hey about a month ago i did a complete hdd wipe and installed win7 and mint8 parts. ever since this time i have had windows randomly shutting down on me. (all lights go off including charger & battery lights), also after these shut down i will not be able to start windows for quite a while as it will blue screen when i start windows normally and also start up repair will ether blue screen, say i cannot fix the problem or say it has fixed it when it hasn't. i will eventually be able to start it after a few hours and numerous tries. the min8 part will also undergo random shut downs, however i do not get any of the start up problems.
I have had suggestions that i could be bad sections on the hdd or ram, or overheating (though most of the time it would have no reason to over heat when it shuts down).
any ideas on what it could be, or how to check if its any of the problems above would be greatly appreciated. also just ask for any info that would be helpful.

Cheers jesse.

ps. i have also tried going back to winXP but that would not install at all, would just blue screen on set up. and i have previously had vista and mint 7 running on it for a while without any problems at all

Hi -

The #1 leading cause for PCs just "randomly turning themselves off" (or "randomly rebooting") is heat.

I'd strongly encourage you to open the case, "blow out" any accumulated dust, and make sure all the fans are in good working order.

It's entirely possible that changing the software was just coincidental.

Good luck .. PSM

thanks for the quick reply.
its a laptop im using so u dont have to much option in the way of cooling it. but will clean it out and see what i can do to improve it. might also look at programs that monitor and control fan speeds, assuming there are such program