computer shuts itself off

[Ronnie B.]

this just started today.i am running xp pro.it started this morning.after about an hour of using my computer,it shut itself entirely off.it wouldnt start again unless i pulled the power chord out then plug it back in.now its doing it every 15-30 minutes,just out of the blue turns itself off.what could be causing this,and is there any hope?

[Paladwyn]

Sounds like a power supply overheating issue, make sure the fan to your power supply is turning, and if it is turning, is it going fast?

That would be step 1, step 2 is making sure the fans on the inside of the computer (CPU and anywhere else) is also turning at a good pace. For the CPU the system BIOS may tell you fan speed. 3200 RPM is a good point to start, anything under tha and it may be going too slow, depends on your heat on the CPU. If your CPU is running over 60 degrees, you are burning it up pretty bad.

[LANjackal]

+1. Sudden shutoffs are usually heat-related.

[Paladwyn]

One of th issues that I see, especially where I live, is that during the winter...there tends to be less heating issues. The problem starts to build up and when spring rolls around and the weather gets warmer, one starts to see the problems emerge. During the summer months where the heat is unbearable in non-air conditioned houses, heat issues are quite bad.

[LANjackal]

One of th issues that I see, especially where I live, is that during the winter...there tends to be less heating issues. The problem starts to build up and when spring rolls around and the weather gets warmer, one starts to see the problems emerge. During the summer months where the heat is unbearable in non-air conditioned houses, heat issues are quite bad.

+1 again. Although their specs claim otherwise, most laptops, for example, were built and designed for air conditioned locations. I learned this the hard way when my previous P4 laptop started giving trouble while I was on vacation in the Caribbean.

[Ronnie B.]

i have alittle more info about this problems.last night,my computer stayed on all night while i slept.and it was downloading and uploading,so there was alot of activity going on.but within 30 minutes of me getting back on the computer,everything shut down again.so i turned the computer back on and this time it was only 15 minutes before everything shut down again.again.after this i turned the computer on again,and left it running 2 hours while i did nothing on the computer,and it never shut down.so evidently this problem only occurs while i'm active on the computer.is this the way the computer would act if over-heating is occuring?this is an annoying problem.

[Fartingbob]

Just uploading and downloading doesnt tax the CPU. When you started using it again after it had been on all night what did you do? Was it something that requires alot of CPU or GPU use? These are the things that generate most of the heat and will cuase your system to crash if they get too hot, so if its a heat problem then it would only occur when your using the problem component heavily.

The fact you can download all night suggests its not to do with your HDD's, so your left with CPU and mobo as likely candidates, with RAM, PSU and GPU all possibilities. You can easily test your graphics card by unplugging it and then just use normally to see if it crashes ( at a horribly low res, but it'll be usable). If you have more than 1 stick of RAM then try removing 1, if the problem carries on, put it back in and take the other one out.
You cant really test the board, CPU or PSU unless you have spares lying around that you know already work. If youve never taken a CPU or its cooler off then id suggest getting someone who knows what they are doing to have a look. Ive seen many people remove the heatsink or actual CPU then put it back incorrectly only to make things much worse.

[Paladwyn]

Well said Bob...

[midbc]

could be a toasted northbridge on your motherboard

[HalOfBorg]

Bad northbridge fan maybe. That's the small fan mounted right on most motherboards. It's about 1 1/2 inch square, should be turning at a good speed. Easy to change, get one at Radio Shack. The heatsink under it may be clogged with dirt.

The CPU heatsink could be loose. We had this on one work PC. One of the mounts had cracked.