PC power shutting down randomly

[Jim]

I purchased a barebones system from portatech.com and received it
yesterday. When it arrived, I plugged it in to make sure it had power
and got the obvious beep errors for no video card/hard drive.
Everything seemed good so I went to turn it off, but it powered down
right before I pressed the power button. It was odd.. so, using all
standard static and safety precautions, I put in my video card to see
what was happening by looking at the BIOS PC Health and other system
settings. The computer powered down again right when I entered BIOS.
I unplugged the main power and let it sit for a bit. I thought maybe
the power supply was bad, the CPU settings were incorrect, causing it
to overheat.. a number of things could be the problem. I installed my
harddrive on the primary IDE - just to see if there was some setting I
didn't know about.. and things would be normal if a complete system
was there - no luck. The machine just powers down on it's own.

I have done minor trouble shooting to no avail. I have
unplugged/removed everything to see if I could pinpoint the issue.
No. I have the system sitting, no video card.. no IDEs.. tried
removing the ram and starting.. nothing. It powers down usually
within a few seconds, and sometimes it won't power on at all.

I figured it was the power supply.. it came with whatever crap they
stuff into these things. I went and got a namebrand 430W supply from
CompUSA. Same thing.. and that is where I'm at now. I am a student
and have spent money I don't have just getting this.. add $70 for the
power supply and I'm prety much hosed. I'd love to figure this out as
everything I've read regarding porttech.com (post purcashe, sadly) is
really bad - especially when dealing with returns. I talked with a few
tech guys out here and they are saying this is a tell-tale sign of
faulty hardware somewhere - most likely the MB or CPU. If anyone
knows otherwise or has dealt with something similar in the past..
please advise. I would greatly appreciate it.

Thank you in advance.

System Specs:
Intel P4 2.8GHz (800 FSB) 1MB Cache - Prescott CPU
MB: ASRock P4V88
RAM: Atlas Precision - 512MB PC3200 DDR
Power: 430W
Video: Radeon 9800

 

[Dave C.]

I purchased a barebones system from portatech.com and received it
yesterday. When it arrived, I plugged it in to make sure it had power
and got the obvious beep errors for no video card/hard drive.
Everything seemed good so I went to turn it off, but it powered down
right before I pressed the power button. It was odd.. so, using all
standard static and safety precautions, I put in my video card to see
what was happening by looking at the BIOS PC Health and other system
settings. The computer powered down again right when I entered BIOS.

Is your CPU fan plugged in? Is it running? -Dave

 

[Peter]

Is your CPU fan plugged in? Is it running? -Dave

Either that or they've put it on the wrong way round.

 

[pudj]

I purchased a barebones system from portatech.com and received it
yesterday. When it arrived, I plugged it in to make sure it had power
and got the obvious beep errors for no video card/hard drive.
Everything seemed good so I went to turn it off, but it powered down
right before I pressed the power button. It was odd.. so, using all
standard static and safety precautions, I put in my video card to see
what was happening by looking at the BIOS PC Health and other system
settings. The computer powered down again right when I entered BIOS.
I unplugged the main power and let it sit for a bit. I thought maybe
the power supply was bad, the CPU settings were incorrect, causing it
to overheat.. a number of things could be the problem. I installed my
harddrive on the primary IDE - just to see if there was some setting I
didn't know about.. and things would be normal if a complete system
was there - no luck. The machine just powers down on it's own.

I have done minor trouble shooting to no avail. I have
unplugged/removed everything to see if I could pinpoint the issue.
No. I have the system sitting, no video card.. no IDEs.. tried
removing the ram and starting.. nothing. It powers down usually
within a few seconds, and sometimes it won't power on at all.

I figured it was the power supply.. it came with whatever crap they
stuff into these things. I went and got a namebrand 430W supply from
CompUSA. Same thing.. and that is where I'm at now. I am a student
and have spent money I don't have just getting this.. add $70 for the
power supply and I'm prety much hosed. I'd love to figure this out as
everything I've read regarding porttech.com (post purcashe, sadly) is
really bad - especially when dealing with returns. I talked with a few
tech guys out here and they are saying this is a tell-tale sign of
faulty hardware somewhere - most likely the MB or CPU. If anyone
knows otherwise or has dealt with something similar in the past..
please advise. I would greatly appreciate it.

