Laptop shuts down during virus scan

I've been having issues with my Toshiba laptop. I bought it about 3 years ago. It shuts off without warning when I try to do a virus scan. Also when I've tried to down load an antivirus program off of the net.
I erased the crappy AVG antivirus program and got a copy of Norton 2003. I downloaded the updates without a problem. But it shuts down about 8-10 minutes into the scan. The scans that I have done have not found anything. I've manually scanned some folders and have found nothing. The power cord is plugged in while I'm doing this. Since it shuts down without warning could it be a harware issue? Any help is appreciated.

Check your power saving settings, try disabling them while you do a scan, also close any other program that may be running in the background

PS. AVG is not crap

Run the scan in safemode. To get into safe mode, tap the F8 a split second before the Windows logo appears. Choose "Safe mode" from the menu.

Also keep in mind, there could be other factors here than viruses. Failing hardware or screwed up software for example.

You may already have a virus on your computer that is causing it to shut down.

It has been my experience that if you already have a virus on yoru computer you are probably not goin to be able to fully run the NAV 2003.

Does your computer shutdown while your doing anything else ?

It shut down when I was trying to download a free anti virus program (a german one,forgot name). But then I tried downloading a different one (AVG), and that downloaded succesfully.
AVG gave a pop up saying it found a trojan horse, but when I tried to run the scan to find it, the scan never found it. I thought that was odd.
But it never happens when I'm just surfing online. So far just downloading and scanning for viruses.

I changed the power settings (it refered me to the Toshiba settings/version of power options), but it shut down.
I tried scanning in safe mode, but it shut down.
I tried shutting it off and pulling the battery to completley remove power. This did not work either.
The electro tech in me wonders if a power supply failure would cause an abrupt, no warning shut down. Any more thoughts out there? Thanks for the help so far, please keep it coming!

I also own a Toshiba laptop (Satellite) and it is doing the exact same thing as yours. Except mine also does it when playing games online. It drives me crazy! I have only been able to do a full system scan one time in the past month because of it! I hope someone can find answers because I have not been able to find anything out through the microsoft.com nor Norton's website. Just know that you are not alone!

I just recently discovered the problem behind a Toshiba Satellite. And apparently, it is a very common problem spanning several different models of high-end Pentium III laptops.

Go to Toshiba and try the latest BIOS update.

It seems the BIOS misreports the CPU temperature being too high and Windows XP shuts it off during heavy activity. Most noticable during games, virus scans... etc..

You may also experience random shut downs. The laptop I worked with would shut down EVERY time I did a virus scan with Norton 2002, 2003 or 2004... But there were no detected viruses. The laptop would run fine otherwise, only shutting down while doing a lot of work and being left on for a long time. It would not shut down in DOS or from a Linux boot disk... Only in Windows XP.

Thanks Rick! I tried this and everytime it would get to the 6th block...it would shut down. GRRRR! I even waited to do it once until first thing in the morning, after the computer had been off all night so I knew it wasn't too hot. Hopefully we get something figured out! Thank you again!

Shut downs

The only thing I found so far was that the Ad-aware scanner seemed to allow me to do a full Norton scan.
I updated the Ad-aware scanner, it found some stuff, and then the Norton scan was able to complete,(though it found nothing, I'm guessing Ad-aware found it).
But it (once again) shut down once last week so I'll try the Bios fix.
Will that work on a rig with a Celeron processor?

on bios

tried the bios update. no such luck

I have exactly the same problem as described in this review... My laptop shuts down every time I run a Anti-virus scan, whatever the on-disk or on-line Anti-virus used (Norton, Antivir, and other ones I forgot the name...). The shut down happened also as I was trying to covert a CD to mp3. This morning I was able to run a quasi complete scan and I found a virus, but I don't think it was a very dangerous one.

My laptop is an ACER 1604, running with XP!! I bought it about 7 months ago, and this problem appeared for the first time last week. The problem does not seem to happen when I run the laptop with my linux REDHAT9 partition, but I'll have some more trials with it.

