Sudden shutdown

[Melvin Ray Holt, Sr.]

My computer shuts down all of a sudden. It does it after being on for
several hours. I have to wait awhile before it will reboot. I have
checked the fans and they all seem to be working okay. Is this a sympton
of a power supply failure or what? How can I troubleshoot it? Thanks, Ray
Holt

 

[Ted Zieglar]

Typical reasons are overheating and a faulty power supply. If all the fans
are working and the interior is free of dust and debris, suspect the power
supply. Unfortunately, you can't test the power supply yourself (unless
you're a technician). A less likely cause for overheating: If you've been
working inside your computer, you may have folded the cables (when closing
the case) in a way that interferes with the airflow.

I'm not aware of a virus or malware that causes this, but I suppose it might
be possible.

 

[Gerry Cornell]

Melvin

Is there no error message?

--

Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England

Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Guest]

ok, in being a programmer and making a couple of "funny" programs myself, I
have learned a bit about shutdowns. First off, does your computer immediatly
shutdown or does it go through the usual routine? (windows is shutting down..
blah blah blah.) are there any messages or is does your computer just
instantaneosly shutdown (excuse my spelling)? I am not sure, but there may be
a power-off time function in net bios so check to make sure that you have not
set anything in that. Also, make sure you do not have any programs that
shutdown ur computer. Also, go to start, then run, and type in MSCONFIG. Then
click on the tab "startup" (should be the last one). Check in there for any
programs that may be shutting down ur comp. Also, scan ur comp for viruses.
Most good scanners will also pick up adware and spyware which may be causing
the problem, or trojans or viruses. McAfee picks up PUPs (Potentially
Unwanted Programs) so, maybe it will pick it up. good luck. If you dont find
anything out, please post a reply or email me, I may have another way.

Hope that helps.

 

[Melvin Ray Holt, Sr.]

ok, in being a programmer and making a couple of "funny" programs myself, I
have learned a bit about shutdowns. First off, does your computer immediatly
shutdown or does it go through the usual routine? (windows is shutting down..
blah blah blah.) are there any messages or is does your computer just
instantaneosly shutdown (excuse my spelling)? I am not sure, but there may be
a power-off time function in net bios so check to make sure that you have not
set anything in that. Also, make sure you do not have any programs that
shutdown ur computer. Also, go to start, then run, and type in MSCONFIG. Then
click on the tab "startup" (should be the last one). Check in there for any
programs that may be shutting down ur comp. Also, scan ur comp for viruses.
Most good scanners will also pick up adware and spyware which may be causing
the problem, or trojans or viruses. McAfee picks up PUPs (Potentially
Unwanted Programs) so, maybe it will pick it up. good luck. If you dont find
anything out, please post a reply or email me, I may have another way.

Hope that helps.

I just shuts down with no warning or error message. I will check my starup
folder. I have run a virus scan and none is found and I periodically run
antipy scans to clean up. Ray Holt

 

[Guest]

I've been having this problem as well. I get this complete shut down, with no
error messgae. Then it re-boots on its own. I regulary scan for viruses,
adware and spyware, so this shouldn't be the problem. Would really like to
resolve this problems. Thanks my computer is only 2 years old (HP, Media
Center).

 

[Sharon F]

I've been having this problem as well. I get this complete shut down, with no
error messgae. Then it re-boots on its own. I regulary scan for viruses,
adware and spyware, so this shouldn't be the problem. Would really like to
resolve this problems. Thanks my computer is only 2 years old (HP, Media
Center).

Start> Run> eventvwr
Look in the Application and System branches for errors that occurred at the
same time/date of the restarts. Double click an error to read a more
detailed error message. In this same window there should be a
go.microsoft.com link. Click that. Another window will appear asking if
it's okay to send your request for more info and to send some of the error
data. If you say yes, another window will appear. If the problem is a well
known one, there will be links to more info and possibly to fixes. If the
problem is not well known, a "sorry" message appears.

