21 replies to this topic

[steve1368]

Last night my cpu just "shut off" by itself ( not proper shut down ). There was no power on the cpu.

I checked and made sure all wires are intact. I didn't have any clue. Restarted the computer again. After about 30 minutes, same thing happened. That's it...... I went off & slept.

This morning, it went off in seconds after switch on. This happened 3 times when I tried.
The monitor is working fine. I changed the cables & tested in those times and even connected directly without using the ups...same result, on & switches off in seconds.
I don't want to repeat further, fearing repeated on & off might damage something.

I suspect some hardware problem. Anyone has any idea whats the problem & how to troubleshoot this one?

Please advise in layman terms.

Thanks

[Dick Upinya]

Possibly the RAM is going bad. Faulty RAM can shut your computer down. do you get any kind of error message ?

also, ( if using Windows XP ) click on the START menu, on lower left corner, scroll to MY COMPUTER and RIGHT click on it. Scroll down to PROPERTIES and click on that.. Click on the ADVANCED tab. Then click on the SETTINGS tab, under the STARUP and RECOVERY area. Then check the SYSTEM FAILURE section , and UNCHECK the AUTOMATICALLY RESTART box.

I would recommend, installing a new RAM stick(s). always make sure you get quality named Memory (RAM) such as, Kingston, or Crucial.
The cheap, no name RAM can sometimes cause problems, system crashes , etc.

[DjLizard]

Ha-ha, you didn't read the whole post! He can't get into Windows anymore.

Since it powers off almost instantly after power-on, the problem can't be memory [unless a stick physically burned, which is probably not the case here].

It's probably either the power supply, or something in the CPU area (CPU fan died, thermal paste is weak/core shorting on the heatsink, etc etc).

Have a tech check the CPU area first. The fan is either no longer spinning and your core burned out [which means getting a replacement CPU], or it needs to be re-thermal-pasted, or the heatsink is not making contact with the CPU, etc... if all seems well there, then try a known-good power supply.

[Dick Upinya]

I did read the entire post, and NOWHERE on the original post does it mention " Getting into Windows " That would be a software issue. Maybe you need to re-read the post ?
The post talks about the CPU shutting down for an unknown reason.
Steve1368 could you please clarify ?

[DjLizard]

Maybe you need a new forum name, Richard.

He says that now it powers off seconds after powering on, and that's how you know you can't get into Windows, dick. I mean Dick.

He clarified well enough for my taste, I gave some suggestions, and now we wait to see what happens.

[Tarun]

Check and mate. Final score: DjLizard - 1 Dick_Upinya (Sounds like a sexual term and a TOS Violation) - 0.

[rridgely]

HAHAHA, I just love it when people try to tell dj that he's wrong. Out of all the new people that try I dont think any of them have been right.

[Tarun]

rridgely, on Jul 13 2005, 04:38 PM, said:

HAHAHA, I just love it when people try to tell dj that he's wrong. Out of all the new people that try I dont think any of them have been right. 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yeah. It's rare if you can catch him making a mistake too.

[Dick Upinya]

DJ means nothing to me, im sure he is wrong alot.
and theres nothing wrong with my name. Take it as you want.
Best of luck to Steve1368, try a new forum , for advise
like PCTech.com.

[DjLizard]

I'm sure that telling him to click Start when his computer won't power on is pretty wrong.

PCTech.com contains nothing presently.

I never said I was perfect. I am wrong quite a [space] lot.

The next person who posts needs to be steve. K? Thanks.

[steve1368]

Since I live in a different time zone, I didn't get any replies from anyone yesterday morning ( my time ).

So, I managed to get a tech to check my pc, last night. After checking, he knows, what I meant shutting off in seconds after switching on.

So, he went to safe mode, but the computer didn't shut off and still working. He did some other checking with my computer, which I don't know ( yesterday night I had some unexpected visitors, so I had to juggle my time with the tech & the visitors ).

But I know he went to "msconfig" ( if I'm not wrong of the spelling) & saw something alien, that is some small "boxes" character. After removing the boxes the computer can work as usual. But the "boxes" came back again when he checked msconfig. His suspicion & he repeated that it is only a guess, that it could be a worm. He needs more through checking he said. The mobo looks OK by visual inspection. He doesn't suspect power supply anymore.

After he left, I restarted the computer , boom...same thing happened again. But I restarted again the comp and it worked well without shuting off. So I quickly burned some important documents. At that time, I noted my software firewall was disabled and my comp is still working without shutting off by itself. I did a scan with ewido, nothing found. So I went to bed.

