MacBook Pro only stays on for less than a minute This morning when I woke up my computer it turned off itself. Now it won't stay on for more than a couple minutes. The computer will boot up normally, but soon it turns off again. When it turns off, I hear a tiny clunk that I think is the hard drive, but I'm not entirely sure.

What can I do to troubleshoot the problem myself?

This is about a MacBook Pro 13" Early 2011.
It could be something as simple as you power button is stuck, forcing it to shut down.

If you hold the power button for 10 seconds it will forcefully shut down the computer.

In that case it will make the tiny clunk noise, which is normal due to HD been turned off and the HD reader head dropping. Do not do this to often, since you might damage it.

The stuck power button happens to computers on the back seat of the car exposed to food and other stuff.

If the hard drive is dead, you will see a gray screen, and that bad hard drive would not turn off the computer.