The laptop is about 1.6 years of age. I bought it in June 2009.

Again, don't want to alarm you, but I had 3 straight laptops that died right at that point, after a year and a half.

2 were Toshibas, and 1 was a compaq (presario, HP). In one case, about 4 months went by from initial symptom to crash....in the other two, it was a few weeks.

In all 3 cases, I used my laptop HEAVILY. Maybe others can jump in with other suggestions/thoughts....but at the very least, make sure you have all your stuff backed up!