Why does my computer just randomly shut down?

Question

lately its been happening more often, it turns off and re-starts, why is that? or it freezes up at times...should i get it fixed and where? and how much should i expect to spend?? oh yeah and what is a good protection-software for your computer?
any advice highly appreciated thanks


i always a 'working sound' from the computer and then it stops is that bad....

if i have a virus what software should i use? which is the best out there but not too expensive .... thanks

Answer 1

Here r some reviews abt the same problem.
study all ,then, u will get an idea of wht is going on in ur pc.
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Your problem isn't gone; what is causing it is not being triggered right now.
You have a fast processor; 256 MB RAM is a little low, but that shouldn't cause the probs you describe. I can't see that upgrading anything is needed at this point.

Try cleaning out the case: pop the cover, take it out on the rear porch and reverse a vacuum cleaner to GENTLY blow out the dust bunnies, dingleberries and whooosits that collect over time. Use a soft, clean brush to clean between the CPU heatsink fins and the vent fan blades. Check the rear of the power supply and case vents for dust buildup.

When done, make sure that you don't jiggle or dismount anything like the memory sticks, video card (if you have one), etc.
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I've seen some malware that does this. If it is malware/trojan it will initiate the 30 second shutdown upon detection. You need to issue a Start>Run>Shutdown -A command and that will kill the shutdown process when it starts. Get Adaware and run it in short bursts - like let it catch 1-20 items, stop the process, remove the items and start over. Keep doing this until no item are found. Any time during the scan when the shutdown window appears quickly click on Start>Run and run the Shutdown -A command so the cleaning process can continue.
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Well,I had the same prob once, and it started with the unit freezing/restarting only in games, then over a period of time it did it with everything. I finally traced it to one of my memory sticks had some bad addresses hi-up, and they would only be reached when the memory was almost full-loaded and stressed, like with games. Regular proggies didn't demand as much so it ran fine. Drove me nuts for several weeks until I switched ram sticks to test.

If it's not your memory, you might try testing your power supply. Best thing is to get a cheap tester - Newegg has a Powmax Power Supply Tester for $15 including shipping. I can't guess how many hours mine has saved me guessing about a power supply
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to find out more reviews on that, pls go here

http://www.computing.net/security/wwwboard/forum/14672.html

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Hope this helps u.

Answer 2

There are several things that may be playing into why your computer is randomly shutting down. You can "guess" or you can go to the Event Viewer and Windows will tell you why.

Here is how you get to the Event Viewer:

1. Right-click on My Computer and go to Manage.

2. On the left-side go to the Event Viewer section under System Tools.

3. Click on the System section and lookup the date/time of the crash. Look for a red circle with an X - these are system errors.

This will give you an idea if a particular program is crashing or if you have a memory problem, etc. If you can't find anything logged in the Event Viewer you most likely have a virus or a hardware problem.

A lot of random reboots are due to a failing power supply. If the machine can't get enough power it crashes. If you want a suggestion for a good anti-virus program...go for Nod32. It rocks and hardly takes any RAM/CPU. Norton is a hog and will slow you down.

Answer 3

I think that some basic maintenance is in order, here.

Use all of the system utilities you have. Go to Start, then Programs, then Accessories, then System Tools. Check the list of maintenance utilities programs that are available to you, and use them one by one. Te begin with, remove the clutter from your computer. That is, any unwanted files or programs. This will help to unclog your computer. After you have removed unwanted files and programs, defragment your hard drive. Before doing this, close all other programs. Start by looking at your taskbar, and right click on all of the icons on it, look for the menu to appear, then click either "close" or else "disable", whichever option is available.

Then reboot your computer, to see what happens.

Remember, that the more programs you have running simultaneously, the more RAM you are consuming. If you use all of your RAM, and/or if the programs you are using demand more of it than you have, then this will cause your computer to freeze. So then, either install additional RAM (if you know how to do that) or else have someone install it for you. Otherwise, run less programs simultaneously.

For protection, you need, at a minimum: a good Antivirus program, antispyware protection, and a firewall. Norton and McAffee are good computer security programs, but they will cost you some money. However, it is cheap protection, compared to having to throw your computer into the nearest dumpster, and also becoming a victim of identity theft. It is also a good idea to have a spam filter. Check the Internet, and you can likely find free or else low cost spam filters. If you have Windows XP or else Vista, then you can get Windows Defender, which is free firewall protection. You will need to configure all of the above mentioned security programs, to suit your preferences.

Answer 4

It could be due to a software of hardware problem. It is possible it is a virus so do a scan first. If it's when you open a certain program try removing the program or reinstalling. It may also be something like the hard drive which is causing it to shut down. This can be due to over heating or just a faulty hard drive. Even if it isn't the hard drive over heating may be causing it. If you think this is the problem and haven't already got one you can buy cooling pads for laptops. And always having a laptop plugged in means the battery won't last as long. You'd do best to run it on battery as much as possible.

Answer 5

Sounds to me like your computer is crashing. It used to be that when there would be a fatal error, windows would show you the blue screen of death and that would show you the errors so you could diagnose a little easier. Now, XP by default, just restarts. So, the first thing I would do is,

Right click "my computer"

select properties

select the "advanced" tab

select "settings" under the "startup and recovery" section

untick "automatically restart" under "system failure"

usually, what causes a computer to crash is a ram problem. So you want to check if your ram is ok. My recommendation is to use memtest.

http://www.memtest.org/

you would have to download it and either burn it to a disk or put in on floppy disk then have the computer boot from the said disk. Now most of the procedures can be difficult if you can't even get your computer to start. So, some suggestions would be

if you have a few sticks of ram on your system, try taking out all but one and see if you can get the system to start. then you can easily diagnose which stick might be faulty. If this is all too much for you, just go to the local computer shop. Usually they can at least diagnose what the problem is relatively cheap.

Answer 6

My guess would be that you have spyware and/or viruses...or your computer is piece of crap, but that's highly unlikely. If you don't want to spend money, there are some free spyware/anti-virus programs. I have Ad-Aware (free malware/spyware protection) and I got it from here --http://www.lavasoftusa.com/products/ad_aware_free.php

As for free anti-virus, I have one by symantec, but I don't know if they offer a free one anymore. Just do a google search for "anti-virus freeware" or something like that.

If you get those, run them, and it still doesn't work, you need to go to the store. Just go to a Staples, Office Max, Office Depot, Circuit City, Best Buy, etc. and ask the workers there.

If that STILL doesn't work, you will have to reinstall whatever operating system you're using (Windows XP, Vista, whatever).

Oh, and to prevent this type of thing, only visit sites that you know won't give you viruses or malware, don't download risky things, don't open suspicious e-mails, etc.

OR do what other people are saying, I'm NOT extremely computer savy.

Hope this helps.

Answer 7

Sounds like you you have a virus. You can get norton antivirus software to fix it. cheapest one would probably be $30.

Answer 8

either you have a virus,bad power supply it overheat's or you have a hardware or driver issue. those are your starting to point's to figuring it out. start with power supply then onto anything you may have hooked up recently then onto checking driver's then i would worry about a virus. and i wouldn't spend a dime i would visit a forum for help, they are free. i have one http://aresforum.net

Answer 9

i would think that yuo have be infested by a virus. scan your computer with everything you got and if that doesn't work i would try to reinstall the operating system.

BE SURE TO BACK UP YOUR FILES BEFORE YOU REINSTALL WINDOWS OR VISTA

Answer 10

Sounds like an overheating problem.
Check your fans to see if they are all working.
and/or install additional fans to help with cooling.
Auto-updates will reboot your PC sometimes, but not to often.
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