It's happened again.

[mike11111]

Just like last night my laptop (Compaq, OS Vista) decided to shut down of its own accord. On the first attempt at restarting I got the message 'resuming windows' followed by another immediate shutdown. At the second attempt I got a screen saying 'hibernating' which did not go any further. After 15 minutes I powered down and restarted, this time being able to log on successfully. I have run Malwarebytes (no nasties) and CCleaner, but things are still very slow. This has never happened before; any idea as to what has caused this and what I need to do?

[nightmare]

my daughter's laptop does exactly the same thing fairly frequently.
What an abomination of an OS Vista is...........

[mike11111]

Thanks, it's just that I have been using it for 20 months with very little trouble. Do you recommend a new OS, if so, which? I never had any problems with Windows 2000.

[AlBags]

XP or 7 .. nothing else.

Download HijackThis .. 'Do A System Scan Only' and 'save a logfile' ONLY.
Check the results (processes) first of all for 'NO file' entries ..
That will tell you what exactly is running. Check 04 .. 16 ... 23 entries.
Look for anything suspicious .. Search each one in Google if necessary.
If you full scan .. switch OFF System Restore FIRST!

[mike11111]

It happened again last night and I could not log back on. Seems OK this morning though. I have just noticed that I can no longer hear the fan so I presume it's not working and the left hand side of the computer gets quite hot. Could overheating be the cause of it shutting itself down? If so, is it repairable and would it be expensive?

[bibblebub]

try using a vacuum cleaner to remove dust that may be clogging up the fan and its vents - it can make a real difference

[mike11111]

Thanks, I'll give it a go, but I am very nervous about trying to open the back in case I cause further damage.

[bibblebub]

It's fine with a laptop but, of course, one doesn't remove the cover for that. So probably best not to use something as unwieldy as a hoover if you're going anywhere near the innards.

[mike11111]

OK, I'll try it just on the vents. Thanks.