Laptop is randomly shutting off

Laptop is randomly shutting off I have seen the same question posted on this site. I am at my wits end. My laptop will only stay on when I place it laying on the back of the screen with the key board straight up--weird?
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Guest [Entry]

"I have seen the same problem in an HP 17"" workstation (2.93 GHz Lynnfield processor) and an Acer Aspire 4730Z 14"" laptop. I get a non-specific power failure error log message (possibly a thermal shutdown?) and it usually occurs with multithreaded makes. I can avoid the problem by exposing the bottom of the laptop to a window unit air conditioner.

I have no fix for the HP, but the Acer problem went away with the latest (1.22A) version of the BIOS. A multithreaded make on the Acer that took almost exactly 10 minutes on the 1.15 version of the BIOS now takes between 12 and 13 minutes, but never seems to fail any more. I think the new BIOS may be enabling memory throttling (since the hot spots on the bottom of the laptop are where the hard drive and the memory are located).

Good luck!"