PC keeps turning self off

[Charmed]

During son3 morning ritual, he turns on pc, boots up fine, logs into his account fine. Gets up to grab breakfast, goes back pc is off.

Turn power off @ wall, then back on, boots up, goes to log in , pc turns off.

Again power off @ wall, back on, this process repeated several times, either you get to log into account or not.

Stuff it, I will just reformat, and it needed to doing anyway.
Reformat goes well, uninstall all the preloaded crap that was installed , dload & install, Avast Free Home, MSN, Yahoo Messenger & Firefox. Going out so turn off & continue later.

Get home & have to go through the above of turning off & back on at wall again. Unplug, take off panels, clean, check everything tight. Yep all ok.

Plug back in on & off a couple more times & finally able to log in.
Currently dloading & updating Windows.

System
XP Home ver 2002
(currently dloading & updating to Service Pack 3)

Aspire SA85 XPS MHD 12504 Intel
Celeron CPU 3.06 GHz
3.07 GHz, 224 MB of ram

So if any of the PC Nerds / Gurus have any idea what the problem could throw your thoughts this way.

Top of my list is either power supply or motherboard.

Sooner I can get on top of this the better, dont like sharing my laptop

[ricktas]

I have seen this with a loose RAM chip. Removing the RAM and re-inserting it resolved it. The other thing is over-heating of the CPU, if your PC has a temp sensor, it might be that the fan for the CPU isn't working, isnt working properly and the PC is shutting down due to CPU temp

[Kym]

Power management on? Is is really off or just suspended?
Power options in Control Panel!

[pgbphotographytas]

I have seen this be caused by a number of things.
First question is when did this start happening and was any new hardware added to the computer around the same time?

It would be worth unplugging all the internal power cables and replugging them to make sure they are tight, also check the RAM and all the drives to make sure they are plugged in and also check for any build up of dust or fluff inside the machine.

Paul

[Charmed]

Rick - Will check the loose RAM chip again in morning if prob continues. LOL to scared to turn it off right now, though did restart after the windows update & still running.

Oz - Power Management is ON

Paul - Started this morning & NO new hardware, and did the check dust,fluff, cables before. But as said above will do it again in morning if it still doesn't want to play ball.

[Tannin]

Check the CPU temperature first, if it isn't that, swap out the power supply. Power supply would be your #1 suspect. All the other suggestions are possible, but overheating (either of the CPU or (more likely) of a power supply component) is the most common cause.

[leanneqld]

My pc did that and it was the power supply. When it continually rebooted itself after a Bluescreen of death (BSOD) is was the RAM.

[Charmed]

So leaning towards PS, previous pc we went through 3.
This pc is coming up to 3 yrs old.

No dreaded blue screen this time around, we get to the log into account screen, we either can or not.

BTW , its still up & running since reboot from update. Morning will be interesting.

Oh yeah power surge protector in use.

[arthurking83]

First thing I thought was PS too!

I had put together a PC for a friend, using the parts he bought from a store, which was exactly the same as my specs, except for the case and PSU, where he went for a cheaper generic, and I opted for an Antec case with Antec PSU.. his was rated 'more powerful' than my Antec, and was much cheaper($50 against $200).
his was turning off at random moments, and he went through the re-install process and was getting frustrated, until he gave it to me to figure out.
I had it sitting one day at the BIOS trying to figure out a few things, and as it sat there for a few minutes the BIOS page I was on showed that there was a Power failed condition .. ie. the PSU wasn't powerful(stable) enough after a few months of use to maintain accurate voltage levels.
He eventually changed it for the same Antec PSU and the rest is history.

So... this may be easy to trace if the BIOS has a diagnostic page for the PSU.

Would you reckon it may be affected by ambient air temps?

Also! a few more than 3 years ago, some Gigabyte mainboards had faulty capacitors that swelled up(obviously, so you could easily pick them out, which caused random shut downs too)

I had one(damn can't remember the model number now as the ex took it!.. something like a 7VRX??) anyhow finding replacement capacitors was the hard part, and removing the old ones was almost as difficult.
But once I'd fitted the new ones, the issue was resolved(cost about $20 but I got a few spares, just in case)

[Prang]

I was told not to use a vacuum cleaner to suck out the dust in the CPU fan and heat sink, as it can damage the fan.

What you are supposed to do is use a paint brush and hold the fan while brushing out, then suck up dust as it falls out.

Also don't forget to turn power of and earth yourself out by touching the metal chassis.

Cheers Peter

[Charmed]

First thing I thought was PS too!

I had put together a PC for a friend, using the parts he bought from a store, which was exactly the same as my specs, except for the case and PSU, where he went for a cheaper generic, and I opted for an Antec case with Antec PSU.. his was rated 'more powerful' than my Antec, and was much cheaper($50 against $200).
his was turning off at random moments, and he went through the re-install process and was getting frustrated, until he gave it to me to figure out.
I had it sitting one day at the BIOS trying to figure out a few things, and as it sat there for a few minutes the BIOS page I was on showed that there was a Power failed condition .. ie. the PSU wasn't powerful(stable) enough after a few months of use to maintain accurate voltage levels.
He eventually changed it for the same Antec PSU and the rest is history.

