Computer GURUS ..... HELP!!!!!!

MotherNature · 06-01-2005, 12:00 AM

I have a very annoying problem thats been going on for a while..... seemed to stop & is now happening again :(

My computer ( a tower type jobbie) keeps on cutting out on me .......sometimes I get a few minutes on it & sometimes its only seconds ... I really hope its long enough this time to complete this post ;(

Last time it stopped I had all the sides off it & laid it on its side ......... I decidded to rearrange my office the other day & now have it on a shelf still laying down but it keeps on cutting out.

I have checked to make sure that all the plugs & bits inside are in the right place & secure .... ran anti-virus (yes it is updated daily) but still to no avail .....

Ive evne tried a new power board ........... the one that you plug the cords into ... not the computer power box thinggy .......

Any ideas ???????

:

RED_EL_XR8 · 06-01-2005, 01:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MotherNature

I have a very annoying problem thats been going on for a while..... seemed to stop & is now happening again :(

My computer ( a tower type jobbie) keeps on cutting out on me .......sometimes I get a few minutes on it & sometimes its only seconds ... I really hope its long enough this time to complete this post ;(

Last time it stopped I had all the sides off it & laid it on its side ......... I decidded to rearrange my office the other day & now have it on a shelf still laying down but it keeps on cutting out.

I have checked to make sure that all the plugs & bits inside are in the right place & secure .... ran anti-virus (yes it is updated daily) but still to no avail .....

Ive evne tried a new power board ........... the one that you plug the cords into ... not the computer power box thinggy .......

Any ideas ???????

:

Does it die or freeze, does it blue screen, or does it randomly restart?

MotherNature · 06-01-2005, 01:26 AM

It dies ...........well the screen goes off & then the fans cut out but the lights are still on ....... The old saying the lights are on but nobodys home ........ it doesnt restart untill I hit the power button to turn it off & then restart ...... If I do it too soon after it happens It shuts down right away.......

I have just run adaware & my antivirus again ...... I have also changed the power plug hole the power cord was in (on a new power board) & so far so good .......... heres hoping she now likes her new home ... but Im not holding my breath :(

RED_EL_XR8 · 06-01-2005, 01:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MotherNature

It dies ...........well the screen goes off & then the fans cut out but the lights are still on ....... The old saying the lights are on but nobodys home ........ it doesnt restart untill I hit the power button to turn it off & then restart ...... If I do it too soon after it happens It shuts down right away.......

I have just run adaware & my antivirus again ...... I have also changed the power plug hole the power cord was in (on a new power board) & so far so good .......... heres hoping she now likes her new home ... but Im not holding my breath :(

Could be a few things. But if the LED lights remain on you can rule out the power boards etc.

Likely possibilities include the power supply the CPU or motherboard or the graphics card. Is the fan you say stops the cpu fan or the one in the in the power supply?

SpoolMan · 06-01-2005, 01:39 AM

Hi Mother, if you had the sides off and it stopped freezing my suggestion take the sides off again, i think its getting to hot..
is your CPU a AMD ?

MotherNature · 06-01-2005, 01:41 AM

I can only see 1 fan & I think its sitting on the CPU ........... When it cuts out after a few seconds this fan has stopped ...... I still have the covers off it ......

This computer is only new ......... I had it built for me a few months ago .......

rag top · 06-01-2005, 01:46 AM

Any waranty on the computer??

RED_EL_XR8 · 06-01-2005, 01:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MotherNature

I can only see 1 fan & I think its sitting on the CPU ........... When it cuts out after a few seconds this fan has stopped ...... I still have the covers off it ......

This computer is only new ......... I had it built for me a few months ago .......

Ok if its a fan you see with the covers off its probably the CPU fan.

Fan failure is common, in brand new white boxes too, they're built for a price.

As XRFPV8 says its likely heat related. two common ones are the fan in the Power supply. (non tech thats the square box thingy the power cord goes into.) should be air movement through the grille in that or power supply will overheat.
Other common fault is the CPU heatsinking hopefully your pc builder put some silicon grease (white goop) on it when installing the heatsink, the factory bonding on the heatsinks wont last and will fail or destroy a cpu.

Other than that I think you may have to get a tech to look at it, could be many things.

