my computer keeps shutting its self down

[Yer Blues]

without warning and powers down totally. then takes about 20 goes to boot up. thought it might be a virus so took everything off of the computer and reinstalled windows and it keeps happening. had a quick look online and its been said that it could be due to over heating but i have moved my desktop around so well ventilated and it keeps happening.

anyone had this before? any soultions?

thanks in advance

 

[McNasty]

My laptop kept shutting itself down when I stood it on the leather arm of my settee. I then stood the laptop on a large book and it stopped conking out so I took it that it didn't get the air-flow underneath and over-heated. Problem solved.

 

[Strykr]

My laptop kept shutting itself down when I stood it on the leather arm of my settee. I then stood the laptop on a large book and it stopped conking out so I took it that it didn't get the air-flow underneath and over-heated. Problem solved.

what he said!! mines started doing this, its getting on a bit,
might be worth taking the back of and cleaning the fan with some compressed air, be carfeuly tho!

 

[osymandus]

Thermal shut down normally has an error code after it powers up (in the white lettery bit before Windows ) . Also worth checking the Windows event log if it stays up long enough to do so .
If your feeling brave , open your pc , make sure air flow isnt obstructed by cables . It can also the chips on your motherboard as well .
If you are going to "dust your pc" . Turn it all off , strip everything out . Use an antic static mat and wrist strap and a can of air . There's theories amooung electrical engineers that dusting can actually cause more problems then it solves

Anything things is get your CPU fan upgraded/looked (silicon gel can sometimes need replacing or reapplying) and your case fans . Have you added a newer more powerful Graphics card ? or put loads of expansion cards in ?? Have you been overclocking CPU, memory etc ??? Or worest of all have your PC on a very fluffy carpet or dust area ;)

 

[pringlejon]

I would suggest following these instructions http://juntariman.wordpress.com/2009/10/25/d-i-y-how-to-turn-off-windows-automatic-restart-b-s-o-d/ so you can write down the error code which could help identify your problem.

I had a problem like this before and it turned out to be an error with the motherboard, due to previous overheating. I installed Linux on it and it stopped it restarting as often as it used to due to being a less memory intensive OS.

The guys at http://forums.techguy.org/ have helped me a lot in the past. (It's nothing to do with the idiots of the same name that work at PC World...these people actually know what they are talking about).

 

[Firestorm]

I had that with an advent "all in one" it was down to the power supply.

As nearly all the computer problems I have had in 20 years ave been down to the PSU, and this one sounds similar, I would try checking all the connections to the PSU and if that doesn't work replace it, they are not overly expensive.

 

[davewebbsbrain]

It may be that there is a lot of dust collected inside the unit, tricking the Heat Sink to think its overheating and rebooting. Get some compressed air in a can, open the case and give the unit a real good blow out, especially round the cooling fan and the heat sink itself

 

[Hotman]

buy a new computer x

 

[pringlejon]

buy a new computer x

You own PC world and i claim my free Norton Antivirus software.

 

[Firestorm]

When it switches off and you try to switch it back on does the fan in the case start spinning ?

If it doesn't then its the PSU playing up, if it tries to reboot then its motherboard "side " of the PSU (ie overheating etc)

I'm still going with the PSU