Zeraph

I’ve got kind of an odd problem here with my computer. Basically it shuts off seemingly at random. Opening the case and putting a big fan next to it seems to help, for awhile. Obviously this seems like a heating problem, but all my fans are working, and have worked perfectly since we built the computer a year ago. Also, when it shuts off, it won’t turn on again for awhile, but if I turn off the power completely (basically unplug it) and turn it back on I can turn the computer on again.

I have not modified any hardware or software, pretty much everything is up to date (except maybe some drivers.) I did, however, clean the insides with compressed air (that’s meant for cleaning the dust out.) Normally this wouldn’t at all be a problem, but the random shutting down happened an hour after I cleaned it, a pretty big coincidence. I tried cleaning it again, but no luck.

The computer works normally when running all the normal programs, no abnormal slowdowns or anything.

With the fan next to it, it will normally stay on for maybe 4-6 hours (a guess really since normally it’s not on longer than that.) Though this morning it shutdown after about an hour but the fan was on low, normally on medium so that may have been it, or it might be getting worse. Without the big fan its stays on something like 20 mins to 2 hours.

I should also mention when it shuts down it’s usually running an intensive program (world of warcraft, or half life 2) but that doesn’t necessarily mean anything since that’s about all I do when this computer is on.

I think it’s either the processor or the power source. You guys have any idea? Thanks for any replies.

Specs:
Windows XP
AMD Athlon XP 2500+
1.83 Ghz
(2 256) 512 MB ram Kingston kvr400 (DDR PC 3200)
ATI Radeon 9800 pro
K7n2 delta msi
60 GB, Maxtor diamondmax plus, 8mb buffer, ata 133