Question : Problem: Note book turns of on its own

I have a laptop that for some reason turn of on its own.  suddenly I am working on something and it just turns off.  It seems to do it in particular when graphics are involved such as when playing dvd's or games, but I think I have seen it do it other times.  I have tried to reformat the hard disk several times, and it doesnt seem to be a software thing as I have the same settings and using the same programs before but before it did not do it.  It seems to do it in particular when it it plugged in to the mains, and it has in fact never done it when on battery power.  I have a feeling it may have something to do with over heating as the laptop does it in particular when it gets really hot.  and using it near the window in a cold room, seems to prevent it from happening or it takes longer to happen.  I have returned it to the manufactures four times and they say there is no fault, yet it still does it, which is quite frustrating.  Could it be a faulty power supply that somehow heats up the machine too much causing it to turn off by its own and what way could I prove that this is the case.  or is it some other problem it could be.  My operating system is windows 2000 if that helps.

Answer : Problem: Note book turns of on its own

Your symptoms seem to indicate a heat-related shutdown. Sudden shut-off is often the only way a machine can protect itself from permanent damage.

This machine looks to be very new. The maker's site is www.clevo.com.tw, and they do have some details about the machine there.

This page details how you can monitor your machine temperature with free downloads:
http://jamie.typepad.com/ontheverge/2004/01/monitor_your_cp.html

PCWorld has one:
http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file_description/0,fid,7309,00.asp

Play a DVD in a warm room in a window so you can watch your temperature. If the machine shuts down at a certain temperature, then you know your laptop is not handling power well.