SpoolMan · 06-01-2005, 01:49 AM

Take it back, the hardware will need to be changed and tested.
i have seen cooling problems more so with the AMD CPU's, if you have a fan turn it on and point it into your computer blow cool air in side... something might be getting hot.

xr8ute · 06-01-2005, 01:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RED_EL_XR8

hopefully your pc builder put some silicon grease (white goop) on it when installing the heatsink

a similar thing was affecting my PC about 2 weeks ago....

it would 'switch-off' after a few minutes, worse when it was a hot day. I took the CPU fan/heatsink off, cleaned the goop, applied new goop, and it has been fine eversince.

MotherNature · 06-01-2005, 01:56 AM

I have tried the fan blowing into it trick :( ...... the heat up here gets quiet high .......

So far so good tongiht though ....... It was crashing earlier ....but Ive been on it for a fair while now & so far so good ........ Its a warmish night ... but is a bit cooler than normal .....

I have the box sitting on a shelf with the back of the computer away from the wall .... so theres plenty of ventilation ........

I know I am going to have to take it back to the guy who rebuilt it but he lives over 100k's away from here & I was trying to avoid that .....theres no warrenty on it & my $$$$$$ resources are buggered after 4 kid + Xmas :(

Thanks heaps for all your help guys ......... I am sort of hoping it may have been a worm that I found using adaware .... but in all honesty I really think its more ..........

RED_EL_XR8 · 06-01-2005, 01:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xr8ute

a similar thing was affecting my PC about 2 weeks ago....

it would 'switch-off' after a few minutes, worse when it was a hot day. I took the CPU fan/heatsink off, cleaned the goop, applied new goop, and it has been fine eversince.

Yep older AMDs need mega cooling and those supplied are often el-cheapos, the intel cpus run cooler but those heat conductive pads break down, often quickly when the Fan is heavy or has a very effective clamp, and unforfunately if its a tower and its getting warm, the heat grease often migrates to the lower side.

MN check that the power supply fan is going though. I think that may be it.

RED_EL_XR8 · 06-01-2005, 01:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MotherNature

I have tried the fan blowing into it trick :( ...... the heat up here gets quiet high .......

So far so good tongiht though ....... It was crashing earlier ....but Ive been on it for a fair while now & so far so good ........ Its a warmish night ... but is a bit cooler than normal .....

I have the box sitting on a shelf with the back of the computer away from the wall .... so theres plenty of ventilation ........

I know I am going to have to take it back to the guy who rebuilt it but he lives over 100k's away from here & I was trying to avoid that .....theres no warrenty on it & my $$$$$$ resources are buggered after 4 kid + Xmas :(

Thanks heaps for all your help guys ......... I am sort of hoping it may have been a worm that I found using adaware .... but in all honesty I really think its more ..........

sadly for you I dont think from the symptoms described it is hardware. I dont think it will be an expensive fix, if its located quickly.

MotherNature · 06-01-2005, 01:59 AM

OK coolies Red ....LOL I just put my hand up there .... behind the power source ... the fan is working ;)

XR Martin · 06-01-2005, 02:02 AM

Also have a feel around and see if anything is getting too hot.

My bet the chip is causing the crash, but you wont be able to tell without swapping parts.

The MaDDeSTMaN · 06-01-2005, 02:09 AM

It could be switching itself to System Standby. This one is fairly easy to check, either right click on your desktop (when you don't have any windows open) and choose properties, or go to the control panel and open (double click) Display. Click on the Screen Saver tab in the Display Properties window, then click on the Power... button. This will open the Power Options Properties (sounds good doesn't it, power options, anyway...), ensure in the box next to System standby: it says never, and while you're there, click on the Hibernate tab and ensure there ISN'T a tick next to Enable hibernation.

I've included some pictures to try and illustrate what I'm talking about (obviously things on my computer might look a little different to yours, and I added the red circle around the things to check), it's a bit of a stab in the dark, but it's something you yourself can check and it can't do any damage to check, so I think it's worth a try...

You want to make sure it says never in the box circled, as shown above...

And you want to make sure there is NO tick in the box inside the red circle.

Hope I've made it clear what I'm on about, and I hope it fixes the problem...

Good luck!

RED_EL_XR8 · 06-01-2005, 02:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The MaDDeSTMaN

It could be switching itself to System Standby. This one is fairly easy to check, either right click on your desktop (when you don't have any windows open) and choose properties, or go to the control panel and open (double click) Display. Click on the Screen Saver tab in the Display Properties window, then click on the Power... button. This will open the Power Options Properties (sounds good doesn't it, power options, anyway...), ensure in the box next to System standby: it says never, and while you're there, click on the Hibernate tab and ensure there ISN'T a tick next to Enable hibernation.

