Windows 7 Multiple crashes related to Windows7 shut down and sleep.. URGENT

[Joey Wong]

The story goes like this:
My laptop lost power and died - but I had not shut it down properly for 2 or more weeks.
This has happened before so I thought it would be OK.

I restarted the computer, everything worked fine EXCEPT when I put it to sleep again it crashed/hung with the screen all black. I could hear the fan going into overdrive but nothing was happening and the hard disk indicator light was constantly lit. I waited a while but as it was late I had to hold the power button to force turn it off again.

The next day, I turned on my computer, but this time it hung as it was starting up. When it was loading the startup programs the same thing happened - the screen froze, no buttons were responsive, the fan went into overdrive and I couldn't do anything.

First, I cleaned my registry using Ccleaner. Tried to sleep: same problem.
Second, I updated my Windows7 to SP1. Still same problem.
Third, out of desperation (projects due) I reformatted my C drive (kept the D where most of my files were - but still backed them up). STILL NO FIX

Fourth, I went to microsoft, downloaded a hotfix for this from You cannot make a computer that is running Windows 7 shut down or sleep
Updated fine, STILL NO FIX.

I am at odds at what is going on... should I be fixing drive as well?
I have read that maybe a drive defrag will do the trick... please help!!!

NB. the computer runs fine if it doesnt crash on startup but may/may not crash when shutting down/sleeping later. Also, there is no BSOD
This uncertainty is killing me and I fear for my saved work on my computer (not easy to backup every few hours)

I run a Toshiba Qosmio F60
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i3 CPU M 330 @ 2.13GHz, 2133 Mhz, 2 Core(s), 4 Logical Processor(s)
BIOS Version/Date TOSHIBA Version 1.70, 14/01/2010

 

[Medico]

This almost sounds as though it is a hardware failure on your laptop. How did it loose power? Was the battery installed when it lost power? Have you tried to remove the battery and see if the laptop will power correctly while plugged in?

I would prpare for a hardware failure. Create an Image of your HD. I would include both the OS partition and the data partition. I do this regularly on my laptops. In fact I recreate Images whenever my OS partition is changed, i.e. updates, new or removed apps, etc. I also back my data up separately. I use an ext USB HD to store my Images.

You could try to go to Toshiba and see if there might be a Bios flash update. If the laptop is still under warranty you might want to have it checked where you bought it. I would also install a temp monitoring app. (Speccy, Speedfan, HWMonitor) to name a few possibilities.