My computer randomly shuts down.

[Audrey]

My Toshisba Satellite laptop randomly shuts down while
running WindowsXP home version. I first noticed it when
I tried to run Norton antivirus and the computer couldn't
make it through the scan without shutting down. It has
also shut down recently while I was playing tetris for a
long time and also while I was playing a DVD. I called
Circuit City computer support and we checked a few things
and they said it is not a hardware problem. Sometimes
when I turn the computer back on it reboots correctly but
other times (more often than not) it doesn't make it
through the reboot without shutting down again. There
have been several error messages during the reboot
process but one I see most often is "cannot load
powerprof.dll. Any ideas on where to look to correct
this problem would be greatly appreciated.

[Brian Grant]

Suggest you run a virus scan if you can get the machine booted. Possibly
the
"Backdoor.Loxoscam" trojan.

http://www.norton.ch/avcenter/venc/data/backdoor.loxoscam.html

Audrey wrote:

> My Toshisba Satellite laptop randomly shuts down while
> running WindowsXP home version. I first noticed it when
> I tried to run Norton antivirus and the computer couldn't
> make it through the scan without shutting down. It has
> also shut down recently while I was playing tetris for a
> long time and also while I was playing a DVD. I called
> Circuit City computer support and we checked a few things
> and they said it is not a hardware problem. Sometimes
> when I turn the computer back on it reboots correctly but
> other times (more often than not) it doesn't make it
> through the reboot without shutting down again. There
> have been several error messages during the reboot
> process but one I see most often is "cannot load
> powerprof.dll. Any ideas on where to look to correct
> this problem would be greatly appreciated.

[Sharon F]

Ouch. Was about to reply this was a leftover from Win9x/ME (sometimes gets
left behind in MSCONFIG) and shouldn't be present in WinXP. Unless of course
you've run into this trojan. Good catch, Brian!

--
Sharon F
Microsoft MVP, Windows - Shell/User

Brian Grant wrote:
> Suggest you run a virus scan if you can get the machine booted. Possibly
> the
> "Backdoor.Loxoscam" trojan.
>
> http://www.norton.ch/avcenter/venc/data/backdoor.loxoscam.html
>
> Audrey wrote:
>
>> My Toshisba Satellite laptop randomly shuts down while
>> running WindowsXP home version. I first noticed it when
>> I tried to run Norton antivirus and the computer couldn't
>> make it through the scan without shutting down. It has
>> also shut down recently while I was playing tetris for a
>> long time and also while I was playing a DVD. I called
>> Circuit City computer support and we checked a few things
>> and they said it is not a hardware problem. Sometimes
>> when I turn the computer back on it reboots correctly but
>> other times (more often than not) it doesn't make it
>> through the reboot without shutting down again. There
>> have been several error messages during the reboot
>> process but one I see most often is "cannot load
>> powerprof.dll. Any ideas on where to look to correct
>> this problem would be greatly appreciated.