Computer shuts down by itself

[LadySlinger]

Hello,

Over the past week my computer keeps shutting itself off. It's quite annoying because I'll be in the middle of a program and then my screen goes blank before I can save.

I've double checked the hybernating mode, and have at least got it to warn me with the Shut Down/Restart/Standby menu before it actually shuts itself off.
I can't seem to find anything out of the ordinary in the Events menu either. Also have run Ad-aware for any spyware that might be doing this. Have deleted the files, but the computer still does the same thing.
I thought maybe its the power strip, but my monitor and everything else attached to the strip stays on when the computer shuts off.

Anyone have any ideas? I.e. could there be a virus that's causing this? Or does this sound more hardware related?

Thanks!
Ladyslinger

 

[hfriberg]

Sorry to hear about your problem but you might be right about the hardware and have the motherboard checked out, it could have a incompatible chip on it. I have had to return a few p3 733 because of the same type of occurance happening.

good luck!

hal

 

[vandellia]

Windows xp has a setting that will automatically shut the system off if it encounters a fatal error. if this is enabled and it is by default then this could be what is happening. From what I have seen most fatal errors seem to be caused by a video error.

 

[linney]

While in the Event Viewer.....



Also check any "Information" line that mentions "savedump" and you should find reference to "recovered from a bug check". This is the Stop Error that caused your problem.

If your problem persists post back with this Stop Error.

You can also turn off "automatically restart after an error" so it will just halt at the fault and display the full Stop Error and blue screen.

Right-click My Computer, and then click Properties .
On the Advanced tab, click Settings under Startup and Recovery .
Click to clear the Automatically restart check box under System failure , and then click OK . The error message on a blue screen should remain on the screen so you can record the error information.

 

[pritska]

Does the same occur in Safe Mode? If it's video related, it may not appear in Safe Mode. Try going into safe mode...this will also enable you to do some of the above things without the machine shutting down on you while you're trying to modify a setting.