T40 randomly shuts off... HELP!

[MortusMox]

Hello,

For the past week or so, my T40 has been randomly shutting off for no apparently reasons. If anyone has any suggestions as to why this might be, I would be glad to hear from you.

Here's what I've tried so far:

1) To eliminate the "virus" theory, I restored it to its factory contents. When I did so, I installed SP2. During this installation, it shut off. Upon reboot, SP2 uninstalled itself. I then re-installed it. So now I'm running Windows XP Pro SP2. The machine was always offline.

2) Step 2 - Update drivers. I used the ThinkPad Active Update tool (I'm not sure what it's called exactly) to download the latest drivers for the various parts. I also ran the PC-Doctor utility test and nothing came up.

3) Theories

-I had read somewhere that a faulty power supply could cause this. So I tried running the computer on batter for a while and eventually, it did shut off while I was viewing a video.
-Given the above, I tried removing the battery and running from power supply. Same thing as above.
-Given that it shuts off usually while I watch a movie, I tried using the video card adapter heavily by plugging in S-Video and playing games. The result was somewhat random. On some days, it works fine for a long time. On others, it shuts off as soon as I plug in the S-Video cable.

4) Observations
-I had the fan recently fixed and it seems to be running smoothly. I notice that the air coming out from the side is cooler than before. The laptop doesn't seem to be heating up at all (which is surprising for me).
-When the computer shuts off, it doesn't do so immediately. There a second or two when the computer just freezes and then dies. Sometimes, the computer shows the "Z" icon (power supply plugged in) before dying when it really isn't plugged in.

-IMPORTANT: On two occasions, the computer went to HIBERNATION mode instead of shutting off!

5) PC-DOCTOR: I ran the PC Doctor diagnostics utility and everything came out as PASSED. (I was thinking that maybe I had a faulty HD).

I'm open to any ideas you might have!

Thanks in advance,

MortusMox.

[gunston]

did you change a new HD recently?

[MortusMox]

Hello gunston,

No, the hard drive is the same as always.

I did however run a full HDD diagnostics test, sector by sector, and no errors were found.

[nelson_vladimir]

I had this problem before, T40 randomly shut off when move "very" slightly.

They finally determined that it is hardware problem, and changed the motherboard for me. This is like 5 months ago.

[Any now, my machine freeze when moved, see my other post *shrug*]

So my suggestion, and really the only option you have, provided if the problem is the same as that i had before, is to contact IBM, and ask them nicely to pick up your machine, and let them do the rest.

Hope you still have your warranty.

[Bgradid]

I had a similar problem except with freezing when I nudged it... oddly enough after doing it 10+ times in one day it solved itself the day after I contacted IBM tech support and I havent seen the problem since.

[MortusMox]

Thank you nelson_vladimir and Bgradid,

I hope that your laptops become or stay fully operational soon.

Seems like the best way to do this will be via IBM's support.

My warranty ran out a week ago but I purchased an extended warranty right before... I'm just waiting for it in the mail. (Apparently, I can't buy the warranty from IBM, I have to go through a retailer, at least in France. And then, IBM is supposed to send me a letter with codes or something that I have to activate online... Isn't that odd? I would think IBM/Lenovo could sell it directly. Oh well...)

Anyways... I guess I have to wait a bit before I can call them up.

Mine also tends to shut off when I move it from one place to another; but it's not doing this consistently. It's not doing anything consistently actually!

Is it still OK to use the laptop until it shuts off?

Thank you for the feedback!