Server Help :: View topic - I Need Help, computer shuts off by itself...

Server Help

Trash Talk - I Need Help, computer shuts off by itself...

Renegade_GT - Wed Feb 01, 2006 6:47 pm
Post subject: I Need Help, computer shuts off by itself...

I gotta problem and I was wondering if anyone here can help me... sometimes my comp. justs shuts off by itself, I think maybe it's from leaving it on for long periods of time, but I'm not sure. It's a HP Pavilion, around 5 - 6 years old, 20 GB harddrive, 667 MHz, Intel Celeron processor, came with Windows ME (Millenium, now it has Win XP), came with 64 MB of RAM (now 192 MB RAM)...

I'm from SSCB RedStar and RSFL is coming soon (RedStar Flagging League) and I can't really afford to be playing in RSFL and my computer justs shuts off by itself...

any advice? any1 know what the problem might be? and how to fix it?

Dr Brain - Wed Feb 01, 2006 7:43 pm
Post subject:

Is the outside of the case hot to the touch? Especially the right side, underneath where the CPU sits.

Renegade_GT - Wed Feb 01, 2006 7:47 pm
Post subject:

na, it's not hot, I felt all the sides...

Quan Chi2 - Wed Feb 01, 2006 7:52 pm
Post subject:

Mabye you used too much memory and it feels like exploding!

Gus. - Wed Feb 01, 2006 8:06 pm
Post subject:

Jackass... Does it shut off while your using it?

SpecShip - Wed Feb 01, 2006 9:01 pm
Post subject:

From my own personal experience with my old P3 667mhz, Dr Brain's first guess is probably the right one.
Good chances the CPU isn't ventilating itself properly or overspinning, it doesn't necessarily need to reach a level where the entire case is overheating, just a good 1600 rpms or 60"c or so and it shuts itself down or reboot the pc.
I suggest you goto the CMOS and check the monitoring stations for the temps and rpm, don't just drop by for a second, watch them over a 10 minutes period (yes it's kinda boring) and write the figures down (min, max, avg, like your pings) then cross reference that over at google for what's proper for your CPU.

Either that, or the unlikely event that someone is using a trojan to shutdown your PC (if someone got a trojan in your PC, they'll ussualy do many other things than just to shut it down).

Quan Chi2 - Wed Feb 01, 2006 9:33 pm
Post subject:

That would be dumb.. To have Remote Access to someones computer.. then to shut the system down? wtf? what a dumb H@xZ0r!

Renegade_GT - Wed Feb 01, 2006 9:48 pm
Post subject:

Gus. wrote:

Jackass... Does it shut off while your using it?

yea, after it shuts off, it trys to restart, and then usually shuts off again, and trys to restart again, so I'll turn it off, If I leave it off for like 5+ hours, it works fine, and then will usually shut itself off later on, it depends sometimes...

SpecShip:

I'll do that and see what happens, I'll post the results, and I don't think it's a trojan... (i hope not), I use a firewall, antivirus (Grisoft AVG antivirus) and Ad-Aware SE.

Mr Ekted - Wed Feb 01, 2006 10:54 pm
Post subject:

Reasons it might shut down:

Heat - CPU not properly cooled, fan dead, bad clamp, lots of dust
Bad RAM
Bad motherboard
Bad power supply
Electrical short - wet, dirty, dusty
Hard drive failing (you would probably have seen other symptoms)

I had a serious shutdown problem unrelated to all of the above. My ASUS mobo and Intel stock heatsink clamps were warping the board so badly, it was failing. After checking and replacing almost all of the above, I bought a $5 ASUS heatsink with a nice soft clamp, and it's worked perfectly since.

wEaViL - Thu Feb 02, 2006 3:45 am
Post subject:

Another one for you list Ekted; mis-matched ram will cuase it to shut down for no reason... the chips can be good but from what I recently experianced, 2 ram chips 1 being a single layer and the other a dual chip layer was causing the same problems that he's getting... It didn't start doing it until about 3 months after I installed the 2nd chip. Switched the single layer out with another dual layer and have had no problems since.

aussie243 - Thu Feb 02, 2006 5:33 am
Post subject:

you dont have that windows virous do you that restartes you computer from time to time

do you have ad-aware to remome stupid spy ware and stuff, my computer did stuff untill i go ad-aware se pesonal, i removed around 3000 bad items and couldent beleve how many there was

newb - Thu Feb 02, 2006 5:35 am
Post subject:

Microsoft Anti-Spyware beta is the best thing to get rid of spyware.

