Vista - Instant Search

I wanted to search my computer for a file so I went to the instant search box in the bottom left hand corner, typed in the file name and then hit the search icon. Lo and behold my monitor screen went blank and my computer shout down and would not restart . I had to unplug the power, remove the battery and memory, disconnect the the hard drive then reconnect everything to get it to start again. So I tried my instant search again and the exact same thing happen all over. Has this happen to anyone else?

Thats weird. Any error messages or BSOD's? You may have bad memory/Windows corruption.

try this:
http://www.eset.com/onlinescan/ (If you have IE8 online scanner wont work- try: http://www.free-av.com/)
Memory Diagnostics Tool
System Files - SFC Command
How To Make Vista more responsive and faster (disk check)

As rive0108 said, there's the possibility that it's a BSoD, and I'd also advise you to try the scans he listed.

If the machine behaved normally subsequent to the event, in the sense that it powered up as normal, I'd guess you were experiencing a BSoD. However, that reluctance to power up again almost certainly involves a hardware layer issue.

Does that laptop have a functioning firewire (1394) port, and do you have another box also with a firewire port within a cable's distance? If so, there's a way to have the other box control this one to the point where you'll know conclusively whether the shutdown is caused by software or hardware.

One thing, turn it back on, and see if the fan is running. Does it get excessively hot?

Do you use a chiller pad on the notebook?

The computer is a desktop not a laptop. There are no error message and no BSoD.

Thanks for the suggestions. I will try them all.

When You say battery then you mean the CMOS? (looks like a watch battery)
The CMOS is what stores the settings for your computer.

You might have a faulty PSU then

Signs of a faulty PSU or Memory issue-
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_are_f...y_power_supply

1) The power reading (battery monitor) changes frequently/fluctuates
2) The computer shuts down through loss of power when it seems to be on full power
3) the power cable is damaged, very old or has been faulty in the past


It takes some experience to know when this type of failure is power related and not caused by the memory. One clue is the repeatability of the problem. If the parity check message (or other problem) appears frequently and identifies the same memory location each time, I would suspect that defective memory is the problem. However, if the problem seems random, or if the memory location the error message cites as having failed seems random, I would suspect improper power as the culprit. The following is a list of PC problems that often are related to the power supply:

• Any power-on or system startup failures or lockups.
• Spontaneous rebooting or intermittent lockups during normal operation.
• Intermittent parity check or other memory-type errors.
• Hard disk and fan simultaneously failing to spin (no +12v).
• Overheating due to fan failure.
• Small brownouts cause the system to reset.
• Electric shocks felt on the system case or connectors.
• Slight static discharges disrupt system operation.

In fact, just about any intermittent system problem can be caused by the power supply. I always suspect the supply when flaky system operation is a symptom. Of course, the following fairly obvious symptoms point right to the power supply as a possible cause:

• System is completely dead (no fan, no cursor)
• Smoke
• Blown circuit breakers