Soooo frustrating!!! Please help!

[Bugnutz]

Ok, I'm totally stumped at this point. I'm posting via my iPhone because my desktop isn't operable. So, here's the rundown:

My pc is constantly shutting itself off. Sometimes I don't even get to desktop, sometimes I can be there for 10 minutes. RARELY more than that. And doing anything like running an application, opening webpages, or launching a game makes it go off faster.

My original thought was a bad powersupply. I have a 750 watt Thermaltake. It has a 5 year warranty, so I contacted them, sent them my power supply, and then was sent a new one as a replacement. Thinking that would solve my problem, I hooked everything back up. But same problem is occurring. So, I thought maybe it was an OS issue, but I get the same problem when doing any form of safe mode. I'm seriously doubting that I could have received 2 consecutive bad power supplies. Especially from Thermaltake.

So.... at this point I'm thoroughly stumped and even more frustrated. Hoping it isn't the motherboard, but would love to hear any and all suggestions or solutions. I have been contemplating a reformat, but that doesn't appear to be a solution of any kind at this point. Thanks in advance!
-Bugnutz

 

[Harvey]

I've seen viruses that do that, but it could be a component, such as your vid card or RAM. Try unplugging and re-seating them and any other plug in card.

If it's the motherboard, you may be able to see telltale signs of aging. Check the power capacitors -- the tall, cylindrical components on the motherboard. If any of the aluminum tops are bulged or domed, or if there is any evidence of leakage around the bottom of any of them, your board is gone.

A skilled technician MAY be able to replace them, but only with luck because unsoldering and removing them can damage the contacts in the inner layers of the multi-layer circuit board and only with capacitors of an appropriate grade. Cheap replacements from Radio Shack won't work, and good ones are not cheap in small quantities. NOT to be attempted if you don't know what you're doing.

Good luck.

 

[Lemon law]

My guess, hard drive, memory, or mobo is the more likely cause. Have you tried administrative controls in the control panel to see if an error is generated? Your puter
may go down too fast to generate a proper blue screen of death.

You could also try running memtest86 which divorces your HDD and OS from the equation as it only checks memory. You can also download utilities to test your brand of HDD. And look for any bulged capacitors on your mobo.

You can also try loading bios defaults and monitoring cpu temps inside of the bios screen. And also try something like a knoppics disk to see if its OS dependent.

 

[Bugnutz]

Re-seating the RAM and all my cards didn't affect the situation unfortunately. Capacitors are fine also. An the system won't stay up long enough for me to run any tests. 99% of the time I can't even get into BIOS before the damn thing shuts off. I just don't want to go buying parts that, in the end, I didn't need.

 

[theevilsharpie]

The fact that this seems to occur faster when your run an application tells me that you are either placing an excessive load on the power supply or a temperature sensor in your computer somewhere has reached a critical threshold that causes the computer to automatically shut off.

 

[Bugnutz]

I don't see how I could possibly be putting an excessive load on my power supply. And as far as overheating.... not too sure. However, EVERYTHING in my tower is cool to the touch. All fans are working. And it doesn't even make a difference if the entire side panel of my case is off.

 

[theevilsharpie]

I don't see how I could possibly be putting an excessive load on my power supply.

You may be overloading a particular rail, or there could be a malfunction in the power supply or one of your components that is causing it to draw more current than expected.

You can test this by unplugging everything except the CPU and memory and seeing if it still shuts down. If it stays running, keep adding components until you can replicate the problem.

And as far as overheating.... not too sure. However, EVERYTHING in my tower is cool to the touch. All fans are working. And it doesn't even make a difference if the entire side panel of my case is off.

It's possible that a temperature sensor may be malfunctioning and reporting critically-high temperatures. Some temperature sensors (e.g. PSU, CPU) you can't really control, but you can usually define how your system responds to mobo temperature sensors in your the Power Control section of your mobo's BIOS.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Go into your bios and make sure your ram is at its stated timings, speed, and voltage. If it is, you then want to check it by using Memtest86. Any version is fine. I use 2.11 and 4.0; Memtest is not perfect though. But if you do find problems and "fix" them and are able to boot into windows, test it again with prime95.

 

[Bugnutz]

Generally, I can't even stay up long enough to get into BIOS. Much less, be able to run any tests. And this might just be a bad idea, so tell me if it is. But is there a way to just remove one of those temperature sensors? I know of 2 in my case, just not sure as to how advisable it would be for me to remove them. I can try the whole unplugging things and replugging them in one at a time. If that isn't it, what else could it be?

