hello i'm new to this and i don't know what to do. I live about an hour and a half away from anyplace that could look at this thing so i thought i should try to fix it myself...ha ha. well it just shuts off. its plugged into a power strip with just one other thing. yes i tried another strip. same thing. cord seems fine. fans on sometimes, i don't know if it should been on all the time? i haven't downloaded anything but updates from ms. the only thing i find strange is that if it wants to work again, i have to unplug it, replug and theres a crackle in the outlet as if theres a short. now its plugged into its own outlet and hasn't shut down as of yet but sometimes it works for days, sometimes not. is there some kind of breaker on the inside? maybe I'm outta my league? I'm a six pack minus the plastic thing holding them together if you know what i mean. id just hate to travel so far away if its something simple. id appreciate any help. thanks! oh almost forgot, i run avg antivirus and adaware and nothing on them that looks serious. thanks!

Since a six pack and electricity never go well together I will recomend takeing it to a shop. Your fan on the power supply should be running all the time. You are haveing a overheat problem and the unit is shutting down trying to protect itself.

Now you may have had a bad wall plug to begin with but I suspect your power supply has been damaged.
If it continues to run ok for several hours without problems plugged into the new outlet then you may be ok. But next time your going in to town take your comp in to be checked is my advice.