Can a software install power down notebook?

[Stutz]

My daughter isn't using her laptop over spring break, so I thought I'd do some maintaince. The machine responds sluggishly: a two-year old AMD 1200 HP Pavillion. I started by running AdAware 6.0 and about 2/3rds of the way through the scan the machine shut off. It's on AC power. I restarted the machine and checked Windows updates (running Win XP Pro). I downloaded SP-1 and began installing it. Halfway through the laptop turned off. Did not reboot. Turned off.
When I looked at the task manager there were 34 processes running, and I suspect that one or more of them may be malicious.
From the description, do you all think this is a hardware or software related problem?

Thanks for your insights!

 

[Abhi]

Restart in Safe Mode.. .and try running adaware again, along with Spybot, S&D.

 

[ShellGuy]

Also look out for MSblast if she hasn't been patched that may be the prob. Does she have up2date AV?? If not go here for an online virus scan. You don't have to use ur real email address I normaly use 1@aol.com.

Will

 

[Stutz]

Thanks for the tips, guys!

Best,

Stutz

 

[Stutz]

Hi, all.
Tried running AdAware and Search & Destroy in safe mode. The scan proceeded part-way then the computer turned off. I tried the Panda Software scan from normal Windows and the same thing happened.
Do I need to reformat and reinstall Windows?

Best,

Dave D.

 

[ForceCalibur]

Reinstall. Sounds like theres alot of junk on it. Backup her important stuff and go for it. Usually, this kinda thing happens to computer illiterate people. You have no idea how many of my friends ask me over to "fix" their comps because they've been downloading countless numbers of spyware, trojans, and a few viruses.

 

[jschuk]

If software is shutting it down then you should see the laptop go through a shutdown process. If it is shutting down all of a sudden, then it may be due to overheating. Use compressed air and blow out the fans. Check HP's site for BIOS updates.

 

[MDE]

Isn't that thing from the era of bad capacitors? I don't know if that problem affected notebooks, but it's a possibility.

 

[jschuk]

I have yet to see a laptop with those types of capacitors. It would have be based on a desktop CPU, but even most of those I would imagine use different capacitors because again, I haven't seen any. I saw a compaq once that had miniature versions of the desktop capacitors, but those were in great shape.

 

[Stutz]

I've been trying different AVS to see what happens. I can reliably turn off the system by scanning the Windows folder. None of the other folders produce this result. We recently had the laptop motherboard replaced by HP because of a faulty rear power connector, so I believe that the innards are clean, which is to say that heat build up is probably not the cause of the shut down.

Again, Thanks for all of your comments!

Best,

Dave D.