Random "turning off"

[Billy]

I was updating my iPod in the evening, but I fell asleep
before it finished.

In the morning, I discovered the computer had "turned off"
even though the HD was still on and running.

What I mean is that there was no signal going to the
monitor, the keyboard and mouse did not work, but the HD
was still powered on (ie. still had the CD drive, battery
lights on, etc.). It was not on standby or anything,
because other than the HD being on, everything else was
"off" - not receiving any signals from the HD. It would
appear that the machine had "shutdown" while still "on".

After rebooting the machine, everything was fine, but I am
now plagued with random moments of the computer "turning
off" as I have described - the monitor just switches off,
and no peripherals work, despite the HD still running.

I have tried error checking the drive in safe mode, and
when it gets to a certain point, the monitor switches off.

I don't know what happened during the night the iPod was
updating and what could've caused this. But I'd really like
a solution to this, because it'd be very disconcerting to
do anything on the computer (esp. work), if I am faced with
the possibility of it just "turning off".

BTW, sometimes the monitor switches off, at other times,
the screen just switches to a mass of scratchy static lines
(but is still "off" in hindsight).

 

[Drew Tognola]

Billy,

Go into Control Panel > Power Options, is your monitor set to turn off after
a certain number of minutes?

Drew

I was updating my iPod in the evening, but I fell asleep
before it finished.

In the morning, I discovered the computer had "turned off"
even though the HD was still on and running.

What I mean is that there was no signal going to the
monitor, the keyboard and mouse did not work, but the HD
was still powered on (ie. still had the CD drive, battery
lights on, etc.). It was not on standby or anything,
because other than the HD being on, everything else was
"off" - not receiving any signals from the HD. It would
appear that the machine had "shutdown" while still "on".

After rebooting the machine, everything was fine, but I am
now plagued with random moments of the computer "turning
off" as I have described - the monitor just switches off,
and no peripherals work, despite the HD still running.

I have tried error checking the drive in safe mode, and
when it gets to a certain point, the monitor switches off.

I don't know what happened during the night the iPod was
updating and what could've caused this. But I'd really like
a solution to this, because it'd be very disconcerting to
do anything on the computer (esp. work), if I am faced with
the possibility of it just "turning off".

BTW, sometimes the monitor switches off, at other times,
the screen just switches to a mass of scratchy static lines
(but is still "off" in hindsight).

 

[Malke]

I was updating my iPod in the evening, but I fell asleep
before it finished.

In the morning, I discovered the computer had "turned off"
even though the HD was still on and running.

What I mean is that there was no signal going to the
monitor, the keyboard and mouse did not work, but the HD
was still powered on (ie. still had the CD drive, battery
lights on, etc.). It was not on standby or anything,
because other than the HD being on, everything else was
"off" - not receiving any signals from the HD. It would
appear that the machine had "shutdown" while still "on".

After rebooting the machine, everything was fine, but I am
now plagued with random moments of the computer "turning
off" as I have described - the monitor just switches off,
and no peripherals work, despite the HD still running.

I have tried error checking the drive in safe mode, and
when it gets to a certain point, the monitor switches off.

I don't know what happened during the night the iPod was
updating and what could've caused this. But I'd really like
a solution to this, because it'd be very disconcerting to
do anything on the computer (esp. work), if I am faced with
the possibility of it just "turning off".

BTW, sometimes the monitor switches off, at other times,
the screen just switches to a mass of scratchy static lines
(but is still "off" in hindsight).

Random failures like you are describing are usually because of hardware
issues. Your computer may be overheating or components may be failing.
Here are some general hardware troubleshooting steps:

For hardware issues - 1) open the computer and run it open, cleaning out
all dust bunnies and observing all fans (overheating will cause system
freezing); 2) test the RAM - I like Memtest86 from www.memtest86.com -
let the test run for an extended (like overnight) period of time -
unless errors are seen immediately; 3) test the hard drive with a
diagnostic utility from the mftr.; 4) the power supply may be going bad
or be inadequate for the devices you have in the system; 5) test the
motherboard with something like TuffTest from www.tufftest.com. Testing
hardware failures often involves swapping out suspected parts with
known-good parts. If you can't do the testing yourself and/or are
uncomfortable opening your computer, take the machine to a good local
computer repair shop (not a CompUSA or Best Buy type of store).

Malke