Thank you in advance.

System Specs:
Intel P4 2.8GHz (800 FSB) 1MB Cache - Prescott CPU
MB: ASRock P4V88
RAM: Atlas Precision - 512MB PC3200 DDR
Power: 430W
Video: Radeon 9800

set it up outside the case it may be shorting the board.

 

[w_tom]

If your mechanic fixed your car this way, you would call it
a scam. First thing - long before trying to fix anything - is
to collect some important numbers. Is it the power supply?
Answered in but minutes using the ubiquitous 3.5 digit
multimeter and either of the following procedures: "Computer
doesnt start at all" in alt.comp.hardware on 10 Jan 2004
at
http://tinyurl.com/2t69q or
"I think my power supply is dead" in alt.comp.hardware on 5
Feb 2004 at
http://www.tinyurl.com/2musa .

First get facts. Any numbers that don't make sense to you
will empower other newsgroup posters. Wild speculation may
complicate the problem and empty your wallet. A faster and
less expensive solution starts with procedures delineated in
those posts. First get facts and numbers.

 

[Zotin Khuma]

I purchased a barebones system from portatech.com and received it
yesterday. When it arrived, I plugged it in to make sure it had power
and got the obvious beep errors for no video card/hard drive.
Everything seemed good so I went to turn it off, but it powered down
right before I pressed the power button. It was odd.. so, using all
standard static and safety precautions, I put in my video card to see
what was happening by looking at the BIOS PC Health and other system
settings. The computer powered down again right when I entered BIOS.
I unplugged the main power and let it sit for a bit. I thought maybe
the power supply was bad, the CPU settings were incorrect, causing it
to overheat.. a number of things could be the problem. I installed my
harddrive on the primary IDE - just to see if there was some setting I
didn't know about.. and things would be normal if a complete system
was there - no luck. The machine just powers down on it's own.

-- snip --

How long before it shuts off ? Is it the same fixed interval every time
or does it vary ? That might give us a starting point.

 

[Jim]

Everything is plugged in correctly.. the fan and all the conndectors
to the MB.

I took the machine to CompUSA to have them deal with it - and it died
once immediately, then worked fine for over 15 minutes.

The power in my building is not the best. It frequently drops and I
have an okay surge protector. We decided that I had done everything
he would have done, sans removing the motherboard from the tower and
it was most likely the power issue. I got a $70 APC thing that hold
power, keeps it at a solid voltage and should have solved the power
issue. I took it home and it was running for about 12 minutes, then
it crapped out again. I was able to get into the PC Health in the bios
and all the power readings were good. I have tried other outlets in my
house also, to no avail. I turned it on again this morning.. and it
was up for 3 hours.. then hosed. The time it stays on is anywhere
from seconds to minutes to hours.. and sometimes it won't power on at
all. The MAJORITY of the time, it either won't respond at all when
the power button is pressed, or it will shit down within 1 - 2 seconds
of starting.

This morning, I was able to do the normal stuff.. got everything
running in XP.. checked some email.. got some updates. Then "Windows
is shutting down" again and it was all out. Also.. there is no
setting in my bios for shutting down the PC if a certain temp is hit.
I would have disabled that.

I can't figure out why it worked for awhile at CompUSA and not my
house.. but the problem is narrowing itself down to either the power
in my house (less and less likely), the MB and tower short, or an
actual faulty piece of hardware.

I wrote a tech email to Portatech (email only, sadly) but I'm not
guessing they'll have anything better to say that you or the guy at
CompUSA. Sadly, it's looking like this is going to have to be
returned.. I don't know what else to do. They mounted the MB in the
tower and supposedly test it - I don't know why it would be goofing
now. They'll probably try to blame me somehow.

