Chosen Solution
The HP Pavilion ze4420US laptop formerly had a problem turning it on, where you had to press the power switch many many times to start, but then it stayed on. Now it comes on with the first push, but goes off again at a random interval from a few seconds to 15 minutes. This happens even in BIOS setup, so it’s not the OS (Win2K). And it happens whether on battery or AC power, even with the battery out. I suspect the power switch itself. Anyone else see this?
Answering myself here. Took it to a local repair person, who ran a memory test from a bootable CD that revealed a RAM failure. Replaced memory stick, all is well. The BIOS mem test did not detect this problem. Thanks all!
It sounds as though you are having overheating issues. When the computer gets too hot, it will turn itself off to prevent frying important parts. The time it takes for the computer to reach the critical temperature can vary with a number of factors, which is why the computer will sometimes shut off right away, and sometimes will run for several minutes. One way to tell if you are having overheating issues is if the fan is running overtime. I’m not sure what to make of the past power switch issues. It is certainly possible (and probable) that these two issues are related. Possibly you could open up the laptop and check for loose connections. Best of luck.
