Windows shuts down

[Keegan Owsley]

sometimes, as I'm using my Windows XP computer, it will
turn off without warning. It doesn't shut down properly,
because the shut down screens do not appear. Rather, it
pauses for a few seconds then just powers off, causing me
to lose any work that I was working on at the time.


It seems random as to how often it will be on before
powering down; anywhere from 5 minutes to a few hours.
There doesn't seem to be a connection between how much
RAM I'm using and when it shuts down, it simply... does.


Any help is appreciated.

 

[Chuck]

sometimes, as I'm using my Windows XP computer, it will
turn off without warning. It doesn't shut down properly,
because the shut down screens do not appear. Rather, it
pauses for a few seconds then just powers off, causing me
to lose any work that I was working on at the time.


It seems random as to how often it will be on before
powering down; anywhere from 5 minutes to a few hours.
There doesn't seem to be a connection between how much
RAM I'm using and when it shuts down, it simply... does.


Any help is appreciated.

Keegan,

The simplest possibility would be a cooling problem. Check the fans:
are they all running, are the filters clean so there's plenty of
airflow?

Is it totally shutting down, or do you get any diagnostics? Check the
Event Viewer to see if anything is being issued by the system (Control
Panel - Administrative Tools).

Check for malware. Run Spybot S&D then HijackThis. Start with this
article:
http://forums.spywareinfo.com/index.php?showtopic=5187

If none of the above, then your power supply is probably flaky. Could
it be overloaded - did you install any new accessories recently?
Probably you'll end up calling the vendor - is it under warranty?

Cheers,

Chuck
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Paranoia comes from experience - and is not necessarily a bad thing.