Anonymous - Thu Feb 02, 2006 5:47 am
Post subject:

Good ones Ekted.
I think that other than an electrical short I've suffered from all of those at various points.

aussie243 - Thu Feb 02, 2006 6:17 am
Post subject:

Quote:

Microsoft Anti-Spyware beta is the best thing to get rid of spyware

so why dident they recoment there one to me when i had problems

Mr Ekted - Thu Feb 02, 2006 10:34 am
Post subject:

wEaViL wrote:

This is possible, but I assumed his machine was fine for a while, then started shutting down. I don't see how mismatched RAM could run for any length of time if it was truly mismatched.

Cerium - Thu Feb 02, 2006 4:18 pm
Post subject:

Theres also a few virii/worms that exploit various holes in windows that break the RPC stuff, which causes your computer to shutdown...

Those should only be a problem if you are running unpatched windows though.

Dr Brain - Thu Feb 02, 2006 4:50 pm
Post subject:

Ok, not hot... Lets see, does it ever shut off while you're NOT using it?

i88gerbils - Thu Feb 02, 2006 5:00 pm
Post subject:

Humidity?

wEaViL - Thu Feb 02, 2006 11:46 pm
Post subject:

Mr Ekted wrote:

[..]

This is possible, but I assumed his machine was fine for a while, then started shutting down. I don't see how mismatched RAM could run for any length of time if it was truly mismatched.

I didn't think so either but After a few months mine started crashing and rebooting and I traced it down to the ram modules... I didn't think that it would cuase any problems with 2 pc2100 chips 1 haveing chips on both sides and the other only on 1 side. I removed the single chip and it ran fine, then I added a 1gig dual chip and still haven't had any problems other then windows crashing... but thats expected from time to time.

Dr Brain - Thu Feb 02, 2006 11:51 pm
Post subject:

wEaViL wrote:

[..]

I didn't think so either but After a few months mine started crashing and rebooting and I traced it down to the ram modules... I didn't think that it would cuase any problems with 2 pc2100 chips 1 haveing chips on both sides and the other only on 1 side. I removed the single chip and it ran fine, then I added a 1gig dual chip and still haven't had any problems other then windows crashing... but thats expected from time to time.

I think it far more likely that the memory just failed.

newb - Fri Feb 03, 2006 1:18 pm
Post subject:

It could be that you have fucked around with the registry, boot setup.
Are you sure you haven't played around with the msconfig settings? If some important files aren't booted when your computer goes into Windows, it will automatically shut down and try and boot again trying to get the file to run.

Dr Brain - Fri Feb 03, 2006 2:27 pm
Post subject:

newb wrote:

I'm pretty sure that's not happening. If it were, he wouldn't be getting in long enough to leave his computer on for long periods of time only to have it die while he's playing Continuum.

wEaViL - Fri Feb 03, 2006 11:58 pm
Post subject:

His problem is most likely hardware failure.. just from the sounds of it.

Noirenex - Mon Feb 13, 2006 1:07 pm
Post subject:

1st of all check the temperature, the most common problem with this phenomenon is overheating, especially with Intel, they will reboot if they get too hot, some AMD's will just get hotter and hotter until they break.
Secondly, i doubt it is a RAM problem as RAM problems often result in no boot at all.
If the computer works fine after a few hours rest i would be 95% sure it is a heating problem, check if nyou are using a big and fast enough fan and heatsink combo for your CPU, if it came with the computer they are often cheap and replacing it may fix your problem, also ensure there is good contact between your heatsink and the CPU by checking that there is an even and ample amount of thermal insulation compound. An inadequate cooling solution will reduce the life of your CPU and cause unnecessary strain on it.
If the CPU cooling is fine, check your graphics card, does it have/require a fan?
Summary: Check cooling 1st, this is clearly a hardware issue, i am lead to cooling as leaving it to rest for a while heals (Temporarily) the problem. Your case temperature should be around 40 Degrees or less, hard-drives should also run around 40 degrees (c) or less, and CPU\Graphics temperatures differ, google yours and check. Enter the BIOS and look to see if there is a temperature check on the CPU.

Renegade_GT - Tue Feb 28, 2006 9:13 am
Post subject:

I fixed the problem... it was happening because of too much heat, there was alot of dust hidden behind this plastic face of my comp, right near the hard-drive, its a bad design. I took the cover off and used a blow dryer on cool and blew out all the dust and now it's working fine. thanks for every1's help... you guys saved me some money, I was about to bring it somewhere to get it fixed.

Dr Brain - Tue Feb 28, 2006 2:10 pm
Post subject:

Yup, figured it was a heat problem. Glad you fixed it.