My computer keeps spontaneously shutting off - advice, please?
 

I hope you guys can help.
My computer will shut off in the middle of something, or when it's just sitting idle.
It started doing this 3 nights ago and hasn't stayed on for more than 45 minutes at a time, if that long.
Most times the screen goes blank, my Numbers lock button lights up, and my optical mouse goes dead.
I've unplugged the power cords, mouse cord, and various other cords and re-plugged everything, to no avail.
It won't stay on.

I bought the comp. from Dell in 2002 and haven't upgraded any of the hardware.
Every once in a while, before this problem started to happen, I'd hear a high-pitched whine from the tower, which I assumed was the harddrive, from what I've read on here in y'alls posts, but then it would quit and I'd hear no more for a few weeks or months.

About 6 months ago, a buddy that knows a little bit more than I do about computers, cracked mine open and blew out the interior with canned air.
So it should still be relatively clean.

Do y'all have any ideas about what it could be?

Thanks for your help.

Mine used to crap out, and I discovered that the fan wasn't working, and it was shutting down to prevent overheating.

I'd check the temperature of the CPU at about the elapsed time it tends to misbehave.

Thanks for replying, MM.

Is there a way to do that without opening the case? :)

look for a program called motherboard monitor.

But really, it'd be easier just to pop the left side of the case off and look at all the fans. If one's not turning or is clogged with dust, you've found your problem.

Ok, thanks, shakran.

I'll give that a try. :thumbsup:

Btw, it's safe to open while running, right?

Yeah, definitely sounds like an overheating issue. If all of your fans are working you can always trying installing another one or changing heatsinks.

Don't go inside of it. Period.

So, it's not safe?
What do you recommend?

open it when off....then turn it on and check if all fans are working

yeah most likeley the fan.. i had that problem a few years ago..i took the case off the computer so that it would take longer to overheat..worked for a bit..but get the fan replaced..they dont cost much.

Ok, thanks guys, will do.

I'll check back in later.

I appreciate your help and advice.

Yes it is safe to turn it on while it's open. Obviously you never want to unplug or remove anything with it turned on. Avoid touching it or breathing on it because of static form your hands and moisture from your breath can hurt things.

If the sound wasn't always there I'd bet it was a fan that was failing. This may or may not be the cause of the problem.


To troubleshoot your problem:
1) Run a virusscan make sure you don't have like MSBlast or something (though it should be really obvious if you did).
2) Check the case and processor tempatures with motherboard monitor. If the heat is high check the fans and make sure the heatsink is affixed properly.
3) If there is no overheating, replace the powersupply with a new good quality 350-400W PSU.
4) If the problem occours with no overheating and a new PSU does not solve it then test the motherboard and RAM in another computer.


My best guess is that it's a failing PSU since the computer is like 3 years old. Those things wear out over time and if it's a commercial DELL box you know they've got a cheap underpowered one in there to begin with.

If you manage to set up Motherboard Monitor up correct, (not a jab, just sometimes I have problems with it :) ) not only will it tell you if all you need to know about your fans, but it'll also help diagnose a failing power supply.

The high-pitched whine though, certainly seems to me to indicate it's a fan and by extension an overheating problem. Hard drives, and I've only had a few lock up on me over the years, sounds more like a god-awful grinding rather than a high-pitched whine.

Just because it hasn't been mentioned... Have you moved the tower around a bit lately? There was a fellow at work, an instructor on campus, who moved his office around, and being none to careful with the tower managed to knock his motherboard loose, which created an odd little short circuit that completely locked up the pc from time to time. He told the computer services guy that he'd been 'fixing' the problem by giving the tower a good shake....

Could be a stick of RAM going bad, too. I just had the same symptoms on my laptop, and it turned out to be a 256Mb ram card dying. Replaced it with a new 512, and I'm stable as ever.

A friend had this problem before and I tracked it down to the cooling fan on the Videocard. I ended up buying a new card since he was ready for something more powerful and getting a new fan to fit seemed like an ordeal.

one of the office computers at work had this problem. i ended up replacing the fan on the heatsink.

Welp, my brother-in-law looked at the fan in the case and the one in the power supply, and they both seemed to be running slow.
He blew the dust off with some canned air and their performance seems a little better.

While he was in there, he looked to see what size power supply I had.
Come to find out it was only 170W or close to it.
That really surprized me. I thought I had at least a 350.
He told me Dell usually puts in parts that will get the job done with minimal effort.
I don't know the veracity of that statement, but it seemed true in this case.

Anyway, I'm going to buy a better power supply and a better case fan. Hopefully this will solve my problem.

Thanks guys, for all of your help and advice. I really appreciate it. :thumbsup:

o dude if that dosnt work my comp was shuting down atlestevry 5 howers ad after 3 months it wold do it evry 10 minits its was the os was mested up(1 year later the hard drive died) or it was the configeration. the fix reinstal OS

SPELLING!! When I looked at the computer forum this morning, you were listed as the last poster on 9 different threads. That's fine, but your spelling is horendous. Please learn to spell, use paragraphs and give information that is generally beneficial to the thread (hint: more than one sentence).

Couldn't help myself. :lol:

Yeah, I fat fingered that one, but nothing like the post I was originally referring to.

That was my point.