Spontaneous Computer Shutdowns

Yesterday, I started encountering a major problem. My computer is now spontaneously Bluescreening and shutting down. I'm running diagnostic tests on the machine, but it's pretty new, so I don't know what the problem could be.

Just so you guys are aware, I have not yet actually witnessed a crash. It seems to always happen when I'm not on the machine, or when it is asleep.

Spontaneous, eh? That probably means that you're having overheating and you need to install a better fan(or if you're adventurous, liquid cooling). If it's not that, then it's probably a driver issue.

I highly doubt it. If it was overheating, there would almost certainly be physical damage to the hardware, and that would have showed up in the diagnostics.

I was personally concerned that it might be a problem with the system registry.

Generally computers have a failsafe to prevent hardware damage from overheating by shutting the box down suddenly before it gets to the point where it actually starts to physically damage your machine. Try checking your fan and making sure it's operating properly, or if you have a desktop, perhaps open the case entirely while running it to see if that stops the issue.

The advantage of overheating is that it's fairly simple to test if that's the issue, unlike many other issues that can cause such a thing.

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/windows7/ht/automatic-restart-windows-7.htm

Do this, find out the textual error code (ITS_ALWAYS_DISPLAYED_IN_CRUISE_CONTROL_FOR_COOL).

In the control panel on Win 7 > "System and Security" > Administrative Tools > "View Event Logs". It should hopefully have the error recorded in there somewhere.

I checked that, and I discovered a lot of "critical" errors of Type 159. I looked that up online, and Error 159 seems to be associated with hardware miscommunication. What's more, I seem to have pinpointed the issue, because other people on the Internet with Error 159 are complaining of identical symptoms--random crashes during Power Save mode.

As such, I have both disconnected my scanner (which never quite got along with my computer) and am in the process of updating my driver software. Any other suggestions?

I'd avoid doing too many things at once so you can narrow down the problem to just one thing. Try that and see if it fixes it. If it doesn't, THEN try another solution.