:confused: Help in need of a computer whizz.

For some strange reason my computer keeps turning off. It only happens when its been left off for a couple hours. I will press the power on button, it starts up as normal, then after about 5 secs it just turns itself off. It doesn't shut down it just has complete power failure. It will do this for 3-4 attempts then work perfectly, as if nothing as happened.

I have tried virus checks/scandisks, error checks. I have checked all power leads and connections, but to no avail.

Does this sound like a component problem or something else?
Anyone out there with any ideas
Cheers lads 'n' lasses
I need my computer or i'll never be a scobby regular ;)




[Edited by Albert47 - 9/27/2003 4:31:18 PM]

could be the processor overheating! check how hot it's running in your bios.
dave

First thing I would do is disable the virus checker.

deffo sounds like processor/m.board/heat prob. as above

BB:)

PS: had a couple of these in the office on NEC mini-towers
ended up skipping them!!!! (after i raided the ram and hard drives etc!!!)

Thanks for the info
Will check the temp in the BIOS. Any idea what the working temp is?

I had this a few weeks ago on one of my old machines. It turned out to be the PSU (power suppply unit). It would start up but as soon as it started to get hot it just turned itself off. Hope this helps.


Tony:)

Sounds like you have something overheating or a crack in a board or component, hence why it only happens after a while. It could be tricky to pin down but one thing I have found in such cases is that more often than not a memory module is at fault. In saying that a memory fault would often produce a blue screen/crash before the shutdown event. If you have several memory modules then it might be worthwhile to remove one and see if the problem goes away. If not then put it back in and remove another and so on.

On the subject of events you might like to take a look in the event log if it is a 2000 or XP machine. Just in case.

Electronic stores like Maplin sell a freezer spray which you spray onto components and it cools them down. It can be very useful for diagnostics in situations like this.

There is a possibility that it is the power supply, again if you can borrow a spare then you can replace yours and see if the problem goes away. My advice is don't open a PSU, there's a lot of charge on the caps even when off and when it is on many have 300V DC across the metal heatsinks!

I'm with faulty psu temp sensor... thermal cut-out.


Andy

>>First thing I would do is disable the virus checker.

Not clever.

I have just had a server that kept crashing, it was NAV making it crash. If you have done a virus check and have the system patched there is no problem disabling the virus checker to eliminate this possibility.
Half the time it’s AV software that fks up causing problems like this.