Thread: machine powering off

Starting last night my computer has started randomly turning off. Sometimes it lasts 15 minutes sometimes a few hours. I went and bought a new power supply tonight and it ran for about an hourand it just died again. Any other ideas of what could be causing this?


The only error messages in the event viewer are in the system tab with dcom as the source. Not sure what other info to give to help diagnose the problem.

Your CPU fan may not be functioning properly or may have dust in it. Dust it out and see if it makes a difference. I would keep a close eye on it. When the processor gets too hot it will automatically shut off to prevent frying.

I did use the duster on it this afternoon. Everything does get extremely dusty in this city. cpu temp was at 48 celsius at start up. Can I check that after a while without downloading a utility?


I'm thinking the hard drive might be dying. Changed the ide cable first just to try that out and if that isn't it I'm going to put in another hdd. Video card will be the next option.

Originally Posted by VEGASKING

I did use the duster on it this afternoon. Everything does get extremely dusty in this city. cpu temp was at 48 celsius at start up. Can I check that after a while without downloading a utility?


I'm thinking the hard drive might be dying. Changed the ide cable first just to try that out and if that isn't it I'm going to put in another hdd. Video card will be the next option.

When a computer shuts down like that 99% of the time it involves over heating. I have seen certain Dell models CPU heat sink holders break and the Heatsink lifts off of the CPU just enough to not make contact so that the CPU was overheating. Also there was no indication because the computer case wasn't getting abnormally hot.

It shut off just now after running for 13 hours when I was trying to load up my ipod. That is what I was doing the first two times it happened the other night. It's shut down when the ipod wasn't connected but it always does when it is.

Tough one. Could be the motherboard, if you are plugging in USB devices and the computer is crashing. It could also be your iPod. Ive seen that happen as well.

The likely culprit is heat related, so I would open up the case, and with a vacuum and a can of compressed air, I would clean out every nook and cranny. You will probably want to take the front cover off of the computer to clean between it and the case out.

If cleaning it doesn't help, and it continues to shut off without your iPod plugged in, its probably the motherboard.

Originally Posted by VEGASKING

It shut off just now after running for 13 hours when I was trying to load up my ipod. That is what I was doing the first two times it happened the other night. It's shut down when the ipod wasn't connected but it always does when it is.

Ah most likely the iPod is causing this. One of my clients at work has a similar problem with their iPod. Especially the older iPod's. I know early iPods and windows XP had a few compatibility issues. and it was a certain service pack version that had the problems which I don't remember which SP it was.

I was told that it also happened today when the headphones were plugged in. Can I switch headers from F_USB1 to 2 or 3? Does it matter which one you use? The manual for the motherboard does not say to plug it in to a specific one.

Originally Posted by VEGASKING

I was told that it also happened today when the headphones were plugged in. Can I switch headers from F_USB1 to 2 or 3? Does it matter which one you use? The manual for the motherboard does not say to plug it in to a specific one.

in this case it looks like a hardware problem indeed. You can use any USB port.