tech help my desktop, on Windows XP, frequently immediately turns back off.when power switch is pressed. Help

Question

Now 2 yrs old. emachiunes E400 T2984 or refer me to best free source thanks ben

Answer 1

Benj:

There could be a number of reasons why your computer shuts off, but one that is most overlooked is overheating. If the computer shuts down after a few minutes of usage, and then keeps shutting down when you try to restart using the power button, then your processor is likely overheated.

Make sure that you have no dust buildup around the vent and the fan intake. If you see a lot of dust built up on the ventilation openings, then chances are you have dust on the inside of your cabinet as well. Open up the access panels to your motherboard and carefully run a vacuum cleaner nozzle (or use a dust removal brush) to clean the lint and dust from the inside of your computer. Before you replace the panels, turn on the power to verify that your processor chip cooling fan is spinning. Most Pentium (and newer) processor chips have their own cooling fans build onto the processor. If you do not see this fan working, then that could be contributing to your problem.

One way to pinpoint whether heat buildup is your problem is to let the computer stay turned off for up to 30 minutes, then turn it back on. If your computer powers up normally after being shut down for awhile (and all the components return to normal temperature), then you can presume that heating is the problem.

Good luck!

Answer 2

Normally caused by damaged/corrupted hardware drivers.