Why does my monitor and my pc shut down by its self?

Question

I have a Dell dim3000 w/ 19 in. flat panel. I have had it since 2004. In Feb 2007 I purchased & installed a microsoft wireless keyboard & mouse. (I have had no previous problems w/ these) Over the last month my pc and monitor shut off by themselves. Sometimes just the monitor or both. I thought it was one of our little ones but I've seen it shut off w/ none of them around. I have ran a scan on the drives also, & get nothing. I know plenty about computers, but can't seem to figure this one out. Does anyone maybe have any idea what it might be? Thank You! ; )

Answer 1

Check the power settings in the Control Panel. My guess is they are set to turn off if not in use.

Answer 2

Sounds like a short in the power, somewhere. This is one of those problems that you can't troubleshoot unless you're in front of the computer.
Try using a new power strip/surge protector. Also change out the power cable to the computer. The microswitch which shuts off your computer requires very low voltage. It's in front of the computer. A minor surge or break in power can cause your computer to think that this switch has been pressed. It can also be dust in the switches. Cat hairs will do it, too.
Clean out your computer; get rid of all dust.
Since you say that your computer AND monitor turn off, that suggests that it's your power strip, since your computer won't necessarily turn off your monitor when it shuts down. Are you sure your monitor is really turning off, or does it just go blank?
Lastly, your keyboard may have a sleep key on it which is malfunctioning. Try a different keyboard for awhile.
Have you noticed whether you are using a cordless phone when it happens? The phone signal may be interfering with the signal to the keyboard.
Of course, the obvious thing to check is your power saving settings. Make sure your computer/monitor/hard drive, etc are not set to turn off after a certain period. Go to the control panel and open Power Options (Win XP). Set the functions to "never" turn off.
Lots of possibilities. . .

Answer 3

Hello,

My name is Mike, I’m a Technical Analyst located at Dell corporate headquarters in Round Rock, TX. I’m part of an internet outreach team developed to interact with the online community regarding technical questions and issues that customers face with Dell products. I read your question and wanted to help.

First, since you say you’ve had the system since 2004, and make no mention of upgrading, I would assume that you are still running the Windows XP operating system that shipped with it. I’m not 100% sure where Pomeroy L was going with his post, but Hibernation and Sleep modes have been in the Windows OS family for more then a decade before Vista came out, and this problem definitely isn’t related to any DRM issues, so lets get back on topic and try a few things.

You’ve gotten plenty of advice so far on checking the power management settings so we’ll call that base covered and look into other options. You say that sometimes only the monitor shuts itself off, which definitely sounds like a power saving setting. A quick way to check this would be to unplug the monitor from the back of the computer (not the power, the actual monitor cable) and that should display a monitor self check test on the screen. You will see something along the lines of Blue, Red, and Green bars on the screen. If this happens then we can take the monitor out of the scenario as a possible cause of the problem.

If the monitor tests out fine we can move on to the chassis of the computer. Next we can go into the operating system and open up the “Run” box. START> RUN or Windows key + R. In this box type in: “shutdown –a” (without the quotation marks.) This will keep the system from shutting down in the case of a fatal software error. Now you can go into the Event Viewer (Right click on “My Computer” and choose “Manage” then “Event Viewer”) and look for any errors in the available fields that might point to an application or system resource shutting off the PC. They’re pretty easy to spot so just double click on any error around the time the system shut down and it will give you information about the error and any involved programs. If you notice any trends with specific applications try uninstalling the program involved and see if it helps. If so, then just reinstall the program and see if perhaps it was simply corrupt.

If everything in the event viewer looks good then try doing things like clearing your start up environment and ending any unneeded services by opening the run box again and typing in “msconfig”, then go to the startup tab and clear the items. Make sure to physically disconnect from the internet as this will keep your virus protection from starting automatically, (you can turn it back on after testing by simply putting a check in the box that you cleared.) Also, if you are unsure of what a specific startup item is you can Google search it and get an explanation. Also keep in mind that the less programs that are set to run at start up the faster the computer will boot and also remember that clearing a startup item will not delete the program, it will simply stop it from running automatically when the computer starts.

