Major pc problem

passingthrough

My desktop pc has a major problem, it keeps turning itself off for no reason. Iv scanned it with avast and it says there is no virus. I really can't figure it out. Anyone had a similar problem or know what I can do?

Webmonkey

passingthrough wrote: »

My desktop pc has a major problem, it keeps turning itself off for no reason. Iv scanned it with avast and it says there is no virus. I really can't figure it out. Anyone had a similar problem or know what I can do?

Faulty PSU / Overheating?

Does it happen under load? - when it turns off, and you turn it back on, does it turn off soon after that again?

chin_grin

What make/model is the pc? You'll need to either download and (somehow) run a hardware test from the manufacturers website or do it the hard way and power the machine up by removing certain pieces of hardware. Eg if you have two sticks of RAM take one out, power up. Monitor.....and so on.

Do you get any warning message before the machine powers off? That would rule it out being a virus and something to do with the hardware.

passingthrough

no its not under any pressure when it happens, sometimes it could be on for an hour and just turn off, sometimes it turns on, desktop screen appears and then it restarts itself.
its compaq presario.

RogerThis

Disconnect every thing that is attached by USB, and see if the fixes the problem. Had this problem this morning, it ended up being the usb cable going to the printer.
It could also be a RAM problem. Run Memtest86+ from a bootable CD to test the RAM. It takes a few hours to run.

passingthrough

sorry now but i dont have the original cd that came with the pc. is there another way of doing the Memtest86+ test thing. there is no USB plugged into the pc either

RogerThis

Download Memtest86+ from http://www.memtest.org/download/4.10/memtest86+-4.10.iso.zip

Burn the iso image using a program like imgburn or something similar.

Cuddlesworth

Is there any files in c:\windows\minidump?

If not, then the first place to look would be the power supply.

wolfric

Guys... before everyone goes into the serious technicalities... anyone thought to ask if he had windows update set as automatic? If critical updates are rolled out and automatically installed windows restarts itself.

passingthrough

thanks for all the replies. i eventually figured out how to run that test but it said there was no errors. any idea what i could try now?

VenomIreland

passingthrough wrote: »

thanks for all the replies. i eventually figured out how to run that test but it said there was no errors. any idea what i could try now?

What PSU do you have and how old is it?

ricman

Make sure the fans on the cpu and the graphics card are still working, connected to power .
IT could be just overheating.

passingthrough

the fans are both working anyway.
as for the PSU, how do i check what it is. the actual pc is a compaq and is about 3 years old now i think, possibly 4

Teutorix

Ludicrous suggestion but if your keyboard has a power key, make sure its got nothing stuck in it. :pac:

Happened to me once

ricman

try f8 safe mode, and do a scan with malwarebyte,see boards forum ,virus malware removal , avast does not pick up everything, there could be a damaged windows system file.
does it crash in safe mode.

Voodoo2

Get some free temperature monitor keep an eye on temps

ricman

try running a linux livecd, go to bios set boot from cd/dvd.IF it works ok, then it means the hardare is ok, so just reinstall windows.
You can run linux,eg mint from a cdr without installing it on the hardrive.

measurement

Try disabling 'hibernate' - on some machines, it causes havoc, and you don't really need it.