PC shut-off problem ... Why ?

[ylan]

My 3 year old PC ( Win XP Pro, Celeron 466 ) started to develop start-up problems :

-I could not start it at my desk . So I brought it downstair to open it up and see what was wrong.

_ After plugging it in , I still could not start it. But after waiting for about 15 minutes, I could start it up again. I replugged it upstair at my desk, it worked for half an hour then shut off all of a sudden ! After that, the PC showed no sign of life when I pushed the start button. I thought the culprit might be the power supply which was only 2 months old ( 250w little-known brand called "Deer&quot . So I changed it with a brand new Delta 300w power supply unit .

- Now, I can start the PC but it keeps on shuting itself off every 10 minutes quite regularly. Each time, I have to wait at least 10 minutes to be able to start it up again. Apparently, something else might be involved here.

_ I do not believe it is a heat problem because the CPU fan and the case fan are working fine . I even kept the PC casing off . Besides, 10 minutes are not enough to create any significant amount of heat ( especially when no program was running).

Please advise how to diagnose and fix this frustrating issue. Thanks,

 

[BitFuzzy]

sounds like your cpu is over heating or bad

 

[ylan]

Thanks for the tip, Bitfuzzy . I wonder if there is any way to confirm your dianosis ? How can I check if a CPU is malfunctioning ? Any suggestion for a simple diagnostic software? . Thanks

 

[Grenage]

It is possible perhaps that when your original PSU broke it damaged other components in the machine, that aside it still sounds like a PSU issue but it could be the CPU/Motherboard.

 

[BitFuzzy]

Well the only way to test this, is to swap out items one at a time..

CPU Fan, CPU

As far as diagnostic software is concerned.. you could go into your bios and check your cpu temp / readings

 

[davedevlin]

I had this problem too for a while and it turned out to be the msblaster and welchia virus. Check the symantec site for the removal tools. It may not be this at all but worth a try.

 

[nomadtech]

within 10 minutes you can go check into the registry to :

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

if you see something likes

"windows auto update"="msblast.exe"

then its prolly your problem, we had a few pc's with this "feature"

 

[Nowell]

Hi,

Definitely sound like your CPU is overheating, what is the temp in bios?

Or maybe it is damaged, download a program called prime95 it will give your cpu a full work out and you can see if there are errors.

Prime95 is very good for overclocking.

 

[SpockKnock]

IMO its most likely your power supply. Is there any air blowing out of the powersupply when your computer is on? It could even be blowing intermittently or very slow. I'd try swapping one out before trying anything else.

 

[myklc]

ylan, looks like lots of good advice, for the software for CPU testing, search for microscope and download - they made the version 8 available on a magazine CD this year (in Australia) and it makes a boot floppy with relevant and excellent test suites.
What happens if you boot, into BIOS and leave it there???

If nothing - then it's not likely to be heat, theredfore virus or other software glitch. If it restarts or whatever, then it's a hardware issue.

 

[viol8ion]

Make sure the fan on your CPU is working. I had this problem on a PC and it was because the fan had died... make sure the heatsink is secure too.

When in doubt, deny all terms and defnitions.

http://www.wuli.com

 

[SYAR2003]

Goto memtest86.com
Download memtest86 and make this program at a floppy disk run the test at the problem computer
tests cpu & memory without windows.

Then you will find out for sure if its hardware ,
and not some windows corruption.