When I read the messages in this review and other similar ones, it appears indeed that there seem to be a problem with XP. I did the latest update yesterday and the problem is not fixed!

By the way! If the problem is due to a bad estimation of the temperature by XP, does anyone have an idea why the problem appears for the first time several months after its purchase?

Thanks...
Cheers

Neuro

Some news concerning the spontaneous shut down of laptops...

This problem appears to be very common for Acer laptops. I realized that a lot of people encouter this problem and in most cases, the origin has been found. It appears that the accumulation of dust on the CPU prevents the cooling system to work efficiently. As a consequence, the security system shuts the computer down to avoid damages. Several guys found huge dust quantities within their computer. Such dust layers are able to insulate the CPU, and cause its temperature to increase dramatically...

In my case, my Acer Aspire 1604 used to shut down during the excution of processes requiring the CPU to run intensively (anti-virus scans, mp3 conversion...), or after a long time working. I realized indeed that the cooling fan was doing a lot of noise, since several weeks/months. So, I took my vaccum cleaner and I aspired during several minutes in front of all ventilation grids. Since then, anti-virus scans work completely and the cooling fan is running much less intensively. A better solution should be to open the laptop to remove dust more efficiently...

I hope this will be helpful.
Cheers,

Neuro

Virus shut down on scan

I too am having the same problem. I have a Dell inspiron 2650 and Norton Anti-Virus 2003. Every time I get about 10 minutes into the scan my computer just shuts off. No warning no error message no noting. It also happened while trying to install Microsoft Picture it from the CD. I chose the option to intall custom programs. I installed Microsoft Word and that went fine. Then I tried to install picture it and it would ask for disk 2. I put disk 2 in it would start to read and copy then Boom shuts off. Any one having any luck figuring out what is causing this?

asus laptop shuts own

Hello,

I've got the same problem with my Asus L3500H laptop. It shuts down after a while even when I insert the XP-cd to re-install XP.(WinXP partition is already deleted). It happens always after the hardware detection. I also have Red Hat 9 on the same disk, but then it doesn't shut down.

Matti

Same problem NOT A LATOP

I have this same problem, it has happened over the last 2 days.

I have been trying to run norton 2003, spyware, adware etc etc but all seem to shut down/restart my computer system.

I have tried serval removal tools for virus and I seem to get loads of pops all of a sudden.

Can anyone help me please?

I have also posted this problem and some reports from Hijackthis onto a different forum they can be viewed at

http://www.techsupportforums.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=93731

Please I need some help URGENTLY.

Kind regards Lisa UK

I too have the same problem with my Compaq Presario 2700

I added Nortons 2005, adaware which has found malware, adware. Norton's found and deleted 1 virus (can't remember the name) but my computer fans and hard drive fans seem to be always going, and during all the scans it shuts down.

With adaware, after it finds maybe 5 I stop it and delete the ones it find and then do a new scan. If I don't it shuts down.

Laptops are notorious for heat problems. You might try jerry-rigging a cooler, or buying a laptop cooler. I halved my CPU temp. with it in some cases. They sell for pretty cheap and they work well. Check out Antec's especially.

Just a quick note to mention that I have had this exact problem for the past 3 months. I have not been able to do a full virus scan with nortons antivirus 2004 without my toshiba satellite shutting down about 5-9 minutes into the scan. It would also shut down if I left it on to long. I have no idea why. Thought it was a virus, but couldn't run the scan so I couldn't find out.

Adaware found nothing. spyware blaster found nothing so I tried to do an online scan with different virus scanners but same thing. It would shut down part way into the scan.

I have resolved the problem!!!! Taking advice from another poster on this board, I decided to vacuum the intake vent above my cpu. It was very dirty. I had noted my fan running a lot harder and when I read that post I figured why not try it.

It worked. As soon as I turned my computer back on, it ran so much quieter and my virus scan just completed a full scan since 8/10/04.

Thanks!!!!