I am trying to figure out why my laptop shuts down abruptly when trying to load Windows XP. When booting, I can press F2 to go into the BIOS menu and leave the system on those screens without any problems. When I try to boot into Windows, the system shuts down after the Windows XP logo screen. On select occasions, it will allow me to get into Windows and then shut down. I had considered that this might be an overheating problems, as Toshibas are notorious for overheating, but I would think that it would overheat in the BIOS screen as well. On certain occasions, it will not even turn on so there's no consistency overall. This was a fresh install of Windows and I have downloaded and installed SP2 and a few other programs (Zonealarm, AVG, Adaware).

Maybe this is it. Using both BIOS-based power management and Windows-based power management rarely works. If you are using both, disable one or the other.
http://www.pcmech.com/show/bios/22/Curing Laptop Overheating
http://www.informationweek.com/stor...
Wish it was that simple. Already tried those features but to no avail. I think it only runs when the battery is fully charged and will not run off the ac adapter but I am not sure. Worked flawlessly last night so I will give it another shot.
