 Computer Crashing Randomly, And we're talking complete crashes, completely random |
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 Feb 25 2008, 05:45 PM
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Member  Group: Members Posts: 17 Joined: 17-May 07 Member No.: 131,555  |
A friend has a computer which recently began shutting off without warning. It just goes click and the whole thing turns off. No shutting down stage, no BSOD - nothing. It then takes 2 minutes or so before it will even respond to you pressing the power button to turn back on. It will crash in any situation - in normal windows (XP pro I think), in windows safe mode, and even in the bios menu when we were looking in there. At first he said it was only working in the evenings - it was on strike and refused to put in normal working hours, but now it will shut down anytime. This led me to believe that we're dealing with something overheating, so we cleaned out all the heatsinks etc. But it still crashes. So the newest theory is the heatsink needs reattaching to the CPU. However, when the computer has stayed on long enough, he checked the temperatures and they all were fine, and this was more than one occasion. And then it turned off. So what I'm asking is: 1. What do you people out there on this interweb thingy think is wrong? 2. How do we fix it? Please note longer diagnostics are practically impossible because there is no reason to think the computer will stay on more than 3 minutes. Feel free to ask anything you feel you need to know. Thanks! |
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Feb 25 2008, 07:04 PM
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 Hardware Guru Group: BC Advisor Posts: 1,814 Joined: 25-January 07 From: Tiffin, Ohio Member No.: 108,353 |
I would suspect the power supply is bad. Is the fan on the power supply turning on?
-------------------- ~Chad~ Biostar P4M900-M4, Celeron 2.7GHZ OCD 2.95, 2GB patriot DDR2 667 CL3, 60,20 GB IDE HDD, Windows XP Professional SP2, SAS, MBAM, MCAFEE STINGER, Zonealarm, Linksys Router, and Palm TX HandHeld. Sys 2 (FAH Machine) Athlon 650, 768 mb Pc133, Windows XP SP2 |
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Feb 27 2008, 12:30 PM
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Member Group: Members Posts: 17 Joined: 17-May 07 Member No.: 131,555 |
I honestly don't know... I didn't have too much time to look at it and unfortunately most of that was while it wasn't on... I'm going to see the owner tonight so I'll pass on the idea to check.
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Feb 27 2008, 01:45 PM
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 Computer Masochist Group: Moderator Posts: 9,039 Joined: 27-January 07 From: Cleveland, Ohio Member No.: 108,618 |
If it's dirty inside, it can also be overheating
interior cleaning tutorial -------------------- Mark
 why won't my laptop work? Having grandkids is God's way of giving you a 2nd chance because you were too busy working your butt off the 1st time around Avatar by Handplane |
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Feb 28 2008, 08:20 AM
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 Still visually handicapped, new avatar :0) Group: Moderator Posts: 14,706 Joined: 2-October 05 From: Southeastern CT, USA Member No.: 35,824 |
As you've stated, it's awful hard to diagnose anything if it won't stay on long enough to do anything.
I also suspect the PSU - but would confirm it by trying the appropriate steps in this system stripdown guide: http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/topic70216.html You'll probably have to start out around step 5. If it still reboots after 3 minutes with all the stuff removed - then it's one of the remaining components that's causing the problem. Then it's just a matter of substituting known good parts for the one's that are still in the case until you figure out what causing the problem. -------------------- - John
**If you need a more detailed explanation, please ask for it. I have the Knack. ** |
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Feb 28 2008, 06:33 PM
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Member Group: Members Posts: 17 Joined: 17-May 07 Member No.: 131,555 |
QUOTE(usasma @ Feb 28 2008, 01:20 PM)  As you've stated, it's awful hard to diagnose anything if it won't stay on long enough to do anything. I also suspect the PSU - but would confirm it by trying the appropriate steps in this system stripdown guide: http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/topic70216.html You'll probably have to start out around step 5. If it still reboots after 3 minutes with all the stuff removed - then it's one of the remaining components that's causing the problem. Then it's just a matter of substituting known good parts for the one's that are still in the case until you figure out what causing the problem. I've passed on the message about it probably being the PSU, and I'll try to keep you updated. I'm a bit hesitant to take the whole thing apart since it crashed out in Bios. Wouldn't that mean that the problem is not in the components but either the mobo or PSU? Or can hardware problems work their way into bios? All I'm certain of is that computers hate people. Thanks |
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Feb 29 2008, 03:41 PM
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Member Group: Members Posts: 17 Joined: 17-May 07 Member No.: 131,555 |
Thanks for the replies... Turns out it was the PSU, although the fan was working.
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Feb 29 2008, 05:45 PM
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Hardware Guru Group: BC Advisor Posts: 1,814 Joined: 25-January 07 From: Tiffin, Ohio Member No.: 108,353 |
Glad you got it Solved. Thanks for posting your solution!!
-------------------- ~Chad~ Biostar P4M900-M4, Celeron 2.7GHZ OCD 2.95, 2GB patriot DDR2 667 CL3, 60,20 GB IDE HDD, Windows XP Professional SP2, SAS, MBAM, MCAFEE STINGER, Zonealarm, Linksys Router, and Palm TX HandHeld. Sys 2 (FAH Machine) Athlon 650, 768 mb Pc133, Windows XP SP2 |
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