PC Unexpectedly Powering Down

[Guest]

Hi,
My PC seems to have started behaving strangly over the last few weeks. About once a day it just shuts down unexpectedly. Once it has shutdown, it cannot be restarted. I have to wait 5 minutes and then it powers up. I thought it may be the power supply but changing the power supply seems to have made no difference.
Has anyone any suggestions as to the cause of this problem ???

 

[Guest]

Update BIOS.

Chack for Spyware/Viruses:
http://www.fixyourwindows.com/windowsxpsolutions.htm

Good Luck!

 

[Will Denny]

Hi

Any error messages just before the shutdown? If not, have a look in Event Viewer to see if there is any reference that may point to the shutdown.

 

[Guest]

Hi,

I forgot to add. When the PC powers down the ON/OFF button becomes inoperable. It appears you have to wait for around 5 mins before it starts to operate again.

 

[Guest]

Hi,

Thanks for you reply. The shutdown is something very similar to someone turning the power off while the PC is running - once it has died on me while I was in the middle of typing. I am confused though as to why I seem to have to turn the power at the wall socket off for a while before it lets me power back on - I'm wondering if something could be over-heating. I have now gone into Safe mode and removed all malware / adware from the machine. I'll take off off the case later on today and have a look to see if the fan is working. I think it is as I can hear it.

 

[Will Denny]

Hi

I was going to ask if you hear any kind 'noise' - i.e. a click - just before the shutdown occurs.

 

[Guest]

Hi,

Thanks for your help.
I've only been around once when it happened. I think I did hear a click before it
shutdown. The screen went blank straightaway; no error message - or message indicating it was shutting down - was put up. I had a look at the Event Log but that doesn't really show anything.

 

[Guest]

Also............
Just downloaded SiSoft's Sandra software and ran it. It comes up with a warning that my CPU temperature is 78 degress !!!
Does this point to the fan on the motherboard ???

 

[Guest]

Sorry my last post should have read:

Board temperature 78 degrees
CPU Temperature 42.5 degrees.

 

[Will Denny]

Hi

You'll have to look in the manual for your motherboard to see about the temp. for the CPU. Failing that go to the motherboard's web site and see if you download a manual from there.

Mine are running at:

The CPU temp. here is 54C.

 

[Miss Perspicacia Tick]

Sorry my last post should have read:

Board temperature 78 degrees
CPU Temperature 42.5 degrees.

You've got those the wrong way round. The board temperature is *NEVER*
higher than the CPU temperature (and if you haven't, then why the system
works at all is a complete mystery). I've just run SANDRA and it reports the
board temperature as 30°C and the CPU temperature as 45°C. This is normal
for my CPU (FX-55). Motherboard Monitor tells me the same thing.

 

[NoNoBadDog!]

It depends on the cooler and HSF on the proc. On my system (AMD Athlon64
3200+ with a Thermaltake A1770+ cooler), my proc is 2 degrees (Celsius)
cooler than the motherboard. My Proc is 35 and my mobo is 37. This is
confirmed by both the onboard caps that register temps, and the two
temperature probes that feed the LED tempgauge at the front of my case.
These temps are with Cool n' Quiet enabled. Under load, at rated CPU Speed,
the proc has gone as high as 44 degrees Celsius.

Bobby

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Greetings --

It sounds like something is overheating. Are all of the cooling
fans working properly?

Bruce Chambers
--
Help us help you:



You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on
having both at once. - RAH

Hi,
My PC seems to have started behaving strangly over the last few

weeks. About once a day it just shuts down unexpectedly. Once it has
shutdown, it cannot be restarted. I have to wait 5 minutes and then it
powers up. I thought it may be the power supply but changing the power
supply seems to have made no difference.

 

[Guest]

Hi,

Thanks for your info.
This is very strange as SANDRA is reporting a Board temperature
much greater than a CPU temperature (I've re-checked). I also downloaded and used another untility (Hmonitor) and this too agrees with what SANDRA is
reporting.

Funny thing is that if I monitor the temperature via entering the
BIOS at power-up, that disagrees with the above and shows the
CPU temperature much greater than the board remperature.

I've managed to get the higher of the two temperature readings down to around 68 degrees by having a fan blowing cold air at the PC. The minute I turn the fan off, the temperature starts to rise and reaches nearly 80 degrees.

Any further help that you or anyone else can give me would be much appreciated.

 

[PCyr]

You've got the numbers backwards.

What processor do you have, if it's a Pentium 4, then it's overheating (most
likely the same with any processor). The maximum temperature the P4s can
withstand is 70C. Under normal conditions, they should be between 35 and 45
degrees C. Check to make sure all the fans are running. Also check the
number of fans. You should have at least 3 (1 on the CPU, 1 on the power
supply, and 1 on the case)

Heat is a processors worst enemy, even if you do get it below 70C, anything
above 45C will start to shorten the life span of your CPU.

--
Paul Cyr

-----

The Debate Continues... www.xvsxp.com

Protect Yourself and Others...
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/protect/
-----

 

[Bob Qin [MSFT]]

Hello,

Thanks for your posting here.

You can also try to load the default settings of BIOS.

In addition, I would like to recommend that you contact the manufacture of
the motherboard or your computer for further help. They should be the
correct resource for technical support. In doing so, you may find that they
are aware of this issue and have more information to help find a solution.

Thank you again for using our newsgroup.

Regards,
Bob Qin
Product Support Services
Microsoft Corporation

Get Secure! - www.microsoft.com/security

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[WinGuy]

Hi,
My PC seems to have started behaving strangly over the last few weeks.

About once a day it just shuts down unexpectedly. Once it has shutdown, it
cannot be restarted. I have to wait 5 minutes and then it powers up. I
thought it may be the power supply but changing the power supply seems to
have made no difference.

Has anyone any suggestions as to the cause of this problem ???

I read the entire thread up to this post. When I've encountered similar
problems such as you mention it's been the circuitry that has become heat
sensitive on the motherboard that turns the power supply on and off. That
you have to wait a while after a power off occurs indicates something has to
cool down before it will operate again, and you've already eliminated the
power supply. From what you say above, and in other posts, it doesn't seem
your motherboard or cpu temps are out of spec but that something has become
heat-sensitive on the motherboard (specifically, circuitry that monitors the
on/off switch and controls the power supply). You should have this
possibility verified by a computer repair shop, as continued uncontrolled
power off situations might damage HDD content. I would suspect that using
good cool airflow (fan) might appear to make the problem go away, but
electrical parts under strain never get better and in time only get worse.

Your problem does not appear to be a Windows software problem, it instead
appears to be a motherboard problem and so the topic is not really germane
to this newsgroup. I'm answering in an attempt to be helpful and informative
anyway. If a shop determines that you need a motherboard, then replacing the
motherboard (but no other devices such as a cpu, drives, etc. but with the
exception of your new power supply) will probably require that you obtain a
new activation code from Microsoft and you will probably get it - unless the
computer came with XP installed by the OEM and in which case you need to
contact the OEM (because MS will not give an activation code in that case)
or you'll need to purchase the full version (not an upgrade) of XP-Pro after
the repairs are made to the hardware.

 

[Guest]

Hi,

I opened it up and had a look. The power supply fan and the fan on the processor appear to be working ok.
This morning when I first powered up, the motherboard temperature (as indicated by SANDRA and Hmonitor) went from 45 deg (Celsius) to 65 degrees (Celsius) in about 3 minutes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.