Shutdown Problem 1

[shannanl]

I have a very strange problem. I have an Intel 915GAV mobo in a computer that just shuts down for no reason. First I suspected heat issue. I pulled the heat sink, cleaned off the paste, applied new paste and reseated. The heat sink seems to be doing its job. The fan is running fine. I replaced the power supply. I tried a different video card and ram. It still just shuts down for no reason. Anybody have any suggestions? I also unplugged all unnecessary devices, cdrom, floppy, etc.

Thanks in advance,

Shannan

 

[franklin97355]

First off, they all shut down for a reason. You just don't know what that is yet. Does it shut down at about the same time each time?(ie. after running for an hour) What OS are you running and are there any power settings you might be missing?

The answer is "42"

 

[shannanl]

The time of shutdown varies but I can't determine any pattern to it. It is running XP SP-2. The computer has been in service for a year with no problems. This just started happening.

Thanks,

 

[BadFrog]

Is it actually shutting down or is your display just going blank? Check the motherboard for bloated capacitors. Also check for proper grounding of motherboard and any parts of the case that could be shorting the motherboard.

"Once you can accept the universe as matter expanding into nothing that is something, wearing stripes with plaid comes easy"
Albert Einstein

 

[G0AOZ]

Have you checked power settings as Franklin97355 suggested?

Does it shut down whilst you are using the keyboard or mouse, or only when you're away from the machine?

You said "...heat sink seems to be doing its job. Does the BIOS advise CPU and/or Systemboard teperatures?

Anything showing up in Event Viewer?

ROGER - G0AOZ.

 

[wasisnt]

I worked on a computer that did the same thing. I tried replacing everything but it turned out to be the motherboard.

Free Computer Help and Tips:

http://www.onlinecomputertips.com/

 

[BadFrog]

I worked on a computer that did the same thing. I tried replacing everything but it turned out to be the motherboard.

Did you check to see if the capacitors were bloated? Unfortunately it is quite a common problem. I personally have replaced well over 30 motherboards with bloated capacitors in the last 6 months alone.

"Once you can accept the universe as matter expanding into nothing that is something, wearing stripes with plaid comes easy"
Albert Einstein

 

[afitzroy]

Is the system actually shutting down or rebooting? Any error messages before it shuts down?

If its just shutting down then I've had the same problem and it was the MB.

 

[shannanl]

I checked the old mobo and could find no bloated capacitors. I changed out to a new mobo and guess what, it still shuts down. This new mobo must have an uprgaded bios because now it is reporting a "thermal event" where the other did not report anything. I have already replaced the processor fan with a used one I had on a working computer. It still shut down with that 2nd fan. I have a new fan coming. I am going to replace it again. It looks to me like the temp in the bios/cmos setup would show the temp as being high but it does not. I will let you know if the new fan solves it.

Thanks,

 

[BadFrog]

If your getting thermal errors then a new fan is a good idea. But I would also clean the processor and heat sink and apply some arctic silver, being careful to have minimal air pockets, and that should resolve any overheating issues provided your not overclocking.

"Once you can accept the universe as matter expanding into nothing that is something, wearing stripes with plaid comes easy"
Albert Einstein

 

[shannanl]

I did clean both mating surfaces and applied a very thin, even coat of silver paste to both surfaces. The 2nd fan I tried was pulled from a working computer and I thought for sure that if it was a fan issue, that would have resolved it. I guess 3rd time is a charm!

Thanks,