I've included some pictures to try and illustrate what I'm talking about (obviously things on my computer might look a little different to yours, and I added the red circle around the things to check), it's a bit of a stab in the dark, but it's something you yourself can check and it can't do any damage to check, so I think it's worth a try...

You want to make sure it says never in the box circled, as shown above...

And you want to make sure there is NO tick in the box inside the red circle.

Hope I've made it clear what I'm on about, and I hope it fixes the problem...

Good luck!

You could have something there, maybe no fault at all. Standby is usable, hibernate is a thing of the devil and not worth the effort if you ever get restarted aft hibernation odds on your network, modem etc wont recover,

MotherNature · 06-01-2005, 06:02 PM

OKkkkkkkk ... I am running Win98SE ... found the power part & have changed it to never & the monitor shutdown to the same as yours MaDDeSTMaN ......

Theres No hibernate tab there but there is, in the advanced section a bit that syas power buttons .......... 'When I press the pweer button on my computer' & the a drop box saying Shutdown & standby ......... which one should it be ..........

Also when I put my hand over the power source last night(well this morning) on Martins suggestions it cut out again .... maybe coincidence ..... Im not sure .... that was the time I gave up & went to bed.......

Today the kids tried playing it & in thir words it was going ballistic ... when I got here the power cord wasnt quiet all the way in ............. Ive now made sure it is in right ..... & yes it was last night ....... & so far Im here ......... Not sure for how long .... am just going to reboot again & see what happens after these current changes ........

Fingers crossed guys ;)

EA2BA · 06-01-2005, 06:07 PM

Maybe a dodgy power supply, or the motherboard is dying and going into shutdown mode all by itself, I would suspect either one of these.

Paris Hilton · 06-01-2005, 06:08 PM

sounds like a PSU issue...if it is, I suggest you get one with at least 400W. now i know people are going to say "wtf what a waste of money" but the AMD CPU's run ALOT cooler when they have ample power.

MotherNature · 06-01-2005, 06:16 PM

OK ...... so far so good again ;)

I just looked at the power supply thinggy & it says its a ATX-400WA and down the bottom Edition for Intel P4 ........

The motherboard is a nForce2 K7 Triton series with dual Channel DDR 400+ & FSB 400 & AGP8x so it tells me :P

I have a pedestal fan circulating up in the air towards the unit & all the fans are working ..........

**Stav** · 06-01-2005, 06:25 PM

That sounds like a heat problem ...The cpu will shut down to stop damage at high temperatures.Typically the pentium chips can run for a bit before shutdown.
The other cause may be that when you laid it on its side that a video card (or other component eg sound card)is not making good contact in its slot.

Paris Hilton · 06-01-2005, 06:25 PM

If it says for P4 it will work for your K7 Athlon board too...

(just realised you are talking about the one you already have :P)

I'd suggest Antec PSU's if you need a new one, they really are top notch.

EA2BA · 06-01-2005, 06:28 PM

Computers actually cool better with the covers on in all relaity, maybe add a fan at the front and one at the rear of the tower to suck the air in and blow it out the back to keep it cool inside.

XplosiveR6 · 06-01-2005, 06:39 PM

go to http://www.3degs.net and download motherboard monitor, it will show you the cpu and case temps

EA2BA · 06-01-2005, 06:42 PM

Only if the motherboard support it of course, but is great software, my comp at home it can tell me everything, my one at work I can only get CPU temp, the P4 it reckons runs around 44deg C

XplosiveR6 · 06-01-2005, 07:00 PM

my Athlon XP runs at 52deg on idle with standard h/f, and up to over 60deg while playing games

MotherNature · 06-01-2005, 07:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EF_Dave

go to http://www.3degs.net and download motherboard monitor, it will show you the cpu and case temps

OK got the program ..... Gotta hate Dial up crap .......

The temp reads Case 38oC 51oC Sensor ....... whatever that means ;)

XplosiveR6 · 06-01-2005, 07:10 PM

that should be fine, mine has ran over 70deg on 40deg days, prob a motherboad problem for it shutting down like that

Thanatos · 06-01-2005, 07:24 PM

If that temp is when the cpu is idle (i.e. the computer isn't doing anything other that running windows) then if it gets a decent load, it may heat up too much.

Some motherboards have a setting in the bios to shutdown the computer when the cpu reaches a certain temperature (usually 60, 65 and 70 degrees celsius) if the cpu is heating up to say 60degrees under load (which isn't very far from 51 at idle, and not really too hot for a modern cpu anyway), then the motherboard may be shutting it down.

Just a thought.