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Check out cnet.com for a review of your computer and the forum titled fatal shutdown/ overheating during use.

Good Luck

For less technical procedures to find out the cause, try:
1. Did you add a new program or new device to your laptop?
if yes, it may be conflicting with your drivers, video or motherboard.
if not, then
2. You may have a malware, virus - a program that is running an unnecessary process(es) that is(are) forcing your cpu to overwork.
if yes, press (ctrl, alt, delete) and see if you have any odd processes or use a spyware, antivirus.
if not, then
3. As previous post suggested - overheating- you may try air blowing the motherboard not just the fans and/or buy a cooling plate for your laptop. (BestBuy, etc.).

The evidence of sporadic shutdowns you described, points to - overheating.
Since, this is happening quite often, start backing up your important data.

 

Could be heat, could be spyware, could be a million other things.

Backup up your important data.  There is probably no quick fix for this.

The quickest thing to check is to remove the battery from the laptop and run on just A/C power.  One of my laptops had a battery that went bad and caused this behavior.  I just had to run it on A/C power.  Since it was not my main laptop, I never bought a new battery to see if it was battery specific.

The rest of these are time consuming, if you choose to attempt them.  If you have a backup computer, you should use that while working on the laptop.

To test the heat thing, boot the computer into safe mode.  For XP, push the [F8] key as the system begins to boot and the system should present a boot menu, select Safe Mode with Networking.  This just loads the bare software needed to boot Windows and enable networking.   This will also allow Internet access if you have an always-on connection.  Your printers and most new software will not run.  If it is a spyware/malware/virus problem, the computer will run fine.  If it is a heat problem, the computer will shut down like it does when you boot normally.  Obviously, this could take hours.

To test the spyware/malware/virus thing, go to http://housecall.trendmicro.com and use the free scanner.  Delete your temporary internet files before running the scan this will save having to scan hundreds, if not thousands, of files.  I have had this clean a computer when the installed virus product was compromised by malware.  This to can take most of an hour, depending on the number of files on your computer.

If it is a heat thing, try a cooling pad.  That is the only way I know to keep a laptop cool once the fans and vents are cleaned.

I have a laptop that started doing this and does it to this day.  It will always run 30 minutes; sometimes it will run hours.  It runs Win2000 and actually has a serial port, which has become a rarity these days.  I use it to configure routers and firewalls with a command line interface over the serial port.

Sometimes laptops only last one year.  It is my experience that I get about two years on average from a laptop, before it develops sporadic problems that make it undependable.  I've had others last longer.

Hope that helps and good luck.

Jeff

Thanks to all. I am trying the things you suggested. I also ordered a cooling pad for it. I have had several laptops that have run successfully for 5 years.

Tom, if overheating is the problem (Toshibas like mine are notorious in this regard), cleaning the fans is not enough, as much crud can build up on the processor's heat sink. It's most likely a heat problem if all of a sudden your laptop dies completely with no warning screens at all, while emitting a distinctive winding-down sound..

Windows Task Manager will show you what apps and processes are running at any given time. Check often to see what is consuming resources: You may be able to remove items from your start menu that are taking up CPU cycles unnecessarily (for instance, an anti-virus or spyware scanner, or Windows Explorer [not to be confused with Internet Explorer]). Task manager allows you to selectively terminate applications and processes. Mistakes can cause momentary terror, but are rectified automatically by restarting Windows. It is probably the norm to have 50-60 or more processes running at any given time. Make sure your hard disk drive is defragmented. In the event of a hard drive replacement or reformat, consider disk partitioning. I also often prop up the back of my laptop with a spectacles case for better airflow (usually making sure that I'm not actually covering one of the fans...LOL).

If your laptop does shut down without warning, and you suspect overheating, it's probably a very bad idea to attempt to recover right away, as the boot cycle and start menu heartily consume resources, resulting in an even heavier heat burden. Better to wait until everything cools way down. I have even placed my laptop upright in an opened-book configuration in front of a room fan directed at the computer's fan vents, in the hope of dissipating residual internal heat more quickly. Today's processors generate tremendous temperatures in the compact laptop environment and are capable of committing suicide (and / or frying other circuitry).

It's also a good idea to completely restart the computer from time to time. My laptop starts behaving strangely after a  few hours of continuous use. Long hibernation and standby modes can also provoke annoying output.

Finally, when you eventually restart the computer, even if everything seems copacetic, back up anything important on your computer that has been added or changed in the time between your unrequested shutdown and your last system restore point (in XP) . Then use System Restore to go back to a point before the suspected heat attack. This should, at least in theory, help keep the number of corrupt system files and registry entries to a minimum. (Sludge tends to accumulate, and the skills required to safely remove it are not in the average user's repertoire). Note: Many Windows applications (Oulook, for instance) save changes to your chosen restore point automatically.