 

[Michael Hawes]

I purchased a barebones system from portatech.com and received it
yesterday. When it arrived, I plugged it in to make sure it had power
and got the obvious beep errors for no video card/hard drive.
Everything seemed good so I went to turn it off, but it powered down
right before I pressed the power button. It was odd.. so, using all
standard static and safety precautions, I put in my video card to see
what was happening by looking at the BIOS PC Health and other system
settings. The computer powered down again right when I entered BIOS.
I unplugged the main power and let it sit for a bit. I thought maybe
the power supply was bad, the CPU settings were incorrect, causing it
to overheat.. a number of things could be the problem. I installed my
harddrive on the primary IDE - just to see if there was some setting I
didn't know about.. and things would be normal if a complete system
was there - no luck. The machine just powers down on it's own.

I have done minor trouble shooting to no avail. I have
unplugged/removed everything to see if I could pinpoint the issue.
No. I have the system sitting, no video card.. no IDEs.. tried
removing the ram and starting.. nothing. It powers down usually
within a few seconds, and sometimes it won't power on at all.

I figured it was the power supply.. it came with whatever crap they
stuff into these things. I went and got a namebrand 430W supply from
CompUSA. Same thing.. and that is where I'm at now. I am a student
and have spent money I don't have just getting this.. add $70 for the
power supply and I'm prety much hosed. I'd love to figure this out as
everything I've read regarding porttech.com (post purcashe, sadly) is
really bad - especially when dealing with returns. I talked with a few
tech guys out here and they are saying this is a tell-tale sign of
faulty hardware somewhere - most likely the MB or CPU. If anyone
knows otherwise or has dealt with something similar in the past..
please advise. I would greatly appreciate it.

Thank you in advance.

System Specs:
Intel P4 2.8GHz (800 FSB) 1MB Cache - Prescott CPU
MB: ASRock P4V88
RAM: Atlas Precision - 512MB PC3200 DDR
Power: 430W
Video: Radeon 9800

It's faulty! Send/take it back. Get a replacement or a refund. Why are
you trying to fix it?
Mike.

 

[Zotin Khuma]

Everything is plugged in correctly.. the fan and all the conndectors
to the MB.

I took the machine to CompUSA to have them deal with it - and it died
once immediately, then worked fine for over 15 minutes.

The power in my building is not the best. It frequently drops and I
have an okay surge protector. We decided that I had done everything
he would have done, sans removing the motherboard from the tower and
it was most likely the power issue. I got a $70 APC thing that hold
power, keeps it at a solid voltage and should have solved the power
issue. I took it home and it was running for about 12 minutes, then
it crapped out again. I was able to get into the PC Health in the bios
and all the power readings were good. I have tried other outlets in my
house also, to no avail. I turned it on again this morning.. and it
was up for 3 hours.. then hosed. The time it stays on is anywhere
from seconds to minutes to hours.. and sometimes it won't power on at
all. The MAJORITY of the time, it either won't respond at all when
the power button is pressed, or it will shit down within 1 - 2 seconds
of starting.

This morning, I was able to do the normal stuff.. got everything
running in XP.. checked some email.. got some updates. Then "Windows
is shutting down" again and it was all out. Also.. there is no
setting in my bios for shutting down the PC if a certain temp is hit.
I would have disabled that.

I can't figure out why it worked for awhile at CompUSA and not my
house.. but the problem is narrowing itself down to either the power
in my house (less and less likely), the MB and tower short, or an
actual faulty piece of hardware.

I wrote a tech email to Portatech (email only, sadly) but I'm not
guessing they'll have anything better to say that you or the guy at
CompUSA. Sadly, it's looking like this is going to have to be
returned.. I don't know what else to do. They mounted the MB in the
tower and supposedly test it - I don't know why it would be goofing
now. They'll probably try to blame me somehow.

It sounds more and more like you have a dodgy piece of hardware.
Since you replaced the PSU with a good brand and are also using
an APC UPS, I guess we can rule those out. The apparently
random times before it fails points to an intermittently faulty
component, and that's usually a tough nut to crack without
replacing each part one by one.

