Help: Windows XP Spontanous shutdown

[m3nn0_s4r]

My PC has been experiencing spontaneous shutdowns for a month now, with
increasing frequency. I'm not sure if it's hardware or OS related.

I swapped in a spare ower supply, but that didn't make a difference.

I don't think it's a capticity issue on the PS, as it's a 430W powering 2
disk, 2 cdrom, and 8 USB devices, as well as 3 120mm and 2 80mm fans.
Should be suffificient. PS has dual internal fans.

I thought it might be heat, so I got a hardware monitor to let me know if
temps rose above their average (MB=30, CPU=57). I set tight thresholds of 33
and 60, so I would know if there was any increase in temp previous to a
powerdown, but no dice. Subsequent shutdowns have not been preceded by any
warning of temperature increase.

What's significant is HOW the power goes down. It isn't entirely
spontaneous, but is preceded by a 2 second freeze, in which there is video
on my monitor, but the computer is unresponsive. 2 seconds, later, it
powers down.

Thoughts?


--
..............................................................................

One hundred percent of the shots you don't take don't go in

-Wayne Gretzky

..............................................................................
(e-mail address removed) http://www.memeticcandiru.com

 

[An Unexploded Scotsman]

My PC has been experiencing spontaneous shutdowns for a month now, with
increasing frequency. I'm not sure if it's hardware or OS related.

I swapped in a spare ower supply, but that didn't make a difference.

I don't think it's a capticity issue on the PS, as it's a 430W powering 2
disk, 2 cdrom, and 8 USB devices, as well as 3 120mm and 2 80mm fans.
Should be suffificient. PS has dual internal fans.

I thought it might be heat, so I got a hardware monitor to let me know if
temps rose above their average (MB=30, CPU=57). I set tight thresholds of 33
and 60, so I would know if there was any increase in temp previous to a
powerdown, but no dice. Subsequent shutdowns have not been preceded by any
warning of temperature increase.

What's significant is HOW the power goes down. It isn't entirely
spontaneous, but is preceded by a 2 second freeze, in which there is video
on my monitor, but the computer is unresponsive. 2 seconds, later, it
powers down.

Thoughts?

Got any ATI products in there?
Are the 8 USB devices pulling off a powered hub?

 

[Eat Dirt]

Thoughts?

You don't wanna hear my thoughts on this. Therefore I shall refer you to
my sig and say no more.

 

[Guest]

I Find with problems like this, video is the issue a lot
of the time. make sure all your drivers are up to date,
and working properly.

 

[CalgaryGuy]

Check your CPU fan, if it is overheating it will shut itself down.

My PC has been experiencing spontaneous shutdowns for a month now, with
increasing frequency. I'm not sure if it's hardware or OS related.

I swapped in a spare ower supply, but that didn't make a difference.

I don't think it's a capticity issue on the PS, as it's a 430W powering 2
disk, 2 cdrom, and 8 USB devices, as well as 3 120mm and 2 80mm fans.
Should be suffificient. PS has dual internal fans.

I thought it might be heat, so I got a hardware monitor to let me know if
temps rose above their average (MB=30, CPU=57). I set tight thresholds of 33
and 60, so I would know if there was any increase in temp previous to a
powerdown, but no dice. Subsequent shutdowns have not been preceded by any
warning of temperature increase.

What's significant is HOW the power goes down. It isn't entirely
spontaneous, but is preceded by a 2 second freeze, in which there is video
on my monitor, but the computer is unresponsive. 2 seconds, later, it
powers down.

Thoughts?


--
.............................................................................
..

One hundred percent of the shots you don't take don't go in

-Wayne Gretzky

.............................................................................
..
(e-mail address removed)

http://www.memeticcandiru.com

 

[An Unexploded Scotsman]

You don't wanna hear my thoughts on this. Therefore I shall refer you to
my sig and say no more.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&q=apple+class+action+lawsuit

No product is without problems, no matter how stylish. *g*
I've considered buying a powerbook a couple of times, but am holding
off on buying another laptop (sold my thinkpad to pay for the a
monster desktop to play with video editing and games).

What the laptop industry needs, is to standardize GPU and CPU
upgrades. Though it looks they're finally working towards that.

 

[An Unexploded Scotsman]

Check your CPU fan, if it is overheating it will shut itself down.

57C is hardly overheating. Assuming he's funning a P4.

How about some detailed system specs, Dan?

 

[M]

My PC has been experiencing spontaneous shutdowns for a month now, with
increasing frequency. I'm not sure if it's hardware or OS related.

I swapped in a spare ower supply, but that didn't make a difference.

I don't think it's a capticity issue on the PS, as it's a 430W powering 2
disk, 2 cdrom, and 8 USB devices, as well as 3 120mm and 2 80mm fans.
Should be suffificient. PS has dual internal fans.

I thought it might be heat, so I got a hardware monitor to let me know if
temps rose above their average (MB=30, CPU=57). I set tight thresholds of 33
and 60, so I would know if there was any increase in temp previous to a
powerdown, but no dice. Subsequent shutdowns have not been preceded by any
warning of temperature increase.

What's significant is HOW the power goes down. It isn't entirely
spontaneous, but is preceded by a 2 second freeze, in which there is video
on my monitor, but the computer is unresponsive. 2 seconds, later, it
powers down.

Thoughts?


--
.............................................................................
..

