Windows XP Pro Shutsdown on own

[TekSolutions]

The company I work for has several DVRS that are Windows based. A couple of weeks ago the system drive (hard drive the OS is installed on) went bad and had to be replaced in one of these systems. The drive was not accessible at all so Ghosting was not possible. The OS was installed with a clean install. Windows has been fully updated, using AVG antivirus which has also been fully updated. DVR is capable of getting on the internet for remote viewing but is behind a Linksys router and has Windows Firewall installed. The system is in a secured room that limited people have access to.

The problem is that ever since the OS has been reinstalled the system randomly shuts down. It could be a week or it could be less than 24 hours. Settings for hibernation and other options have been disabled. When the computer is turned back on the dirty bit is not set, the menu that appears after an unsafe shut down does not appear. When the computer is turned back on it is as if it was properly shut down.

I am not on site all the time, so it is extremely hard to trouble shoot. So I do not know what happens before it shuts down. Those that are on site all the time insist that no one is doing anything to cause the computer to turn off. Although I do intend to check the video.

Anybody have any ideas?

 

[BadBigBen]

Normally, I would say that it is temperature related, but with the difference in the time span, I am not sure I guess that would depend on what is running on that machine...

what you could do, is to run a stress test on that machine, causing it to heat up, if it shuts down then, then you know it is heat related...

another thing would be to physically remove the ON/OFF and RESET switches, to rule out a shorting switch that may shut down the PC...

in my experience, not all forcible shutdowns cause the dirty-bit to be set, so that is not really an indicator...

other avenue to check would be the PSU, as they age they tend to get flaky and can cause sporadic shutdowns...

Ben
"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.
Only ask questions with yes/no answers if you want "yes" or "no"

 

[TekSolutions]

I do want to run a stress test on it but have not had a chance yet.

However I am pretty sure it is not heat related, I took the cover of today and the CPU fan and the 120mm case fan was running as normal. The PSU fan was also working. But you do a good point about the PSU, I have seen a bad PSU cause erratic behavior. When I installed the new HD, I did blow out the dust from the system.

The hard drive is the only change.

 

[BadBigBen]

>> I took the cover of today and the CPU fan and the 120mm case fan was running as normal.
again, I've seen systems that would overheat with both running...

I just thought of something that would cause the same symptoms, random shutdown and other erratic behavior, bad caps...
so take a closer look at the capacitors on the mainboard, if they are bulging or leaking, then the mainboard is shot...

see:
Capacitor plague

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague

Ben
"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.
Only ask questions with yes/no answers if you want "yes" or "no"