Have you checked the memory with memtest86 ? Another
possibility is an intermittently shorting power switch - a long shot,
but it *does* happen. What you can do to check this out, if you're
upto this kind of thing, is to pull out the power switch connector
from the motherboard header, and turn the computer on by
momentarily shorting the two pins with a screwdriver tip, and
see if it stays on.

I'm going to bed now (nearing 3 am here). Do let us know how
things turn out. If you like, email me after removing the obvious
piece from my address.

P.S. I know you're in no laughing mood, but that statement of
yours up there "or it will shit down within 1 - 2 seconds

 

[Zotin Khuma]

........snip........

It's faulty! Send/take it back. Get a replacement or a refund. Why are
you trying to fix it?
Mike.

That's certainly one way of looking at it. But the OP has already
indicated that, judging from what he read about the vendors, he's
rather apprehensive about the kind of response he'll get, and he did
say that he's written to them.

And then there's the possibility of its turning out to be a minor thing
that we've all overlooked, and the gratification of fixing it w/o having to
return it. Of course it's possible that he'll eventually *have* to return
it.

 

[w_tom]

Again, you tried to fix the symptom rather that fist learn
the problem. That plug-in UPS connects computer directly to
AC mains when not in battery backup mode. The computer power
supply should even startup a computer when line voltage is so
low as to leave incandescent lamps at less than 40% intensity.

You building electricity is not crappy - to a computer with
minimally standard components - unless lamps dim that much -
more than 40%. Notice I provide and ask for numbers. That
should mean something big time to you.

Did the CompUSA guy use a 3.5 digit multimeter? Not an idle
question because many with computer certifications don't even
know how electricity works or know how to use a meter.

You have turned a simple problems into a complex one.
Without numbers from the meter, then we are simply spinning
wheels. Then we are ready to move on to other 'usual'
suspects. No reason to spend big buck trying this and that -
buying to keep trying a solution. Already we may have found
the problem. But you must do the work - step by step. Step
one. The meter is such a ubiquitous tool and so inexpensive
as to be sold in Home Depot, Sears, Lowes, Radio Shack, etc.

Nobody can give you a responsible answer. You are not
providing numbers and the other critical information such as
diagnostic results, system (event) log, and Device Manager.
IOW you are making a simple problem complex.

 

[David Maynard]

Everything is plugged in correctly.. the fan and all the conndectors
to the MB.

I took the machine to CompUSA to have them deal with it - and it died
once immediately, then worked fine for over 15 minutes.

The power in my building is not the best. It frequently drops and I
have an okay surge protector. We decided that I had done everything
he would have done, sans removing the motherboard from the tower and
it was most likely the power issue. I got a $70 APC thing that hold
power, keeps it at a solid voltage and should have solved the power
issue. I took it home and it was running for about 12 minutes, then
it crapped out again.

Considering the power quality at your building the APC may be a good idea
but I don't know why they thought it would fix anything when the machine
did the exact same thing at their location.

I was able to get into the PC Health in the bios
and all the power readings were good. I have tried other outlets in my
house also, to no avail. I turned it on again this morning.. and it
was up for 3 hours.. then hosed. The time it stays on is anywhere
from seconds to minutes to hours.. and sometimes it won't power on at
all. The MAJORITY of the time, it either won't respond at all when
the power button is pressed, or it will shit down within 1 - 2 seconds
of starting.

This morning, I was able to do the normal stuff.. got everything
running in XP.. checked some email.. got some updates. Then "Windows
is shutting down" again and it was all out.

If you're getting a "Windows is shutting down" message then it is NOT a
'power' drop. Something TOLD Windows to shutdown.

Looking at your power switch description above it makes me wonder if it's
defective. Try this: unplug the power switch from the motherboard header
and move the reset switch to the power on function (I.E. use the case reset
switch as the power switch) and see if the problem remains.

