computer whizzes? come hear my problem! pc shutting itself off in safe mode.

[chainsawbrewing]

i did a reformat on my laptop like about 6 months ago, haven't really used it much, got it out today, it's working just fine, no issues at all. then i remembered, hey, i used to have a bunch of stuff on here before i formatted, so i went to my computer/c/documents and settings/ and found my old loging folder titled "brian". and i tried to open it, and got access denied. well i'm not completely computer illiterate, i remembered that i could log into safe mode, and change the ownership of the folder, and get all my stuff back.

so i reboot the computer, and go into safe mode, and then go to my computer/c/documents and settings/ and right click on my folder, go to change the ownership, (the folder has around 20 or so gig worth of stuff if that matters) and it starts doing it's thing where it's got the little window showing it scanning all the files, and then POOF, pc just shuts down. doesn't reboot or anything, just shuts off.

so i turned it back on, and went back into safe mode, and same thing again. then i turned it back on, went back into safe mode, and it shut itself off before i even got a chance to right click on the folder.

under normal mode, the computer works just fine. doesn't shut itself off, no issues at all. in safe mode only, it just keeps shutting itself off.

weird.

i don't get it.

it's a hp pavillion dv2000 laptop running xp

any ideas? why would it be doing that? is there another way to get to my files?

thanks

brian

 

[Blender]

Are you not logged in as an Adminstrator when in normal mode? Administrator rights should grant you access to any file in the machine. Sometimes when you reload windows the My Document Folders gets overwritten. If you formatted all should be gone.

 

[DavidSteel]

type, "control userpasswords2" in run and click reset password and change it if you don't remember your old password. Then log in as admin and see what happens.

 

[jarrman00]

How hot is the laptop when its shutting down? Sometimes these laptops overheat and shutdown. I sounds like its parsing many small files and using a lot of IO on the board, which can generate a ton of heat. If this is your problem, prop it up and let some air go through the intake fans.

Good Luck.

 

[bulletproof4age]

How hot is the laptop when its shutting down? Sometimes these laptops overheat and shutdown. I sounds like its parsing many small files and using a lot of IO on the board, which can generate a ton of heat. If this is your problem, prop it up and let some air go through the intake fans.

Good Luck.

A little off topic, but laptops should always be propped up, or at least on a hard surface. Can't tell you how many I've replaced because people left them on the carpet, or bed etc.

Anyway, if you have another computer I'd just pull the drive out and slave it with a USB drive caddie. Pull the data off and be done with screwing around with file permissions.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812232002

 

[middleofnowhere]

I would say it is one of two things, both driver issues.

1) The basic safe mode driver for fan control is not sufficient to cool the laptop.
or
2) The safe mode hard drive controller driver is causing the issue.

 

[JoeMama]

HEAT HEAT and HEAT

Make sure that your fans are turning and adequately cooling the CPU. You might even want to go so far as to get a 'chill pad' this will help greatly.

If you can, take the casing off and blow out the heatsink unit and its fins (as well as the fan) Another thing if you are technically able to do such - is to reapply some thermal compound to the heatsink/cpu. I have seen countless computers (especially laptops) that have a half assed layer of thermal compound between the heatsink and cpu. Remedy this, clean the fan and the fins and no more issues.

Good luck!
-Me

 

[Edcculus]

Anyway, if you have another computer I'd just pull the drive out and slave it with a USB drive caddie. Pull the data off and be done with screwing around with file permissions.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812232002

Thats what I would suggest. They are great for scanning hard drives that are riddled with viruses too. I've saved a few hard drives here at work with one of those.

 

[mordantly]

yeah, well if you used encryption on any file, and reset the user password, and do not have a backup on outside media of the encryption key, those file(s) are history.

only times winders will reboot is on a corrupt/hung driver. due to heat, or mechanical failure.

 

[JVD_X]

Heat. Blow off the heat dissipation fins if you have them. Otherwise, if the laptop has any kind of active cooling, look to clean the vents.

 

[malkore]

could be the heat, or the power supply unit. i just had to swap out an ATX power supply in my wife's machine. it would simply turn off randomly, usually when playing a facebook game written in Flash that bogs down any machine you play it on.

new PSU, no shutdowns.

Oh, and you can go into your machine and change the way 'critical failures' are handled. many machines now are set to turn off or just reboot, instead of showing you teh blue screen of death and waiting for you to input what you want.

to check that, right click on My Computer, properties, then the Advanced tab. at the bottom under startup and recovery click Settings. under system failure, uncheck 'restart system automatically'.

it might not help THIS issue, but it won't hurt it either and will help you catch other issues.

 

[Homercidal]

I would guess heat or driver issue. Hard to imagine safe mode would not work for driver issue, but no never know.

Also, there has been a huge problem with capacitors over the past like 10 years. Possibility that a cap or two has gone bad. I've even seen it some newer machines (less than 3 years old) and most recently on a 2 yo LCD monitor.

 

[JoeMama]

Another thing you *may* want to try, is load up a Linux live distro CD. See if your computer will boot up with that. You should be able to traverse your file directory.

Also - do a search for Hirens Boot CD Tools. This all in one CD has every tool imaginable to man that can help you diagnose your problem. (Hardware or software related)
Good luck!
-Me