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

turn off the pc, unplug it, take out the bios battery, take out the ram sticks, let it sit for a few minutes then put the sticks back in, put the bios battery back in, plug it in, turn on the pc

 

[Lemon law]

If the PC has multiple ram sticks, take out all but the one in slot one. If that fails to boot the PC and run stable, turn off the PC, replace the stick in slot one and test again.

Maybe the best that can be done to test ram if the PC won't stay up long enough to get past the bios and into memtest86.

We may also want to be less suspicious of the hard disk, because the hard drive is not really being read until the PC gets past the bios screen.

As Harvey points out it could be an add in card, so any unneeded cards can be removed. And if video is an option as an on board the mobo, even an add in video card should be removed.

After that, we start to suspect a bad mobo or CPU.

 

[AKA]

Anything happen when this issue started? Computer moved, power outage, anything?


What are your system specs, motherboard, cpu etc?

Disconnect power.

Disconnect all peripherals and internal components.

Should only be dealing with the motherboard, cpu, memory, video card and power supply.

Reseat memory, video card (if necessary) and make sure heatsink is cleaned & properly installed.

Reset/Short out BIOS.

Reconnect power directly to outlet (bypass any surge protector or ups).

Also if that all fails, try powering it on without keyboard or mouse connected, wont be able to do anything but will be able to tell if it shuts off.

 

[Bugnutz]

When this issue started, I had recently moved from a house to my current apartment.

I've pretty much tried everything mentioned so far. Reseating all parts.... plugging directly into the outlet..... tried without keyboard and mouse.....

Sound like a mobo issue? I hope not.....

 

[dyn2nvu]

Could be the motherboard failing even if it isn't showing any signs of failing (eg. leaking capacitors).

You can't get into the bios at all?

How old is the computer?

 

[CoachB]

Shutting down that quickly, I would suspect Power Supply or Overheating CPU. It is not uncommon for the heatsink to become dislodged during a move. I would remove the heatsink, make sure CPU is firmly in the socket, replace the heatsink, connect the fan, and give it a try.
Today's heatsinks are pretty heavy and can become dislodged/loose when the case is bumped. I received a system thru the mail where the heatsink had become totally dis-connected and was laying in the bottom of the case. Fortunately, nothing was damaged.

P.S. as requested, system specs would help!

 

[Bugnutz]

The computer is approximately 1 year old. The mobo wasnttop of the line when I got it though. I have a 750 watt power supply, ASUS ASUS P5N32-E SLI LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard, Kingston HyperX NVIDIA SLI-Ready 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500), Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz LGA 775 Quad-Core Processor.

And as far as BIOS... generally no. Sometimes yes, but on avg it's up for 45-90 seconds. Then shuts down (almost like the power was cut from it).

 

[WoodButcher]

Have you reseated the cpu heatsink? When moving you may have caused a pushpin to come loose. Do you have a vid card or onboard? Are the heatsinks clean / dust free and firmly attached?

 

[Bugnutz]

Honestly haven't checked the whole heatsink thing, by I did apply a new silver paste about 6 months ago. And vid card is geforce 8600 GT

 

[WoodButcher]

Last week I had to clean out my son's 7950, the fins inside were clogged tight and caused problems similar to yours but no crashing.

 

[notposting]

Definitely recheck the heatsink seating--especially considering you moved and it may be using the pushpins.

 

[PUN]

It's definitely your CPU hsf.

 

[Bugnutz]

Hsf?

 

[XtremepH]

Hsf?

Heatsink Fan

 

[Bugnutz]

Wow.... I'm almost embarassed. One corner of the hsf wasn't mounted on the mobo. So simple and yet so annoying. Doh! Thanks guys, I really appreciate everyones help and insight. It's working great now.

 

[WoodButcher]

Wow.... I'm almost embarassed. One corner of the hsf wasn't mounted on the mobo. So simple and yet so annoying. Doh! Thanks guys, I really appreciate everyones help and insight. It's working great now.

ROFL!

Yeah, I was ready to perform surgery on my kids pc, fortunately I dusted the vid card heatsink first.
A little embarassment is a lot easier to swallow when you think of what you could have spent on repair fixing things that weren't broken.