Alternatively, you can change how XP behaves when it encounters an error
that causes a restart. Go to System Properties> Advanced> Startup and
Recovery> Settings. Remove the check in the box next to "Automatically
restart." Now when the error occurs, a blue screen will appear with error
information. Write that info down. When back online, look it up at the
Microsoft Knowledge Base:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx

I also like the following site for learning more about a particular STOP
message: http://www.aumha.org/win5/kbestop.htm
Click links in sidebars to get to section of page about the error you're
interested in. Each section is a summary of common causes/possible fixes
and also contains links to MS Knowledge Base articles for that error.

 

[Guest]

Sorry for my lack of computer knowledge, but I don't know where to look for
"Applications and System branches". All I know is that I'm not getting any
error messages when the computer shuts down. It just turns itself off and
re-boots.

 

[Mickey Mouse]

Hi girls I'm wondering about this problem too. Seems to only have
manifestered after the introduction of XP, at least for me anyway. I do
know however it also began after upgrading to a new motherboard also, in my
case a Gigabyte board. My system shut down so often that I complained and
replaced my suspect Gigabyte for another Gigabyte. After replacing the
board I still get sudden shut downs but now very few. It happens to me
about two or three times a week at no specific interval or time. Not enough
to get me upset, it's is a niusence though. As I said I've only noticed
this stuation in newsgroup posts since the introduction of XP which is not
to say the root of the problem is XP itself. There could be so many reasons
like application conflicts. Do you gals use Gigabyte mobo's? I'd be
interested to know.
I'm running a....
Dual Core AMD Opertron processor 165 1800
Bus speed 200 mhz
Mobo Gigabyte nforce
Bios Award F7
Memory 2048
Sound Realtek AC97 audio
Video Nvidia Gforce 6800

I would be cool if someone took a survey of people having this trouble so a
comparison of setups could be established. Just a thought.

Mickey

 

[Sharon F]

Sorry for my lack of computer knowledge, but I don't know where to look for
"Applications and System branches". All I know is that I'm not getting any
error messages when the computer shuts down. It just turns itself off and
re-boots.

Julie,
First line in the original reply:
Start> Run> eventvwr

That translates to click Start, click Run and type "eventvwr" into the text
box of the Run dialog box. Click OK and Event Viewer will open. In that
window, you will see several categories including System and Applications.

 

[Sharon F]

Hi girls I'm wondering about this problem too. Seems to only have
manifestered after the introduction of XP, at least for me anyway. I do
know however it also began after upgrading to a new motherboard also, in my
case a Gigabyte board. My system shut down so often that I complained and
replaced my suspect Gigabyte for another Gigabyte. After replacing the
board I still get sudden shut downs but now very few. It happens to me
about two or three times a week at no specific interval or time. Not enough
to get me upset, it's is a niusence though. As I said I've only noticed
this stuation in newsgroup posts since the introduction of XP which is not
to say the root of the problem is XP itself. There could be so many reasons
like application conflicts. Do you gals use Gigabyte mobo's? I'd be
interested to know.
I'm running a....
Dual Core AMD Opertron processor 165 1800
Bus speed 200 mhz
Mobo Gigabyte nforce
Bios Award F7
Memory 2048
Sound Realtek AC97 audio
Video Nvidia Gforce 6800

I would be cool if someone took a survey of people having this trouble so a
comparison of setups could be established. Just a thought.

Mickey

Hi, Mickey.

When XP was released, the motherboard I had at the time was Gigabyte. XP
ran fine on it and never had any problems.

You should take a look in Event Viewer as well. Sometimes error messages
that don't make it to the screen will be captured by the error reporting
system and recorded in Event Viewer.

Many, many causes for random shutdowns. Could be a program that's erred
badly and it takes down XP as well. Or could be a hardware problem. If
overclocking at all, use default settings in BIOS. Also, you've replaced
the motherboard. Sometimes you can get by without repair installing XP but
more often, it's a necessary step when changing motherboards.

If new motherboard was an exact replacement of old, is the BIOS version the
same as the old board? Or is it newer/older?

"Simplify" is a good place to start when troubleshooting - disconnecting
all extras until the base computer and absolutely necessary hardware is
working reliably. Then start adding things back one at a time.

Also due to the randomness, you might consider running diagnostics on the
RAM. References for a few of the memory tester applications that are
available:

http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp

http://www.memtest.org/