Computer help needed!! Keeps shutting itself off..
Senior User
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 336
Likes: 0
I had a Toshiba notebook that would shut down without warning. Turned out that it needed a BIOS flash. Do a search on Dell's website and see if there are any references to "spontaneous shutdown". Only flash the BIOS as a last resort.
Logistics Pro
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 4,562
Likes: 2
From: Southern MD
I had a pc do the same thing.
The cpu fan went 'south'. Bearings failed.
I was working on a job and HAD to finish it.
Being the 'experimenter' that I am. . . I got the wet/dry vac floor attachment and a length of hose for the vac and went to work.
I opened the case of the pc and stuck the hose near the cpu.
I put the floor attachment on top of the central air vent and taped it down.
The air conditioning kept the cpu quite cool while I finished my work, then, off to the pc retailer/builder for a new cpu fan (will ball bearings instead of the sleeve bearings.)
Also note. . . a virus will make a pc do the same thing. Make sure that your antivirus is up-to-date.
The cpu fan went 'south'. Bearings failed.
I was working on a job and HAD to finish it.
Being the 'experimenter' that I am. . . I got the wet/dry vac floor attachment and a length of hose for the vac and went to work.
I opened the case of the pc and stuck the hose near the cpu.
I put the floor attachment on top of the central air vent and taped it down.
The air conditioning kept the cpu quite cool while I finished my work, then, off to the pc retailer/builder for a new cpu fan (will ball bearings instead of the sleeve bearings.)
Also note. . . a virus will make a pc do the same thing. Make sure that your antivirus is up-to-date.
Hotshot
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 19,760
Likes: 1,079
From: St Louis
Some good tips here..
Here is the explanation of why it is "powering off" or "rebooting":
You have either a corrupted Windows system file or a hardware fault that would otherwise cause a BSOD (Blue Screen of Death). Your configuration for your Windows install is to reboot when such a fatal error occurs.
To diagnose, you need to change the boot-up configuration to NOT reboot when you get a BSOD error. Then, you can get some data that can help point to the root cause.
Typical causes in no particular order:
Corrupted BIOS
Corrupted system files
Virus
Hardware fault (memory, motherboard, CPU overheat, etc)
Press F8 during initial bootup to get to the Windows boot menu. Select the "Disable auto restart" item, then proceed to boot into either Windows or the Recovery Console. Now when it "crashes", it will give you the BSOD instead of just restarting Windows. Normally, the BSOD gives an error message that can be easily Googled.
Yeah, I've been doing computers since before IBM had a personal computer.
Steve
Here is the explanation of why it is "powering off" or "rebooting":
You have either a corrupted Windows system file or a hardware fault that would otherwise cause a BSOD (Blue Screen of Death). Your configuration for your Windows install is to reboot when such a fatal error occurs.
To diagnose, you need to change the boot-up configuration to NOT reboot when you get a BSOD error. Then, you can get some data that can help point to the root cause.
Typical causes in no particular order:
Corrupted BIOS
Corrupted system files
Virus
Hardware fault (memory, motherboard, CPU overheat, etc)
Press F8 during initial bootup to get to the Windows boot menu. Select the "Disable auto restart" item, then proceed to boot into either Windows or the Recovery Console. Now when it "crashes", it will give you the BSOD instead of just restarting Windows. Normally, the BSOD gives an error message that can be easily Googled.
Yeah, I've been doing computers since before IBM had a personal computer.
Steve
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Fleet Mechanic
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 1,443
Likes: 5
From: Willamette Valley, Oregon
Excellent information. I do not get the BSOD... Just shuts off.. I found some refrences to CPU overheat with Dells of this model, bracket just falls apart... given the heatsink is not touching the chip much at all, sound like hardware to you?
Moderator
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 164,377
Likes: 82
From: MA
Originally Posted by packrat56
Excellent information. I do not get the BSOD... Just shuts off.. I found some refrences to CPU overheat with Dells of this model, bracket just falls apart... given the heatsink is not touching the chip much at all, sound like hardware to you?
Hotshot
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 19,760
Likes: 1,079
From: St Louis
Originally Posted by packrat56
Excellent information. I do not get the BSOD... J
Google and download a utility called "speedfan". It will give you a readout or graph of your CPU temp along with any other temp sensors on your system. It will also report on your monitored fan speeds. Using it, you can see where the CPU temp is running and when it might be spiking.
Steve
Thread Starter
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Fleet Mechanic
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 1,443
Likes: 5
From: Willamette Valley, Oregon
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