Unexpected log off and restart of Windows XP on DEll Inspirion 2600 1

[ruiz0195]

Okay here is the problem my Dell Inspirion 2600 laptop shuts down on its own and brings me back to the log on screen. I have checked the event viewer to see if anything was wrong with the system but could not find anything that was wrong. I checked the Device Manager to see if there were any errors with any of the hardware on the machine could not find anything there.
Could it possibly be a problem with Windows XP causing the system to shutdown by itself or should I try looking some where else?

 

[mainegeek]

ruiz0195,
The random shut down may be due to a heat issue. With the laptop turned off and using a can of air, try blowing out the fans and vents to remove any dust that may have built up on the fan/heatsink. You may also have a failing hard drive. Also, maybe try running in safe mode for a while and see what happens.

 

[ruiz0195]

mainegeek thanks for the advice.
Right now I am running the laptop in safe mode.
I have been running the laptop for a half hour with no problem occuring.
I am giving it more time before I say that everything is okay.
Now I am thinking that the problem is with windows when I am running in normal mode.
I am thinking that the problem is with Windows do you confer with that or do you have other ideas as to why the laptop just shuts down on its own?

 

[mainegeek]

Try by putting a load on the cpu while in safemode. Maybe running defrag will put enough of a load on the cpu to push it.

Does the restart happen at the same point each time or is it random? If it happens at the same point each time then I would suspect software related...maybe OS or device driver. If it is random then maybe heat or hardware.