Laptops shuts down

Just recently my Toshiba laptop has been shutting down. I havent been here to see what it does before it shuts down. It sits on a wood tv table. Can anyone tell me if there are some things I can check to see where my trouble is ?

Thanks

 

When a computer (especially a laptop) starts shutting down randomly, my brain immediately thinks OVERHEATING!

Computers usually start overheating if the dust is not properly cleaned out of the heatsink fins, where the air comes out

I would first check for overheating by booting into the bios (usually by pressing F2 or F10 or Delete immediately when booting). Look for a "Health Status" or something similar. If there is nothing in the bios like that, then boot into windows and install speedfan http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php

Anything over 65c is not good, anything over 75c i consider DANGEROUS, and the computer should be shut down immediately.


It could be a number of other things, but I can't make any other determinations with the information given.

 

Thanks for the reply Andrew.

I couldnt find what you were talking about in the boot up so I installed speedfan.
There are 2 readings I am getting in the "readings" window.
First one reads

Core 0:74c

Then there is one below it that reads

Core 1:76c
I can hear the cooling fan running in my laptop.

Can I take a can of air and spray the fins under the laptop ? Will that help ?

Thanks
Les

 

It's Alex
Turn off your computer, 76c is bad!

Take canned air and spray out the dust then try again.

 

Where do I spray the air ? Would it help if I got a cooling pad for the laptop?

 

Spray it in the fan intake on the bottom of the laptop.
Yes it would help, but you still need to address the main problem.