my compute shuts of itself, help!?

Question

i have not downloaded any new software. I had the same problem 6 months ago and i got my mother board changed. recently, the same problem has reoccured. it doesnt shut off immediately but after using the pc for sometime.

Answer 1

Try a spring clean of your drive.
http://www.lifehacker.com/software/windows/geek-to-live-how-to-format-your-hard-drive-and-install-windows-xp-from-scratch-157578.php

If that doesn't help take it to a repair shop
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Answer 2

I also faced the same problem. I had power plug loose connection which was causing it to shut down and restart by itself. I changed my poer supply multiport extension, now I don't have problem.
Firstly check your power supply extension for any loose connection and if you are in doubt change it.
Second, may be lot of dust gets accumulated inside the PC. This dust reduces the dessipation of heat, may be one of your cooling fan not working.
Before taking the big step, do this, check your cooling fans are working properly by physically checking it. Open your PC and clean out all the dust from inside. If you know inside of computer then remove your cards one by one and clean the contacts and it's slots and fix them back firmly.
Remove cooling fan of your processor and apply cooling gel evenly thin layre on the processor (this gel is available with PC retail shop and its very cheap), fix the cooling fan back and close your CPU and start your computer. I think it will solve your problem. If it still persist take it to competant computer service center.

Answer 3

All good answers. Really, though, I don't believe it is the power supply, or really any hardware problem. A good way to test if it is your power supply is to press F8 before the Windows load screen comes up. When the menu comes up, just press down and the countdown will stop, allowing you plenty of time to choose an option. Instead of choosing an option, just let your computer sit there for at least 1.5 times the amount of time that it normally takes for it to shut off. If it shuts off this time, you can pretty much narrow it down to your power supply or your RAM (RAM overheating can reset your computer... not sure if it would shut it down).

It's definitely not your CPU if you're getting into Windows just fine... the CPU overheating would normally shut down the computer before you even get to the Windows loading screen.

That being said, it's most likely a software problem (rather, a problem based within Windows itself). The easiest way to test this is to press F8 before the Windows loading screen (as before) and choose "Safe Mode". Let it boot into Safe Mode and let it sit there for about 2 times the amount of time it normally takes for it to shut down. If it shuts down like before after doing this, then it's pretty safe to say that your problem is a hardware problem. In all likelihood, it should not shut down after this, though.

If you've gotten this far in the process and haven't been able to reproduce the problem, this is a good sign. It means that the problem is within Windows itself, and is most likely a rogue program or service causing the shutdown. Boot into Windows as normal and, when the user interface starts to load, press Ctrl+Alt+Del to bring up the Task Manager. Click the Performance tab and watch for the CPU usage to increase by a massive amount. If / when this occurs, click the Processes tab and click the "Mem Usage" heading twice to sort your processes. If the one listed at the top is svchost.exe, then you need to Google "svchost problem" and do a lot of reading... it's not an easy fix (I've had to do it before), but it's doable.

If nothing stands out in Task Manager while Windows loads, then there are a couple possibilities. I know you didn't download any new software, but have you installed / updated any new hardware drivers recently? Sometimes, an incompatible driver can cause symptoms similar to the ones you're having.

Also, Google "unnecessary services Windows XP" and find a website where someone details services that you can turn off. I say this because the Telephony service has been known to cause issues similar to this as well, and I'm sure other services may have similar symptoms if they are not being used properly by your system. Turn off any unnecessary services by clicking Start, Run, type "services.msc" and press Enter; this will bring up the Services management console so that you can start/stop services. Set any services you don't need to "Disabled" so they won't start on boot.

Finally, it could be a rogue program that's starting up when Windows does. Click Start, Run, type "msconfig" and press Enter. Click the Startup tab and see if you notice any items that don't look like something you've installed. If they look unfamiliar, uncheck them and see what happens on the next reboot. There is no danger in doing this as system processes are not started from this startup list.

This whole process will take time but, as long as you can narrow the problem down to a software problem, you're not looking at investing any money to fix the problem. If the symptoms still occur after all of these steps and multiple reboots have occurred, then I would suggest downloading Avast antivirus. The great thing about Avast (other than the fact that it's free and quite good) is that it can do boot-time virus scanning. This means that you can scan for viruses before the virus has a chance to load with Windows, which could eliminate some pesky viruses. Avast will prompt you during the install process concerning a boot-time virus scan; if you choose to do that, it will restart your computer and do the scan before Windows loads again.

If the symptoms continue even after all of this, then I could only suggest that you get your personal files and such backed up to an external device... and reinstall Windows. Sometimes, old reliable is not so reliable, but your symptoms should have stopped before now.

Answer 4

You might have an internal component over heating. All it would take is a loose componebt inside and if you computer has been moved or bumped , this could have caused another part to become loose. I dont know who you had rplace your mother board but I would start with them.
It just shuts down the computer so it doesnt fry itself or catch fire.

Answer 5

I agree with them that you need a new power supply. You might need to get help with it but each part of a computer needs a sertain wattage to run. If your power supply doesn't supply it then things just go out and stop working simply because they don't have enough power. The computer could also be over heating because of this or lack of air circulation (lack of fans).

A lot of people had problems with not paying attention to the temp of there computer and they would burn out cards and ruin them, they have now fixed that so that most all computers are aware of there temp to a sertain extent and will shut off to keep from burning out cards. Saves people lots of money. :D

Answer 6

From a hardware perspective, it could be a problem with your power supply, so try replacing that. (Don't worry, they're fairly cheap.)

From a software point of view, even though you haven't downloaded any new software, viruses or crackers could still be fooling around with your machine. You need to get a good antivirus/firewall (like McAfee), and make sure it is updated regularly, and scans regularly.

Answer 7

Do you have a couple of anti virus programs on? I would get at least 2 and run them. Also, clean up your programs and delete unwanted documents, pictures, programs, etc.

It sounds like you have a virus.

Answer 8

it sound to me like you have a power supply problem, try to replace it, they are not expensive.
www.tigerdirect.com

email if more help needed.

Answer 9

i had faced this problem due to some virus ......try to format u r all drives.........and install os freshly....and install any power full anti virus.......and check if external drives inluded

Answer 10

probably doing it to protect itself, perhaps from overheating or something like that