-
help please my computer keeps shutting down?
Hi all,
can anyone help?
i have a problem with my computer, it keeps turning off on it’s own while i’m working and won’t start up again for 15-20 minutes.
it does not matter what i’m doing and apart from this there are no probs.i’ve done all the virus checks etc and nothing appears wrong. sometimes it will run all day and other times it will do 10 mins and turn off! some days it happens 4-5 times some days not.
please help before it turns off again 😥
-
20 Replies
-
sounds like it’s over heating Lee. Perhaps replacing the cooling fan might help. 😀
-
hi lee 😀
ask marcella…she must be an expert at finding out pc problems :lol1:
im kidding 😉
sounds heat related to me ie: processor or psu….. 😀
nik
-
i was thinking maybe that. would i still be able to hear the fan or not coz it’s running and a slight ‘breeze’ is coming out the back, bit like me the wife is saying!
-
a good clean and a sook with a hoover will help too :lol1:
nik
-
when you first boot up, does the fan sound a little noisy? If so, maybe time to replace it or clean the dust off it. Or reseat it on the cpu using heat conducting silicone.
Nik – I’m going into IT consulting. 😀
-
thanks nik that’s me sorted but what about the computer? i thought i’d get some help here 😀
-
dust is a computers enemy… fans stuck…. more power supply area… get the hoover out and we are not kiddin!
-
sounds like heat, you have 1 fan in the power supply, 1 fan on the processor and may be 2 more in the case and may be 1 on the vid card try leaving the side off and see what happens it may help the cooling and you can see if any stop to, also you may be able to see the processor temp in the bios.
hope that helps you a bit.
-
what’s a hoover look like?
only joking, thanks all and if that don’t do it i’ll try marcella’s tips.
-
quote Lee Husselbury:thanks nik that’s me sorted but what about the computer?
:rofl: :rofl: good one……… :lol1:
nik
-
The fact that it won’t turn on again for 15-20 minutes sounds like the over-heating failsafe is being activated which allows for the chipsets to cool and the fans to catch up to their normal duty cycle.
If you haven’t turned off your Event Log give that a look, see what is causing the crash.
-
I had a similar problem once. In my case it turned out to be software related.
My PC was used for satellite broadband and when that was working the computer shut down whenever it felt like it. No sat broadband, no problem.
The computer was sent away, checked, overhauled, parts replaced, but nothing did any good.
My problem was only solved by BT eventually getting broadband installed at our telephone exchange, and as I had no other use for a PC, I was able to drop it into the local landfill. That was very satisfying after all the frustration and wasted hours it had caused me.
-
The CPU would be my bet. The video card can also trip the kill switch, as can a faulty hard drive, but the fact that its waiting so long, I’d suggest the CPU. Hard Drive can not be ruled out though.
How long does it run between each trip? Try unplugging the hard drive when it trips next time. If it turns back on quicker, you may have found the culprit.
If the stepper motor on the drive is going short, it may trip out inconsistently. The best way to find out is run it without the drive connected, and see if it fails again.
Speaking as an ex technician, it can be either a simple fix, or one that could drive you nuts. 😛
-
thanks shane,
sometimes in runs all day other times it will turn off after 10 minutes.
i’m hoping it is just overheating, it happens more when wifey on it, coz she always puts the heater on when she’s in this room (always says she’s cold, with 2 jumpers, central heating and fan heater!!)
that must be the problem. now to find a new wife that should solve it.
i’ll try some of the things you all said and see what happens.
thanks again
-
quote Lee Husselbury:thanks shane,
sometimes in runs all day other times it will turn off after 10 minutes.
oopps Now it sounds like the hard drive. Easiest thing is to start at the cheapest options first… Replace the wife… then if that’s not it, try the drive.
A over hot CPU should be more consistent. The hard drive may work harder with the wife, which will cause it to fail quicker than if it is just sitting there in background ‘mode’ without the stepper doing any serious work.
If the stepper has gone short, it may be just a case of when it ‘seeks’ an area of the drive that causes the stepper to hit the short. When Western Digital released the 20mb (yes 20mb)drive originally, many moons ago now, they had an inherent fault with the stepper that caused this exact scenario. I was a WD Warranty agent at the time, and the failures of these drive let me put a pool in my back yard at the time.
Be interested in what you find though.
-
quote Shane Drew:Easiest thing is to start at the cheapest options first… Replace the wife…
You are joking Shane?
Replacing the wife would be an extremely expensive option. 😀
-
quote John Childs:quote Shane Drew:Easiest thing is to start at the cheapest options first… Replace the wife…
You are joking Shane?
Replacing the wife would be an extremely expensive option. 😀
Really? 😮 I ‘ve just got to give my wife a tenner, and she’ll disappear off to the shops for a whole day. Whats more, we only have to have an argument, and she disappears off to her mothers, and that costs me nothing 😉 :lol1:
-
I would look at overheating first as well, its amazing how many people complain that they are having problems with their computer after a year or so and when you open it up you could grow potatoes in it !!!!
Take the side case off and clean out all the dust from the case and clean all the fans not forgetting the fins in the heat sink.
Put it back together and try it again, if you still have a problem then you need to look a little further and start checking things like HDD and CPU’s.I wouldn’t think the heat sink has been disturbed if you havent had the computer apart before but you could just check it is still in place properly on top of the CPU.
-
I forgot to add, that a simple way to check to see if its over heating is to take the cover off the case and aim a regular old desk fan directly at the computer (just plug it into a seperate outlet from the one the computers plugged into to avoid the EDDY current)
Also, have you done any upgrades to the computer recently? Such as added more RAM? this is another cause of this problem.
-
i’ll try the cleaning thing first.
the computer is only 1 year old and i hav’nt upgraded or had anything done.
come to think of it we have had half the house re-plastered, it’s not in those rooms but that dust don’t arf travel about!
i’ll put it in the bath and give it a good soak 😀
Log in to reply.