Next, run a complete virus scan as well as a scan for adware and spyware. If this doesn’t help, reboot your system and go into safe mode by tapping the F8 key when you see the DELL screen and let the system run in there for a while. If it stays on then it’s probably something to do with a faulty driver, application, or virus/malware. In that case you can try disabling all of the drivers and try turning them back on one at a time (again through the msconfig window) until the problem recreates itself or you can back up your information and do a clean install (this might be the better suggestion if you're experiencing a lot of software problems.) I would recommend you back up the information right now anyway, just to be safe.

If you do decide on the clean install you may want to run the diagnostics on the hardware to make sure nothing was affected by this. The Diagnostics are located on the Drivers and Utilities CD that shipped with your system. Just put the disk in the CD tray, restart the system, hit F12 at boot, and select the CD drive to boot from. If you didn’t receive the Drivers and Utilities CD, or just can’t find it, you can download the 32 bit diagnostics by going to our website, www.support.dell.com, click on “Drivers and Downloads” and then enter your service tag or select your system from the drop down menu. Look for “Dell 32-bit Diagnostics” and follow the instructions for downloading them. Once you’ve initiated the diagnostic CD, run the “Extended Test” which will thoroughly test all devices on the system. The test may exceed a few hours so be patient with it. If everything comes out ok, which it should, then you can go ahead and move forward with the reinstall. My apologies to everyone for the lengthy post, but I hope this information is helpful.

Thank you,

Mike
Dell customer advocate

Answer 4

Are you sure you don't have your computer set so it goes to sleep after a certain time? I can't explain why it would suddenly start happening, but check what your Power Option is set to.

Go into Control Panel and click on System Maintenance. Go into Power Options and you should be able to choose when your computer shuts down automatically (after 10 minutes, 4 hours or never). Check the settings.

If that's not it, then I'm sorry but I don't know what it could be.

Answer 5

Dell huh, they are notorius for bad motherboards. It could be a heat issue, when did you clean out your system last? Heat is the number 1 enemy of electronic components, in addition to static :-P. You may have a system health section in your bios, reboot and enter the bios and look for it and post the temps.

Answer 6

Are you sure that it is shutting down and not going into a standby mode...if not check the Display properties and make sure. if that isn't it the there might be a corruption in the software that was loaded. is it compatable with the OS that you are using? goto add/remove programs and remove it and re-install and see if that works.

Answer 7

sounds like maybe you have a virus or trojan.. have you both a firewall + anti virus installed? and do you keep them up to date + windows updates?

if just anti virus, you also need a firewall.

http://www.filehippo.com/download_zonealarm_free/

perhaps scan the pc in safe mode? tap f8 on boot, if theres stuff in there, that will find it..

also give it the once over in safe mode with , read the info about system restore on that page also.

http://vil.nai.com/vil/stinger/

also download spybot and give it a scan with that in safe mode

http://www.filehippo.com/download_spybot_search_destroy/

if theres anything on ya pc that shouldn't be there, hopefully that will find it.

Answer 8

Did you check the power off options in Windows?

START>CONTROL PANEL>POWER OPTIONS

There is an option to power down your monitory, one to power down HD, and one to power down the system.

put "Never" if you want to keep them on forever and remember to do it in both when it is plug to a power source and when running on batteries.

Cheers!

Answer 9

try reinstalling windows

Answer 10

This one is easy. If you are running Vista it has a new feature called SLEEP. I hate SLEEP. Sleep is a combination of two things that make your system very unstable.
Ok remember when you use to record over a tape over and over until it didn't work right at all. Thats what your computer is doing in a sense.
Your computer has an option called hibernate. Hibernate saves everything in your RAM random access memory (which normally would be deleted when the computer shuts off to refresh the memory and prevent RAM "Ghosts" from getting burnt into your system) to your hard drive. Now when you start your computer it just starts where you left off with everything open like it did not shut down. Thats a good thing right? Wrong! After this happens over and over your computer WILL become very unstable. So you should actually do a restart. You are probably one of those people who use to leave your computer on all the time right? Thats not a good idea either. Anyway I said Sleep was two parts right? OK Standby is the other part. Standby is ok but it just saves power.
Now when you combine hibernate and Standby what do you get? Your computer monitor turns off, Your computer looks like it's off, It's really in STANDBY, After a certain amount of time it goes to HIBERNATE and shuts off. This is one of the many features of VISTA Microsoft has put into Windows to better your user experience.

Here is the facts about Windows Vista you should know.

