problem.

3. I removed the hard drive from the computer and loaded it into another Toshiba Satellite laptop. I then re-install Windows 7 32 bit home premium on the drive. This installation uses a "Standard VGA driver". I put that clean install back in the machine with a problem and it still reboots about 30 seconds into the boot.

What puzzles me is I can run mem386 and Hitachi disk diag and the machine will not shut down. The air coming out of the cpu is very hot though. But as soon as I try to boot into Windows, the system shuts down / reboots.

I have removed the top of the laptop, and move the keyboard to the side. I can see the fan is running.

Any suggestions?

 

[boosted1g]

Why did you install windows from a different computer instead of that computer, unless the toshiba laptops are EXACTLY the same it will not work to install it from a different computer.

 

[densolis]

The purposed of install windows on the hard drive was to prove to myself that the hard drive was working fine.

This is was done after I tried to install XP on the bad machine and the install stated it could not find a hard drive and after the Windows 7 installed failed with a Stop code of 7b.

And actually, the other computer was the same model. My friend has two - one for her and one for her hubby. The husband's machine is bad.

 

[densolis]

After I changed the BIOS SATA setting from AHCI to Compatible, I installed Windows XP on the bad Toshiba laptop. The install worked fine (40 minutes) until the "Help Protect your PC" screen appeared.

This window asks if you want to Help protect my PC by turning on automatic update now or Not Right Now.

At that point, multiple horizontal lines appeared on the screen (kind of line scratches on movie film - except horizontal) and the machine froze up. The mouse would not move and the keyboard would not work.

So at this point, I believe that hard drive controller is working (at least for XP) and the hard drive is working.

I will try to re-install Windows 7 now.

 

[lukectn]

You said very hot air was coming out of the laptop, so it may be an overheating problem. Is your CPU soldered onto the motherboard, or just mounted? If its just mounted, you can remove the fan, heatsink, and CPU, and use a rag to clean off the thermal compound, and get reapply some different thermal compound (If you don't have any on you, you can get some here http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103027 its only 6 bucks) then reattach everything. That might help, if your CPU is mounted. But if your CPU is soldered you could always try a laptop cooling pad to help cool it down. Hope I could help!

 

[densolis]

I thought a first that maybe it was a heating problem. But I don't think so any more.

1. I vacuumed the dirt off the CPU fan. Also used compressed air to blow air through the vents.
2. The computer is on a laptop cooling pad and the head coming out is much cooler. Prior to that, I just had it on the bench.
3. I ran the Hitachi disk diagnostics. They take about 30 to 40 minutes to run.
4. Then I tried to install Win 7 Home Prem 32-bit and it restarts after the W7 logo part fly in, form the flag, and the flag glows about 4 times and then re-boots.
5. I then did a complete install of XP - which took about 40 minutes. Did not re-boot.
6. I restarted XP with the install disk in repair mode and ran fixmbr. The message state the boot record was in a non-standard format and asked me if I want to reset it. I had fixmbr re-write the master boot record, which it did.
6. Once XP was installed (done just to prove the base machine is working), I tried to re-install Win 7 and it crapped our at the same place.
7. I then tried to install Vista Business, and it also re-boots after the first blue background screen is displayed (which is after the window logo and progress bar have completed).

So the reason I do not think it is heat is I can run Disk Diag for 30 minutes and then do an XP install for another 30 to 40 minutes and it runs fine. However, within minutes of doing a Vista or W7 install, both re-boot. Also, after the failed installs attempts, I can still re-boot into XP and it runs fine.

Update; I left XP running and went to dinner. When I came back, the XP desk top has many lines running horizontally across the screen. There are so many lines, the screen is unreadable.

Could it be the video board that is messed up or do you still think it is heat. Unfortunately to get to the CPU and heat sync, I have to take everything apart. It is definetly not as easy as replacing the heat sync on a desk top.

 

[lukectn]

I thought a first that maybe it was a heating problem. But I don't think so any more.

1. I vacuumed the dirt off the CPU fan. Also used compressed air to blow air through the vents.
2. The computer is on a laptop cooling pad and the head coming out is much cooler. Prior to that, I just had it on the bench.
3. I ran the Hitachi disk diagnostics. They take about 30 to 40 minutes to run.
4. Then I tried to install Win 7 Home Prem 32-bit and it restarts after the W7 logo part fly in, form the flag, and the flag glows about 4 times and then re-boots.
5. I then did a complete install of XP - which took about 40 minutes. Did not re-boot.
6. I restarted XP with the install disk in repair mode and ran fixmbr. The message state the boot record was in a non-standard format and asked me if I want to reset it. I had fixmbr re-write the master boot record, which it did.
6. Once XP was installed (done just to prove the base machine is working), I tried to re-install Win 7 and it crapped our at the same place.
7. I then tried to install Vista Business, and it also re-boots after the first blue background screen is displayed (which is after the window logo and progress bar have completed).

So the reason I do not think it is heat is I can run Disk Diag for 30 minutes and then do an XP install for another 30 to 40 minutes and it runs fine. However, within minutes of doing a Vista or W7 install, both re-boot. Also, after the failed installs attempts, I can still re-boot into XP and it runs fine.

Update; I left XP running and went to dinner. When I came back, the XP desk top has many lines running horizontally across the screen. There are so many lines, the screen is unreadable.

Could it be the video board that is messed up or do you still think it is heat. Unfortunately to get to the CPU and heat sync, I have to take everything apart. It is definetly not as easy as replacing the heat sync on a desk top.

Ok, so it cannot be a heating problem. Do you mind posting your specs? Are they and/or the laptop new or fairly old? These problems may indicate that your computer is reaching the end of its life.

 

[densolis]

I am thinking it is a mother board issue. What specs do you need and what tool would you like me to use to obtain the specs.

 

[lukectn]

You should be able to find your specs in the Control Panel and then to System. You should see Processor, Installed memory (RAM), and I think it should have your Graphics Card, but I don't know because I have integrated graphics. Also, how long have you had the laptop?

 

[boosted1g]

If you have another computer you can download it from, try making a linux boot disk and boot to that.

If that fails then it is RAM, motherboard, cpu/heat related.

 

[densolis]

The linux boot disk failed. I am pretty sure it is a video issue on the mother board as as I have replaced the ram and have the disk diags and mem386 run just fine. I'll salvage parts and take to recycle place.

Thank you all for your help.

Dennis

 

[boosted1g]

mobo failurs on laptops suck becaue the replacement cost is usually more then the value of the laptop, sorry it was not something easily fixable.

 

[densolis]

I agree. It is only a pentium 4 with 3 gb. My friend just uses if for Facebook and e-mail. So W7 was working fine for her needs. It was about $125 to replace the mobo. If we watch the sales, I can be a new / refurbished laptop with much more processing power for around 300. Granted, won't be a very strong laptop, but it will be much better than the P4 they have now.

Thanks again.

 

[jungleexplorer]

I have had two Toshiba Laptops do the same thing and in each case it was a bad mobo. Sorry!

 

[densolis]

Have two Toshiba Laptops do the same thing and in each case it was a bad mobo. Sorry!

Ah yes - portable Speky - forgot about that. I will add it to my tool kit now. Thanks.