my PC keeps switching off

[samg1988]

ok so randomly over the past like month my pc decides to switch off whenever the hell it likes. well... it restarts. sometimes it starts up then dies again. so i have to wait for ages for it to work.

it likes to do the chkdisk thing aswell. which doesnt help rly.

it also comes up with the message "your computer has recovered from a serious error!"

as far as im concerned it may aswell say "your computer is s**t and doesnt like you very much!"

any ideas what might be wrong and how i coudl fix it?

 

[unofficialPete]

When you say turn off, it does it instantly?

Turn on the blue screen of death:

http://www.wintipz.com/XP/RebootFailure.htm


It should contain information on what is causing the crashing...

 

[fUbAr]

could be getting hot and restarting.

what are you doing when it restarts? Games?

check the cooling, and get a temperature monitor to keep an eye on it.

 

[samg1988]

nah. i had like counterstrike installed but thats being right gay and has that "dont send thing" now.
its just like normal apps. like firefox or even just using ms word. i thought it might be overheating. the fan is well loud sometimes. should i just replace that u think?

 

[fUbAr]

you only have 1 fan?

if its noisy the bearings might have gone, so it needs replacing. Try and find one with good airflow.

you need a good cpu cooler, as well as a couple of good case fans, one sucking in from the front at the bottom, and another blowing out from the back at the top.

 

[Adams_16v]

could be drivers, but i would think its most likely overheating.

try taking the side off of your pc, and if possible having a normal house fan blowing into it to keep things cool. If it improves then theres your problem, and get a better fan.

If not, then it could be hardware related, or driver related, ensure you have the latest drivers for all your hardware, run the MS updates.

If your still having problems, then try taking out various bits of hardware such as sound card, modems etc, see if it improves.

It could be that your gfx card is overheating too maybe

 

[bigmouk]

Ive known of random rebooting etc about 3 times in all the time ive been in IT. Each time for me its been the RAM. Try a friends stick of RAM or remove all but 1 stick if you have multiple sticks in there. Trial and error really.

Actually i think ive had a dodgy hard drive be the cause aswell, mainly RAM though as above ..

 

[theboydann]

There are few options.

Do you have any software on there which monitors fans/temperatures? If that is set and its getting hot or one of your fans is getting a bit s*it it will switch off your machine (this applies to your PSU one also!). for Example Abit motherboards have the ABitEQ which ensures your fans and temps don't go below/above a certain threshold.

What chip do you have/psu? I had a 3200+ Barton and a cheap sh*t 500watt QTec PSU, the chip drew too much current which would stall the PSU and it would power itself down. My dad has burned out 2 PSUs with the same chip/motherboard combo....he now has the mother of all PSUs.

Other than that there are various viruses which can do this, they are intermittent to avoid detection. As an example (I know this is old) Blaster used to simply switch your machine off, which was a pain in the ar$e.

I would try checking your PC for monitoring Software, then check your fans to make sure they are free of rubbish (and the three pin connectors are in correctly). Check the PSU is up to the job (a cheap generic 300watt and a barton 3200 = burned out PSU in time). Finally if that doesn't help download hijackthis and see whats running on your PC.

Thanks

Dan