What's wrong with Microsoft Windows Vista?
by John Sullivan — last modified 2007-04-16 18:53

Microsoft's new Windows Vista operating system is a giant step backward for your freedoms.

Usually, new software enables you to do more with your computer. Vista, though, is designed to restrict what you can do.

Vista enforces new forms of “Digital Rights Management (DRM)”. DRM is more accurately called Digital Restrictions Management, because it is a technology that Big Media and computer companies try to impose on us all, in order to have control over how our computers are used.

Technology security expert Bruce Schneier explains it most concisely:

Windows Vista includes an array of “features” that you don't want. These features will make your computer less reliable and less secure. They'll make your computer less stable and run slower. They will cause technical support problems. They may even require you to upgrade some of your peripheral hardware and existing software. And these features won't do anything useful. In fact, they're working against you. They're digital rights management (DRM) features built into Vista at the behest of the entertainment industry—And you don't get to refuse them.

DRM gives power to Microsoft and Big Media.

* They decide which programs you can and can't use on your computer
* They decide which features of your computer or software you can use at any given moment
* They force you to install new programs even when you don't want to (and, of course, pay for the privilege)
* They restrict your access to certain programs and even to your own data files

DRM is enforced by technological barriers. You try to do something, and your computer tells you that you can't. To make this effective, your computer has to be constantly monitoring what you are doing. This constant monitoring uses computing power and memory, and is a large part of the reason why Microsoft is telling you that you have to buy new and more powerful hardware in order to run Vista. They want you to buy new hardware not because you need it, but because your computer needs it in order to be more effective at restricting what you do.

Microsoft and other computer companies sometimes refer to these restrictions as “Trusted Computing.” Given that they are designed to make it so that your computer stops trusting you and starts trusting Microsoft, these restrictions are more appropriately called “Treacherous Computing”.
Even when you legally buy Vista, you don't own it.

Windows Vista, like previous versions of Windows, is proprietary software: leased to you under a license that severely restricts how you can use it, and without source code, so nobody but Microsoft can change it or even verify what it really does.

Microsoft says it best:

The software is licensed, not sold. This agreement only gives you some rights to use the software. Microsoft reserves all other rights. Unless applicable law gives you more rights despite this limitation, you may use the software only as expressly permitted in this agreement. In doing so, you must comply with any technical limitations in the software that only allow you to use it in certain ways.

To make it even more confusing, different versions of Vista have different licensing restrictions. You can read all of the licenses at http://www.microsoft.com/about/legal/useterms/default.aspx.

It's painful to read the licenses, and this is often why people don't object to them. But if we don't start objecting, we will lose valuable freedoms. Here are some of the ridiculous restrictions you will find in your reading:

* If your copy of Vista came with the purchase of a new computer, that copy of Vista may only be legally used on that machine, forever.
* If you bought Vista in a retail store and installed it on a machine you already owned, you have to completely delete it on that machine before you can install it on another machine.
* You give Microsoft the right, through programs like Windows Defender, to delete programs from your system that it decides are spyware.
* You consent to being spied upon by Microsoft, through the “Windows Genuine Advantage” system. This system tries to identify instances of copying that Microsoft thinks are illegitimate. Unfortunately, a recent study indicated that this system has already screwed up in over 500,000 cases.

Free software like GNU/Linux does not require you to consent to these absurd licensing terms. It is called free software because you are free to make as many copies as you want, and to share it with as many friends as you want. Nobody will be monitoring your actions or falsely calling you a thief.
What you can do to help protect your freedom

There is a battle underway between those who value freedom, and corporations such as Microsoft who wish to profit by taking that freedom away. DRM and absurd licenses are at the heart of that battle. Please join us on the side of freedom by saying NO not just to Windows Vista and other DRM-enabled products, but to proprietary software in general. Instead, use non-DRM, “free” software such as the GNU/Linux operating system. You can get your work done while ensuring that your rights and freedoms will not be restricted now and into the future.

As more and more of our lives become digital, it is vital that we protect our digital freedoms just like we have always worked to protect our freedom of expression in print and speech.

You want more info? contact me.

By the way Microsoft is toying with the idea of charging rent on their Software. This means that without paying a monthly or yearly fee you can't even access your own info without using a Linux CD to recover it.

If you want to hear me and my radio co-host talking about these topics go to http://www.tnrlive.com at 5 PM pacific standard time, Standard time or 7: central or 8 Est earn.