Random Shut Downs and startups with Vista

[DigitalCMH]

Starting last summer, without making any hardware changes since installing
Windows Vista, my computer has occassionally booted up on it's own. it'll do
this repeatedly. I can either turn off the power switch on the AC supply or
keep shutting it down about 4 or 5 times before it'll stay shut down.

I've been able to just accept this and move on. But now, starting probably
last Oct my computer now randomly shuts down. It's not crashing...I mean, I
don't get any errors. I just fades to black and the power goes out. I'll
restart it and as soon as it's done booting, it'll shut down. If I'm quick,
I might be able to get one application open before it shuts down on me again.
Just like with the power ups, it seems that after about 4 or 5 start ups,
it'll start to behave and it'll stay on.

THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE and I'm more than a little irked that Microsoft wants
$59 for support.

I have made NO hardware changes. I have not updated ANY drivers.

I have, however, update with all Windows Vista updates and I even have their
crappy One Care (crappy because it I have to disable it on my laptop in order
to copy most of my photos to anther HD folder or copy to my desktop).

FWIW, my system self-built. I had NONE of these issues with Windows XP.

It's Intel 2.8 ghz P4 with HT.

Creative Labs Audigy
GeForce FX 5500
MSI Mainboard (I can get model if anyone thinks it's needed)
2gb of RAM.

anything else anyone wants to know?

 

[Not Me]

There can be many issues that cause that.
If I had a spare power supply, I think I would install it and see what
happens.
I would also reseat all the cards and memory sticks while I had it down.

 

[Andre Da Costa[ActiveWin]]

I am having a similar problem right now, and I suspected it could be memory
problems, but it turned out not to be, it seems like either disk drive is
failing or the NTFS file system is corrupted. I personally would run a scan
on your memory using memtest first to make sure its not that;
http://www.memtest86.com/

 

[Andrew Rossmann]

Starting last summer, without making any hardware changes since installing
Windows Vista, my computer has occassionally booted up on it's own. it'll do
this repeatedly. I can either turn off the power switch on the AC supply or
keep shutting it down about 4 or 5 times before it'll stay shut down.

I don't see how Windows would cause the computer to turn itself on. That
sounds like an issue with the BIOS, probably an alarm clock setting. A
failing battery could be causing the CMOS to get scrambled, causing all
sorts of weird issues.

Maybe consider going into the BIOS and resetting it to defaults. And/Or
check if there is a newer version, as it may fix compatibility issues
with Vista.

Finally, double-check the physical: All fans working, heatsinks clean,
airflow good, plugs properly seated.