New computer shutting down

I bought a new laptop and I am unsure which way to go with my problem.

I bought it directly from Toshiba 12-29-10. I received it on 12-6-10. The first 3 weeks it shut down on me about once a week. I assumed it was software related and was trying to pay attention as to what was running when it happen. Mostly I was using MS word, Firefox and Windows media player. It only happen around 3 times and since it was so far between I didnt notice anything in particular.

After 3 weeks it shutdown approximately the 3rd time, and upon rebooting there was a ticking from where the hard drive is. After several unsuccessful attempts to boot to windows, I called Toshiba and they said it sounded like a hard drive failure. They said in 2 days I would get a box to return it in and in a week or two I would get it back. I told them I couldn't as I had school work and was graduating Jan 25th. I needed it now! They said I could take it to Best buy instead.

I took it to Best buy which is an hour away (but better than mailing it) and they were VERY busy!!! The tech guy smiled and said they were not... and he would take care of it. 30 mins later he had the drive swapped out!!!!! Amazing considering there was a huge line!!! He smiled the whole time and made a stressful day a bit better.

When I got home I used the recovery DVDs and restored it to the original state.

After all that, I am still having the same shut down problem but even worse. It might happen once a day, and it might happen 10 times a day!! Rrrrr... It has happen right after a fresh boot or 8 hours after booting. It happens using Firefox, chrome, or iexplorer. It has happen using MS Word or Excel. It has happen playing videos using windows media player or VLC. There is nothing in particular I am running to cause it.

What happens is the screen will "FREEZE", the Fan will come on HIGH like at boot, and run for 30 secs exactly (I timed it). and then the PC will just shut off???

I called Toshiba and they had me disable everything non Microsoft in MSCONFIG. It still crashed the next day. I called and they had me press F2 on reboot and restore hardware defaults and it still crashed the next day.

I called them back and they said they would send a box for me to ship it back. Again, I have school!!!! I WILL fail without a computer. I have waaaay to many reports and research to do without it. They said take it to best buy again. I was going to do that until it snowed a foot and shut everything down this past weekend. School has even been closed 3 days!! Sweet!! It has let me get caught up on a lot of work plus work on my resume.

I am unsure as what the best course of action is. I guess I could take it to best buy and hope they can fix it in a day or two??... Toshiba said if they cant find the problem they will mail it to Toshiba. If I wait until the 25 when I graduate then I still need it to look for jobs, tweak my resumes for each job etc... I cant do that in a hour at the library. Then my rent is up on the 13th of February and Ill be moving... What a mess!! Personally I wish they would just send me another new computer and let me send this one back. I apparently bought a POS with a faulty HD and who knows what other problems that's causing it to shut down. It came directly from Toshiba to??

Sorry so long but I didn't know any other way to explain this. With so much going on, being stressed with school, looking for a job, moving... and a new computer acting up.... I feel like exploding!!! Any advice on this matter besides spending more at a lawyer than the laptop cost and adding even more stress?

Specs:
Toshiba Satellite L650-BT2N23
Windows 7 (64)
i3 m370
4GB RAM

 

So sorry to hear of your dilemma. The timing couldn't be worse. I have to tell you that this sounds suspiciously like a hardware problem (power supply or overheating).

Are there any stores near you that rent out computers? Maybe you could rent one, copy over your documents, and give yours in for service (Just a shot in the dark).

 

Welcome to the forumSorry to hear about your problem I can imagine how much stress your under.

The problem you are describing does to me sound like and over clocking or overheating problem it may not be but it should be ruled out,when I overclock my I7 too far the screen locks up and CPU fan runs at 100%.Make sure you don't use the laptop on your lap first,put it on a flat hard surface such as a table as your leg can block the intake fans.

Go to control panel,system,advanced system settings,click the advanced tab,in startup and recovery click settings,uncheck the automatically restart box and choose small memory dump and apply,hopefully this will show a BSOD/write a memory dump which can be debugged.

http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?p=1418737#post1418737

If you can't get your head around debugging add the dump file to your next post and i or someone her will debug it.

Download and install a system temperature monitor to check your temperatures and fan speeds,I like sandra lite and/or speedfan,s

http://www.majorgeeks.com/SiSoftware_Sandra_Lite_d92.html

http://majorgeeks.com/SpeedFan_d337.html

Add your temps with your next post.

Next run a stress test to stress your CPU,while running the stress test monitor your temperatures with speedfan or sandra.

http://majorgeeks.com/Prime95_d4363.html

While running prime hit control,alt,delete start task manager,hit performance and make sure your CPU is at 100%,if it's unstable it will lock up after 10-20mins.

Unfortunately it doesn't sound like a software problem as you've wiped the computer but check event manager anyway,control panel,admin tools,expand custom views/admin events and check for any errors or serious events near the times of the crashes,do the same with applications and service logs/hardware and any serious events with your next post.

For general diagnostics its best to remove one stick of memory if your have two,you may want to remove one stick and use the computer to see if there is any improvement,then repeat with the other stick,also run mem test to test the stability of your memory.

http://majorgeeks.com/MemTest_d350.html

Sandra lite also has many diagnostic functions that are useful,each module of your computer can be stress tested for stability,start sandra/tools,burn in,you can then select the modules you would like to stress test and the number of times you wish to run the tests if you would like to use it,just a FYI.

