Trying to reformat XP - computer keeps shutting down on me

I got a virus about a week ago (http://www.GeekPolice.net/virus-spyware-malware-removal-f11/dr-guard-and-other-stuff-t20112.htm)

I moved everything (data) over to an external hard drive so am ready to reformat the computer.

Just to be sure I'm doing it right...

I have my OS CD and I boot up to the CD just fine

select "Erase the hard disk" (as opposed to the other selection, "Recovery of Factory Default Software)

Select "Delete all data and partitions from the hard disk (as opposed to "delete all partitions and overwrite all sectors on the hard disk")

And then click next and it starts up deleting the hard disk.

About 10 minutes into it, my computer just shuts off. My laptop has a background of doing that when the fan starts getting crazy and hot...but it doesn't sound like it is "working" all that hard at all right now. Maybe it doesn't want me to reformat it??

Help!

Jackie

can anyone help me with this? My husband and kids are not too happy having to share a computer with me

Bump again...I even started to take apart my laptop but freaked out a bit and quickly put it all back together

not sure, i woulda selected the "Recovery of Factory Default Software" it would make pc brand new again

if its still an option then maybe try doing that

I did and it still shuts down 10 minutes into it. I'm taking it to the geek squad today. Maybe I'll just give in and get a whole new hard drive.

ltlfroggie wrote:

I did and it still shuts down 10 minutes into it. I'm taking it to the geek squad today. Maybe I'll just give in and get a whole new hard drive.

yap. sounds like a hardware problem to me.

Appears to be power failure or improper cooling on CPU, RAM, and VRAM. They will probably tell you that.

Most sudden power outages are due to failing power units, (which are cheap to replace), or overheating.

Getting a new hard drive, without checking out the issue first with a tech guru, might be a little hasty. Get it tested first. After all, your hard drive could be functioning well.

Get any funny sounds or smells from the inside of the computer?

nope - no funny sounds or smells...it has done this for quite a while (a year plus...) If I'm doing something that "works" the computer too hard (i.e. Farmville on Facebook, haha!) then it would just shut down. I even bought one of those laptop coolers and I think that just made it worse as the one I got is a USB powered and that just makes the computer work even harder it seems to keep that running.

Totally unrelated - but my clock has never worked...it never stays synced. Weird.

You would probably need to try some cooling methods. Seems like overheating.

But, if it is a laptop, have a tech operate on it. Laptop fixing is very tedious.