This morning, I switched on the comp, still working properly, no shutting off in seconds. Again I noted my fw was disabled.

Tonite, I'm going to remove the software fw and monitor the comp for anything else. Meanwhile, I'm going to learn from my nephew about reinstalling computers.

If nothing happens, then it is OK, but if the damn thing happens again, I'm going to reinstall my comp.

BTW, DickUpinya, take it easy. The guys over here are good fellas. Read as many posts you can, you'll understand what I mean. To me, when I'm in s**t , these guys help me out a lot. So I'm sticking here.

Cheers.

EDIT - Additional info :

The fans are working.
I've got 3x256 MB Kingston RAM. Out of which 2x256 MB RAM was installed 3 weeks ago. No problem on RAM so far. No beeps , no other sounds, no error message.

[DjLizard]

Sounds good. So when you said it was shutting off within seconds, you didn't really mean within seconds..? That it was trying to go into Windows and would blow up before it got there (but allowed safe mode) ? Just wanted to make sure I understand.

So then you *do* have a software problem? It'd be a good idea to read/run-through Tarun's anti-malware guide if you haven't yet. (cue Tarun to paste his usual spiele) The boxes entry may not be malware. Or it may be an entry that really no longer exists, or an entry with an undisplayable name (like UNICODE). Well, try Autoruns [ http://www.sysintern...s/Autoruns.html ] and remove any entries in the Logon tab that say 'file not found' near them.

Cheers.

[Dick Upinya]

DJLizard ,

Told ya so

[steve1368]

DjLizard, on Jul 14 2005, 02:02 PM, said:

Sounds good.  So when you said it was shutting off within seconds, you didn't really mean within seconds..?  That it was trying to go into Windows and would blow up before it got there (but allowed safe mode) ?  Just wanted to make sure I understand.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Actually, the shut off time varied, some was very immediate,but all of it never made it into windows. I should have narrated better for clearer uderstanding, guess I didn't.

DjLizard, on Jul 14 2005, 02:02 PM, said:

So then you *do* have a software problem?  It'd be a good idea to read/run-through Tarun's anti-malware guide if you haven't yet. (cue Tarun to paste his usual spiele)  The boxes entry may not be malware.  Or it may be an entry that really no longer exists, or an entry with an undisplayable name (like UNICODE).  Well, try Autoruns [ http://www.sysintern...s/Autoruns.html ] and remove any entries in the Logon tab that say 'file not found' near them.

Cheers.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I have applied Tarun's Anti Malware and his guide to keep my pc clean and I run them at least every 2 days, if not everyday. I'll try Autoruns at my pc later(my whole neighbourhood has a power failure & I'm writing from a pc in my sister's home). Will post updates later.

Thank you very much.

d*** Upinya, on Jul 14 2005, 06:51 PM, said:

DJLizard ,

Told ya so

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I guess you are new here and trying to help and you don't mean to be unfriendly. Sometimes, it will be good if you don't try to proof that you are right & others to be wrong......well just a thought, thanks for your help anyway.

[DjLizard]

Richard, don't be an asshole; I can help only as much as the quality of the description of the issues.

If you continue on your path, you're going to get flamed, and not even by me!

[steve1368]

DjLizard, on Jul 14 2005, 02:02 PM, said:

Well, try Autoruns [ http://www.sysintern...s/Autoruns.html ] and remove any entries in the Logon tab that say 'file not found' near them.

Cheers.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

DjLizard, tried Autorun, no entries with "file not found" near them. BTW my pc has not shut off suddenly so far. My fw is still turned off, I wonder my fw got screwed up and gave such a problem?

[DjLizard]

I dunno. I don't even use firewalls (except the built-in Windows firewall). I don't have anti-virus, anti-spyware, a software firewall, nor hardware firewalling (I'm DMZ on my router).

I do use Peerguardian, which is a sort of protection, but protection isn't even what I use it for

[steve1368]

DjLizard, on Jul 14 2005, 10:43 PM, said:

I dunno.  I don't even use firewalls (except the built-in Windows firewall).  I don't have anti-virus, anti-spyware, a software firewall, nor hardware firewalling (I'm DMZ on my router).

I do use Peerguardian, which is a sort of protection, but protection isn't even what I use it for

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Ha ha, you go "Commando" as you mentioned somewhere before.

Well, I'll just remove the fw and check it out.

[DjLizard]

LOL. I did say that, didn't I.

[Dick Upinya]

DjLizard,

your in violation of TOS, with your "a**hole comment.
Please be advised, I may just have to Flame you

LOL