To fully test the stability of the hard drive the best tool to use is the diagnostic tool from the manufacturer,as the computer is booting hit del or F2 browse the menus until your find the name of your drive alternatively open your hard drive cover and read the label on the HD this usually won't void your warranty but make sure you don't break any warranty stickers,you shouldn't as best buy has already removed the cover.

Go to the manufacturers website and download the diagnostic tools,run the tools and add the results to your next post.

Finding the exact cause of as stability problem can be a long frustrating process,the much more attractive avenue would be to ask for your money to be refunded and return the product,unfortunately I'm in the UK so I can't advise you on the law in your state,try investigating if best buy can refund your money,also forcefully ask toshiba for a full refund if your haven't already.

Good luck and be sure to post if your stuck

EDIT I've added quite a bit of info to try and cover all bases so try not to let it overwhelm you,stick to diagnosing one area and try to rule it out then move on

 

When the computer shut down did the PC just go black, or did you get the standard Windows Shutting Down message?

 

I have a 2TB external I have been putting all my files on. I lost quite a few photos when my other drive died. I dont want to loose anything else.

I'm running diagnostics while I eat breakfast.

Nope, no shutdown message. It freezes... fan spins at high speed 30 secs... then its completely off... If I am using MS Word, it doesn't even save it. I thought that was odd. It freezes so quick word cant save it?

 

I ran the memory test for almost 24 hours and nothing happen. It didn't even shut down and there were no errors. I went to the control panel and set it to do the memory dump and put the file on my desktop. It finally crashed again tonight but it didn't write a dump file. I googled it and it look likes a memory dump is not turned on by default, even if I set it to do so in the control panel?? One page said go here to enable it:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Error Reporting\LocalDumps key

They never say how to turn it on? Any suggestions?

I monitored the temps with (speedfan) during the memory test. There were core 0,1,2,3,4. When I was running the memory test all the numbers were up around 53 to59. They run 35 to 50 most of the time.

 

Have you followed this,uncheck automatically restart,select small memory dump then APPLY?

I'm not sure what you mean by set it to put the file on your desktop,the files will be written to C:windows/minidump,this are the only modifications you need to make to get it to write a dump file.

Your temperatures seem fine hopefully that's ruled out,your memory seems to be ruled out,your need to monitor the temperatures on your cores while running the cpu stress test,either prime 95 or one from sandra's burn in.

 

Yes I "uncheck automatically restart". Directly below it, there is a box that says mini dump directory. You can put what ever directory you want in there. I read somewhere that it had to be on you main drive C:. I set it as the desktop so when it crashed and I rebooted it would be right there. Its not? I searched the entire computer. No such file was found.

 

If a memory dump is not being written it would point to a serious none software problem.

Have downloaded and run the hard drive diagnostic program from your manufacturer,can you post the test you ran and the results?

Have you tried running the computer in safe mode to see if it hard locks?

 

It was shutting down before with the other hard drive just not as bad. This is a new hard drive so that shouldn't be the problem. No I haven't ran it in safe mode. That a bit hard to do seeing that it locks up randomly. Its ran almost 24 hours now with no problems. I need full functioning right now.

I called Toshiba again tonight… Called customer relations and they sent me to another department called “Toshiba direct”. I talk to them. I requested a new computer because the one I bought I have been dealing with tech support back and forth for a month and getting nowhere. I told him that, the laptop does not meet the warranty standards “free from defects”. I said that they broke the warranty by not sending me what I bought. He said that I only had 15 days to return it. That I should NOT have dealt with technical support but should have called him instead. He said Toshiba tech support is not the same people as “Toshiba direct”. What? I said I bought it from Toshiba. I went to the same website I bought it from and called there support number on the page I log into to see my laptop warranty. He said it’s still not the same people. He also said that by Best Buy changing the hard drive it rendered it unable to be taken back anyway. I told him Toshiba Customer relations told me to do that because they are an authorized Toshiba service center. He said still, Toshiba customer relations is not the same entity as Toshiba. So, let me get this straight. I bought my laptop from Toshiba, but the numbers on Toshiba's web page, where I bought it go to another Toshiba that I should not talk to… So I can’t call Toshiba tech support or customer service on the Toshiba site I purchased the laptop. Then who can I CALL? He said me. But how the hell do I find you? Toshiba Customer support sent me to him when I was getting hot with them saying they had voided their own warranty by sending me a lemon. Round and round in a vicious circle…. Toshiba SUCKS!!! Basically I spent all that money for a POS!!! Rrrrrr… At least now I can spend the next 50 years steering people clear of them. They will lose way more money by ripping me off in the long run. Jerks! Ohh I get to call Toshiba Customer relations tomorrow and tell them Toshiba Direct told me I shouldn't talk to them that they messed me up. What a crock. I guess I should by a decent name brand next time that has better service like... ohhh that doesn't exist unless I go to law school!

 

Ahhh and check this out. This is Toshiba direct where I bought the blasted thing. See the numbers listed. He told me I cant call them. There not really Toshiba direct??? I can only call his number that is actually not even listed. You have to get it from one of these numbers. And you have to pull teeth and kick and cream to get them to transfer you. Sounds like a lawsuit waiting to happen.

http://www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c/contactus.to

 

Thought I would try once more since I cooled down. Maybe I would get someone better to talk to. This time the girl explained how there all different divisions within Toshiba and it was a bit confusing. She said to take it to Best buy once more to show I was trying again on my side. She said if that doesn't work then call Customer relations yet again. She said they will make it right. I'll wait until after graduation next week. We have test up until the day before! Then Ill take it to Best Buy and go home and catch up on some sleep for a few days.