Lenovo Keeps rebooting for no reason.

Question

Product: 3000 N200 0769-ALU [change] Operating system: Windows Vista [change]Original description: Celeron M 530(1.73GHz), 512MB RAM, 80GB 5400rpm HD, 15.4in 1280x800 LCD, Intel X3100, CDRW/DVD, 802.11bg wireless, Modem, 10/100 Ethernet, Touchpad, Secure chip, 6c Li-Ion, WinVista Home Basic
That's the specs on the machine.
Long story short, I am a Network Admin redoing a laptop for a friend of mine. She brought it to me, it had a definate failed hard drive. I wasn't even able to get her data off of it, putting it into desktop as a slave etc. Just physical HD failure. Ordered her up a new HD, got her the Lenovo recovery CD's $51 (of course she didn't make a set when she had the laptop) Reinstall went perfect. No issues, unless it sits in Vista Home for like 5 minutes, the machine then reboots, then I get no OS found. Power it down, power it back up, goes right into Vista just to do the same thing again.
I almost want to think it's a bad driver, but the fact that when it power cycles like that and doesnt see an OS, then I power it off and back on and it boots fine to repeat this crap all over again, makes me think a bit differentely. I've updated the BIOS to the latest and greatest as well.
Any suggestions? I've since redone the laptop with the recovery software after GDISKing and doing a DOD wipe of the HD, just to make sure it wasn't that.

Answer 1

Downloaded HWMonitor, 120° is the highest it has gotten, or at least what it is reporting. Although there is no dust or debris in the fan, the fan is not running.
AC or Battery power same result. I understand a laptop overheating, and rebooting. I got an Alienware that is notorious for it, but it should shut down completely, no? Not try and reboot? Also when rebooting lets say it rebooted when it overheated, it should see a boot partition after that automatic reboot. I have to fully shutdown, and turn back on to even get the OS to try and reload, which it does. Can anyone confirm Lenovo's procedure for an over-heating laptop and the actions it should take, and what temperature makes it shutdown/restart?
This girl is strapped for cash (College Student) and although it does look like she needs a fan replacement (unless IBM fans only turn on at a specific temperature) I'm just wondering at this point when it restarts instead of shuts down if the board in the past has been damaged due to over-heating issues, along with the machine not seeing the boot partition after a speculated overheating issue that may be happening when the fan doesnt power on.