So... this may be easy to trace if the BIOS has a diagnostic page for the PSU.

Would you reckon it may be affected by ambient air temps?

Will do the BIOS thing 2morrow.

Ambient, air temps, if it was in the middle of summer I wouldn't rule it out. But jeeez I don't know 1st thing this morning & when turning on this arvo when got home. Too cold ? nahhhh it's hasn't really been cold.

[Tannin]

Arthur, capacitor failure is probably the commonest single cause of mainboard failure. It happens with all brands and types of boards. Rule of thumb: the better quality makers have fewer failures, the cheap and especially the no-name brands have more, but they all have them. It's not something it's economic to try repairing these days, unless you cost your time in at $0.00 per hour.

[Tannin]

Charmed, swap the power supply. It's really pretty pointless mucking about looking for low-probability causes when you haven't dealt with the most likely one yet. Swap the PSU first, then check the other posibilities only if that doesn't do the trick.

[Charmed]

Charmed, swap the power supply. It's really pretty pointless mucking about looking for low-probability causes when you haven't dealt with the most likely one yet. Swap the PSU first, then check the other posibilities only if that doesn't do the trick.

Looks like I will be chasing one.

OH boy wont that test my patience? If I don't have to wait a min of a week to order one in, I will be pleasantly surprised.

[arthurking83]

..... It's not something it's economic to try repairing these days, unless you cost your time in at $0.00 per hour.

As a 100% confirmed addicted tinkerer, as addicted to tinkering as Paul is to camera bags! ... the minimal cost of $5-10 in caps was nothing, and the experience gained can only be a good thing. One less pile of heavy metals and poisonous compounds filling up our landfills too
The capacitor issue was only an issue because it was Gigabyte that was affected by it, where they would normally use higher quality parts.
I remember many of these (possibly) 7VRX mainboards were affected by a bad batch of caps, where other boards(my PC is a Gigabyte too, and every PC bar our very first have all been Gigabytes too).

I like Gigabyte products, and even though there may well be better, faster, cheaper products out there, I've found them to be solid and reliable(save for that one problem child)
It was only 4 caps that caused the random shutdowns, but it also saved the hassle of a re-install where one wasn't needed.

[Tannin]

Every computer shop on the planet has power supplies in stock. If it doesn't, then it's not a computer shop. I guess we replace two or three a week, on average, and we are only a small shop with two staff. They are a standard part, one-size-fits-all* varying only in quality, output, and price. Rule of thumb: ignore the nominal output figure, see how heavy it is. Cheap, cruddy ones weigh next to nothing. Expect to pay between $40 and $200; around $60i-$80 gets you a good quality middle-of-the-road unit suitable for 95% of systems. Takes about 3 minutes to put one in.


* All except for a remaining few proprietary vomit boxes with well-known and not-even-slightly respected brand names which use non-standard parts in order to screw you to the wall on price. No names here, but initials include the letters C and Q, H and P, and D and L. If you are unfortunate enough to own one of these, the best thing to do is buy a new case and power supply, transfer the components over, and thow the old one in the junk pile where it belongs. Cost: about $100 for a good quality case & PSU. Takes a techie about 15 minutes to swap it over. Say $120 all up.

Arthur: year in and year out, over my 20+ years of building and repairing PCs for a living, Gigabyte have been the most dependable of the motherboard suppliers. Gigabyte is the Toyota of motherboards: get in, turn the key, it starts. Boring. I like boring. Others worth mentioning: Asus are spotty: some models very good, some are terrible: you pays your money and you takes your chance. MSI: see Asus. A-Open: see MSI. Epox: not bad, a bit variable. ASRock: horrible. ECS: my lawyers won't let me say anything. Intel: very dear, lack-lustre featrures and design, but very reliable. Biostar are good but hard to find. Leadtek: OK, but they should probably stick to video cards, which they do well.

[Charmed]

Morning Update

Pete turned it on this morn when he got up.
Got into his account & turned off.

Power off at wall, waited a few, power back on @ wall, booted up
Logged into account, & off again. Turned off & pulled out of wall.

I plug back in turn on about 20 mins later, booted up, logged in & still running.

Still leaning towards the PSU, paying a visit to our one & only so called pc store in town to see if he got any in stock. Not holding my breath

Oh panels are still off. Not putting back on till problem solved.

[dbax]

had this type of thing happen to me last year finished up being a motherboard problem and 2 days ago it happened again, on and off for about 40 minutes then the power in the neighbourhood went out , blackout for 1 1/2 hrs when the power came back on the computer started and has run good as gold, so I assume that computer was affected by the fluctuating power supply. Good luck

[Charmed]

Finally got my butt down the street, could have knocked me down with a feather .
1st time I've gone in that shop & ACTUALLY had something in stock.

New PSU in, did the pull out & blow thing while in there lol
Fingers crossed that's all the problem was. If not its back for next suggestions on everyone's list.

[Jcas]

When i install windows i always go and alter this setting.

Right click on My Computer, then left click on properties, click the Advanced tab, and go down to System Failure and untick Automatically Restart.

This way if things go wrong instead of it rebooting all the time it gives you an error screen with an error number on it which you can google to find out the problem.