[shurleex3]

Okay, so this is about to be a long, long description of the problem I have so don't mind the length. =x. So I purchased this computer about 6 months ago, and it was working fine then. It was a HP Pavillion computer with 500 GB and 2GB RAM (or was it memory?) I can't really list the specifics right now since I'm on a school computer and can't really see my home computer. I can edit that part in later. =).
Recently, my computer started acting up and it keeps shutting itself down on numerous occasions. I would be playing games and it would suddenly turn off. I can be listening to music or just be on the internet, and again, it turns off. It even turned off when I was transferring files to a flashdrive. I'm getting really frustrated because the computer isn't really even that old and my old computer (which my sister now has) is still working well. Also, I'm not sure if this is important, but sometimes, before my computer shuts off, it makes this really loud, twirling noise that comes from the actual hard drive, or whatever the actual computer is called.
I got tired of the random shut downs and thought that I could fix it with system recovery and reset everything on my computer back to factory settings while erasing all my files. My computer managed to accomplish that, but when it was in the process of re-install windows (Vista doesn't need a disc, it has an internal program inside) it turned off! So I restarted my computer and when it went to the start-up page, an error occurred and said that since my computer had shut down during the middle of the re-installation, I had to restart my computer, which I did, by pressing ->(ok). That isn't the worse part, when I restarted it, it went back to the same window and said that I needed to restart my computer and to press (ok) again. I tried running system recovery again, and that worked, but my computer... shutted down again during the middle of the installation process and this keeps happening. RAWRS, I don't know what to do... so any suggestions anyone? =[

I'll be back in a few hours to see if there are any replies. Thanks for reading =P & help mehs pl0x.

[awdark]

I think you should contact HP... http://welcome.hp.com/country/us/en/support.html
You might want to write down the numbers and just talk to them.

I suspect overheating, or a bad power supply. Have you done any upgrades or cleaning? Either way, you should call them and see if you can get replacement parts.

[d_w31]

Wow that sounds like a difficult problem...when I saw that you had an HP Pavilion I thought I knew what was wrong because I had a similar problem (not nearly as serious) though.

Here is what I did to fix my problem (keeps restarting itself): unplug anything plugged into your computer by USB (not including mouse and keyboard) and see if the problem is still there. In my case it was my wireless internet adapter that was causing the problem, once I unplugged it, the random restart/shutdowns stopped.

Sorry if this is completely unrelated to your problem but I thought you might give it a shot as it is not nearly as hard as restoring the system.

[achu]

like awdark said, i suspect it be your powersupply being a problem.

since your thing is kinda really messed up. probably bring it to a computer shop and tell them to fix it up for you....since your comp restarted while installing an OS.
do mention that you suspect overheating and a faulty powersupply...they'll check that out and simply replace it for you.