(A power switch 'sticking' in the 'depressed' state could cause it to not
function at all, as you described, since it's 'already down' and also cause
a shutdown after a few seconds on the few times it worked since, on that
push, it might again 'stay down', which WILL cause a power off. Note: the
BUTTON can come back up without the actual switch disengaging because the
button often has it's own, separate, return spring.)

At the same time, look very carefully at all the front panel wires going
to/from the motherboard and see if any are frayed, nicked, or otherwise
damaged, and if any are caught under metal brackets or pinched between the
front panel fascia and the case. Any of those problems could cause one to
short out to the case. Also make sure there are no loose connectors
dangling where they could contact something.

 

[Martin G.1.0]

Why not use your 3.5 digit multimeter to check that short between your chair
and keyboard?
I even top posted this one for ya! ;-)

 

[jimkunz]

Well.. I'm not celebrating yet - but it looks like the Power Switch may
have been the culprit. I unplugged the Power SW and plugged the Reset
SW in it's spot. I turned it on using hte Reset Switch and the
computer has now been up for well over 2 hours.. I'm posting this from
the machine in question.

Hopefully.. I got it. It makes so much sense now.. the power button!
Anyway, I want to thank everyone for their amazing help and patience
here. I did a quick test and hit the reset button from XP - it gave the
same message as when the computer was shutting down on it's own:
"Windows is Shutting Down." I don't know if that means anything.. but,
hopefully, you won't have to hear from me again. And, even if my
problem continues, I hope someone finds this via search and solves a
similar problem using the help you guys gave me here.

Thanks again for everything.

*crossing fingers*

Jim

-you may have thought I was a bit more tech than I actually am. The
volt reader thing from Radio Shack was way out of my league.

 

[jimkunz]

Well.. I'm not celebrating yet - but it looks like the Power Switch may
have been the culprit. I unplugged the Power SW and plugged the Reset
SW in it's spot. I turned it on using hte Reset Switch and the
computer has now been up for well over 2 hours.. I'm posting this from
the machine in question.

Hopefully.. I got it. It makes so much sense now.. the power button!
Anyway, I want to thank everyone for their amazing help and patience
here. I did a quick test and hit the reset button from XP - it gave the
same message as when the computer was shutting down on it's own:
"Windows is Shutting Down." I don't know if that means anything.. but,
hopefully, you won't have to hear from me again. And, even if my
problem continues, I hope someone finds this via search and solves a
similar problem using the help you guys gave me here.

Thanks again for everything.

*crossing fingers*

Jim

-you may have thought I was a bit more tech than I actually am. The
volt reader thing from Radio Shack was way out of my league.

 

[Bob M]

Well.. I'm not celebrating yet - but it looks like the Power Switch may
have been the culprit. I unplugged the Power SW and plugged the Reset
SW in it's spot. I turned it on using hte Reset Switch and the
computer has now been up for well over 2 hours.. I'm posting this from
the machine in question.

Hopefully.. I got it. It makes so much sense now.. the power button!
Anyway, I want to thank everyone for their amazing help and patience
here. I did a quick test and hit the reset button from XP - it gave the
same message as when the computer was shutting down on it's own:
"Windows is Shutting Down." I don't know if that means anything.. but,
hopefully, you won't have to hear from me again. And, even if my
problem continues, I hope someone finds this via search and solves a
similar problem using the help you guys gave me here.

Thanks again for everything.

*crossing fingers*

Jim

-you may have thought I was a bit more tech than I actually am. The
volt reader thing from Radio Shack was way out of my league.

I'm glad you may have sorted the problem out. And thanks for posting
back with the fix and update. Not everybody does that and it's sure nice
to know the outcome. Good luck!

Bob

 

[Sayso Takewashi]

Why not use your 3.5 digit multimeter to check that short between your chair
and keyboard?
I even top posted this one for ya! ;-)

After his second post,i though,he has really earned an award...

"Best keep simple things complicated 2004" in silver



No really,i has called his vendor and had returned the system asap!

Althought he has provided me some happy times