Laptop Randomly Turns Off

My Compaq CQ60 215-DX randomly turns off. By "turn off" I mean completely turn off as if it has no power, not shut down. This has happened to me in Windows Vista, Vista safe mode, Windows 7, 7 safe mode, during installation of Windows 7, and even in Ubuntu while booting from a USB drive. The failure in safe mode and during OS installation leads me to believe that it's not a driver issue. I've also completely wiped my hard drive while installing windows 7 so it can't be a virus. I ran memtest86+ for 7 passes with no error. I also removed my hard drive, hooked it up to another computer, and ran a SeaGate diagnostics tool which initially gave me some LBA errors, but eventually repaired all of them. This is not an overheating issue because it sometimes turns off within minutes or even seconds during bootup. I do have problems with my power supply and battery. However, my power supply maintains a constant charge if held in a certain position and this shouldn't be an issue. Some of you are probably thinking that I should try a new power supply and battery, but I don't want to spend any money on this laptop if it no longer works. Plus the the power supply gives a constant charge when held in position so this shouldn't be an issue, right?

Here are the specs (I've added an extra GB of RAM):

Microprocessor 2.00 GHz AMD Athlon X2 QL-62 Dual-Core Processor
Microprocessor Cache 1MB L2 Cache
Memory 2048MB
Memory Max 4096MB
Video Graphics NVIDIA GeForce 8200M
Video Memory Up to 895MB
Hard Drive 250GB (5400RPM)
Multimedia Drive SuperMulti 8X DVD±R/RW with Double Layer Support
Display 15.6" Diagonal High Definition HP BrightView Display (1366x768)
Fax/Modem High speed 56k modem
Network Card Integrated 10/100 Ethernet LAN
Wireless Connectivity

802.11b/g WLAN




Can someone please point me in the right direction??

BTW, I recently cleaned any dust inside the laptop and fan, and I also replaced the heat sink a few months ago.

Here are the results of the SeaTools diagnostic test for my hard drive:

Long Generic - Started 2/19/2012 1:16:52 PM
Bad LBA: 35624993 Repaired
Bad LBA: 35624994 Repaired
Bad LBA: 46504744 Repaired
Bad LBA: 305240162 Repaired
Bad LBA: 305240163 Repaired
Bad LBA: 305240169 Repaired
Bad LBA: 305240170 Repaired
Bad LBA: 305240177 Repaired
Bad LBA: 305240184 Repaired
Bad LBA: 305240191 Repaired
Bad LBA: 305240198 Repaired
Bad LBA: 305240319 Repaired
Bad LBA: 305240444 Repaired
Bad LBA: 305240451 Repaired
Bad LBA: 305240458 Repaired
Bad LBA: 305240459 Repaired
Bad LBA: 305240466 Repaired
Bad LBA: 305240473 Repaired
Bad LBA: 305240480 Repaired
Bad LBA: 305240481 Repaired
Bad LBA: 305240487 Repaired
Bad LBA: 305240488 Repaired
Bad LBA: 305240729 Repaired
Bad LBA: 307622498 Repaired
Bad LBA: 307623161 Repaired
Bad LBA: 319857377 Repaired
Bad LBA: 319857384 Repaired
Bad LBA: 319857390 Repaired
Long Generic - Pass 2/19/2012 2:47:56 PM

Replace your hard drive.

Why? It says everything was repaired.



Seeing this thread leads me to believe its a GPU failure: http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/topic443080.html

LBA referes to your hard drive, and your hard drive can cause issues like random restarts and weird BSOD's.

Hi

I'm not sure what you mean by this...

I do have problems with my power supply and battery. However, my power supply maintains a constant charge if held in a certain position and this shouldn't be an issue. Some of you are probably thinking that I should try a new power supply and battery, but I don't want to spend any money on this laptop if it no longer works. Plus the the power supply gives a constant charge when held in position so this shouldn't be an issue, right?

Does it do the mysterious shut down when you are running it from a fully charged battery with the AC adapter disconnected from the laptop?

James

LBA referes to your hard drive, and your hard drive can cause issues like random restarts and weird BSOD's.

I understand that, but the diagnostic tool states that errors were repaired and test was passed. Is there any reason to believe that these errors were not repaired and are in fact the cause?

Hi

I'm not sure what you mean by this...

I do have problems with my power supply and battery. However, my power supply maintains a constant charge if held in a certain position and this shouldn't be an issue. Some of you are probably thinking that I should try a new power supply and battery, but I don't want to spend any money on this laptop if it no longer works. Plus the the power supply gives a constant charge when held in position so this shouldn't be an issue, right?

Does it do the mysterious shut down when you are running it from a fully charged battery with the AC adapter disconnected from the laptop?

James

My battery no longer holds a charge. It makes no difference whether or not the battery is inserted, I still get the same problem.

LBA referes to your hard drive, and your hard drive can cause issues like random restarts and weird BSOD's.

I understand that, but the diagnostic tool states that errors were repaired and test was passed. Is there any reason to believe that these errors were not repaired and are in fact the cause?

Those errors indicate that the hard drive is in the pre-stages of dying.

Hi

I'm not sure what you mean by this...

I do have problems with my power supply and battery. However, my power supply maintains a constant charge if held in a certain position and this shouldn't be an issue. Some of you are probably thinking that I should try a new power supply and battery, but I don't want to spend any money on this laptop if it no longer works. Plus the the power supply gives a constant charge when held in position so this shouldn't be an issue, right?

Does it do the mysterious shut down when you are running it from a fully charged battery with the AC adapter disconnected from the laptop?

James

My battery no longer holds a charge. It makes no difference whether or not the battery is inserted, I still get the same problem.

Time to buy a new battery.

I might be misunderstanding you. Do you always have to carefully hold your power supply plug in a certain position?


James

I might be misunderstanding you. Do you always have to carefully hold your power supply plug in a certain position?


James

No, it's not that bad that I constantly have to hold it. I just have it tucked under the laptop and it holds a charge that way.




CryptoDan, considering this new information I have regarding failed NVIDIA GPUs, would you suggest any other diagnostic testing? I only spent $400 for the laptop in 2009 so I need to definitively diagnose the issue before I can consider spending $100+ for hard drive, battery, and charger.

If you had a failed GPU then your PC wouldnt be usable at all you would be unable to view anything.

I put another hard drive in my laptop and it still turned off. Even with all hard drives completely removed, I tried to boot Ubuntu from a USB drive and I still got the same problem.

Regardless of the condition of my hard drive, this issue is clearly being caused by something else. Any suggestions for further troubleshooting? I tried to run a CPU diagnostic utility with UBCD and it gives me a kernel error.


Can anyone help me?

What did the kernel error say?