One hundred percent of the shots you don't take don't go in

-Wayne Gretzky

.............................................................................
..
(e-mail address removed)

http://www.memeticcandiru.com

I would strip it down to the essentials; mb/cpu,
vid card, ram, keyboard. Boot into
XP while keeping the temp constant
and see what happens. Try holding
the machine at the BIOS promt and
see if she crashes?
Are you using any "no-name" RAM?

M

 

[Dan Overes]

You don't wanna hear my thoughts on this. Therefore I shall refer you to
my sig and say no more.

Kind of quick to jump on ole' Billy Gates considering the problem hasn't
even been diagnosed to be hardware or software yet. Never let your
prejudice blind you to other possibilities.

 

[c4rp3t_munch3r]

Got any ATI products in there?

Yes, an ATI radeon all in wonder pro.

Are the 8 USB devices pulling off a powered hub?

Several difference Hubs. A few on MB, a few on a hub pay off of a 12v from
the PS, and 1 PCI card.

--
..............................................................................

"Israel is not a state with an army but an army with a state"

-Ben Kaspit Maariv, 21 Nov 02

..............................................................................
(e-mail address removed) http://www.memeticcandiru.com

 

[c4rp3t_munch3r]

57C is hardly overheating. Assuming he's funning a P4.

How about some detailed system specs, Dan?

Amd Barton 2600, 750 MB ram... Ati radeon 9600 AIW pro... 2 Maxtor 120's.
Asus Motherboard (A7x something - Very common AMD MB).


--
..............................................................................

"The thesis that the danger of genocide was hanging over us in June 1967 and
that Israel was fighting for its physical existence is only bluff, which
was born and developed after the war."

-Israeli General Matityahu Peled
(Ha'aretz, 19 March 1972)

..............................................................................
(e-mail address removed) http://www.memeticcandiru.com

 

[c4rp3t_munch3r]

I would strip it down to the essentials; mb/cpu,
vid card, ram, keyboard. Boot into
XP while keeping the temp constant
and see what happens. Try holding
the machine at the BIOS promt and
see if she crashes?
Are you using any "no-name" RAM?

All corsair.




--
..............................................................................

"One million Arabs are not worth a Jewish fingernail"

-Rabbi Ya'acov Perin in his eulogy at the
funeral of mass murderer Baruch Goldstein

..............................................................................
(e-mail address removed) http://www.memeticcandiru.com

 

[An Unexploded Scotsman]

I would strip it down to the essentials; mb/cpu,
vid card, ram, keyboard. Boot into
XP while keeping the temp constant
and see what happens. Try holding
the machine at the BIOS promt and
see if she crashes?
Are you using any "no-name" RAM?

All corsair.[/QUOTE]

Don't suppose you have "agp fast-write" (or something like that..can't
check via terminal server as it's grayed out) checked under ATI's
crazy control panel? That caused me some serious system stability
issues and no performance increase.

 

[MisNomer]

You may want to check your "task manager - processes " using this site

http://www.answersthatwork.com/home_page.htm

It will give a list of all the files that could be running on your system, and
weather you need them to run, or if there is a virus in your computer.

take care
Liz
I am surprised that you put this out here as you seem to be fairly knowledgeable
yourself.

 

[veranda]

What's significant is HOW the power goes down. It isn't entirely
spontaneous, but is preceded by a 2 second freeze, in which there is video
on my monitor, but the computer is unresponsive. 2 seconds, later, it
powers down.

Video card . The same happened to me with an ATI all-in-one-wonder until I
updated the driver .
Good luck .

 

[Black Jacque Shellacque]

Kind of quick to jump on ole' Billy Gates considering the problem
hasn't even been diagnosed to be hardware or software yet. Never let
your prejudice blind you to other possibilities.

Actually he said absolutely nothing about Bill Gates. He may well have
been referring to hardware also, in which case the Mac still holds the
advantage as a better quality of machine than the average future shop
off-the-counter POS.

 

[An Unexploded Scotsman]

Actually he said absolutely nothing about Bill Gates. He may well have
been referring to hardware also, in which case the Mac still holds the
advantage as a better quality of machine than the average future shop
off-the-counter POS.

No agrement there, but for the price premium it sure as hell should.
From a design standpoint, no question. They make some very nice stuff.
And I'll be the first to admit OS X is pretty sweet, but if you're big
into games, need access to the widest range of software or looking for
the most computing power for your dollar, I'm not so sure they stack
up. That being said, I'd happily take one of each.

 

[catchmerevisited]

Video card . The same happened to me with an ATI all-in-one-wonder until I
updated the driver .
Good luck .

if that's the case, download from http://www.ati.com

 

[p1mp_ju1c3]

if that's the case, download from http://www.ati.com

Is that where I get ati drivers from?

--
..............................................................................

Beauty comes cheap in a wealthy country

..............................................................................
(e-mail address removed) http://www.memeticcandiru.com

 

[p1mp_ju1c3]

Don't suppose you have "agp fast-write" (or something like that..can't
check via terminal server as it's grayed out) checked under ATI's
crazy control panel? That caused me some serious system stability
issues and no performance increase.

I unchecked it yesterday, and have enjoyed 24 crash-free hours.

I had a suspicion it was video-card related... Will post again in a few
days to update.




--
..............................................................................

Beauty comes cheap in a wealthy country

..............................................................................
(e-mail address removed) http://www.memeticcandiru.com