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  1. Member mikesbytes's Avatar
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    Every so often my computer switches itself off. It happens more frequently during high intensity activity such as video encoding, but it can happen at any time, even when it isn't being used.

    Browsing thru forum posts I've found;
    - Faulty RAM
    - Faulty power supply
    - Virus
    - Incorrect BIOS setting on CPU heat

    If no one can suggest what I should do, then I'll try changing the RAM, as it's cheap now days and I'm not running the quickest ram that the motherboard supports, so there should be a small performance improvements.
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    it could be many things, when i had that problem, it turned out toi be a driver for my video card
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  3. aBigMeanie aedipuss's Avatar
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    i'd start with the p.s. bad ram would usually give error messages not shutdowns. and most overheating cpus will slowdown not shut off.
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  4. my faulty ram never gave error messages,it seems the pc didnt have time to gather one up.
    allit would do is restart,and no error.
    more than likely the ram or P.S though.
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    I assume you have already checked your CPU cooling system to ensure proper operation?

    A ticking fan is one sign of a dying fan. The fan could be spinning yet stop after a while or intermittently function thus causing your computer to shut down due to overheating even at idle.
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    Originally Posted by aedipuss
    and most overheating cpus will slowdown not shut off.
    I guess you have never heard of a thermal event shut down? This has been a available in CPU's for generations now.
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  7. Originally Posted by aedipuss
    most overheating cpus will slowdown not shut off.
    Actually, it will shut down and not slow down. PC is a digital box, it either work or don't work.
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    Originally Posted by mikesbytes
    Every so often my computer switches itself off. It happens more frequently during high intensity activity such as video encoding, but it can happen at any time, even when it isn't being used.

    Browsing thru forum posts I've found;
    - Faulty RAM
    - Faulty power supply
    - Virus
    - Incorrect BIOS setting on CPU heat

    If no one can suggest what I should do, then I'll try changing the RAM, as it's cheap now days and I'm not running the quickest ram that the motherboard supports, so there should be a small performance improvements.
    By any chance when it turns itself off does it restart automatically????

    Overall this can be a difficult issue to track down.. all the above can be true...!!

    2 things i look at first....
    1. brown outs.. do you get flickering of lights and such... if so could be yourhouse power is fluxuating and that turns off the pc....... on my other unprotected system does that (it doesn't have a ups.. just a surge protector)
    and if you do have brown outs and that the cause then I would use a UPS backup powersupply....
    2. another possiblity is some programs running in the background!! i would maybe start off by disabling all needless startup .. go to your msconfig to do that.... also it good to keep to a minum any programs running the background when digitizing!!
    3. the issue could also be your video drivers....!!! see if there a update to yours....
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    1: Memmory can cause erratic behaviour , sluggish system , but most memmory problem's are not enough to halt the system ... unless an actual memmory chip has partially failed thus causing serious conflict untill removed .

    2: Intermitent power supply ... psu internal over heating (also suspect that reset switch on case as possible fault ... they do stuff up).

    I once had a customer show up with a pc complaining spark's and light's where flying out of the back of the pc .
    The light's where normal ... bluetooth dongle from msi ... as for the spark's ... the power supply had let rip ... luckily nothing on the pc had been affected .

    3: Check bios ... check cpu temp setting's ... adjust to second highest range available ... and test run for monitoring purpose's .
    Some , if not most late motherboard's have an os tool you can have running in window's ... keep an eye on temp .
    Most modern motherboard's will shut pc down to prevent overheating .

    Msi / gigabyte unit's emit an annoying siren alarm if anything is out of the ordinary ... such as drop of cpu core voltage (in my case ... the power supply was dying) .

    4: Pc light's on , but no video ... video card dying or dead ... had this before ... no more albatron stuff from then on .

    5: Fan's ... check them atleast once every 6 month's for dust biuld up .. if noise ... replace .

    6: The cream of the crop ... faulty heat sink compound ... partial rebiuld of pc ... remove cpu and carry out heat sink replacement ... do not use ordinary heatsink compound ... modern cpu's produce far more heat than older cpu's ... use arctic silver 5

    7: How many drive's are connected to system ... when multiple drive's are used ... it is made harder to track down the actual cause ... I have seen poorly manufactured hard drive's trigger system shutdown's before ... test the drive's with "insert" ... it's a linux rescue cd for pc capable of testing all the hardware ... dont use the manufacturer's hd tool's , but the other's in the menu ... manufacturer's tool's will say all is fine ... the linux hd test tool will tell you if it is ok ... or not ... guaranteed .

    I had an 80 western digital ... brand new ... and it stuffed my last motherboard ... replacing the hd under warrantee was no problem ... but had to put the bullet up the company to replace the damaged motherboard .

    8: The final check ... or it should actually be the first one .

    Take cover off pc ... look at motherboard ... see all those little metal can's ... there electrolytic capacitor's ... if you see any that are brown on top ... or just a small amount of brown on them ... there leaking ... either get motherboard to electronic expert asap ... or buy another .

    Recently a friend had this happen ... it was driving us nutt's till I took the cover off , as he has had this pc on since the day it came home several year's ago ... apart from storm's , when it was turned off ... it has never stopped running , till these started leaking .

    Addon :

    For amd user's with cpu's still under warrantee ... the english company that produce's the original heat compound tape as supplied with oem cpu package's , will send replacement free of charge ... had to ask amd that one before ...
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  10. This happens every summer, there is more heat so the computer restarts of shuts off to protect itself.

    However, we need your computer specs.
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    Overheating?
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  12. Member mikesbytes's Avatar
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    Thanks for the advice.

    It doesn't reboot, just switch off.

    Its mid winter here and I have one of the covers permanently off, so I doubt that its simply overheating.

    Power: I have surge protector, but that doesn't protect me against brown-outs.

    Hardware: I have been running exactly the same hardware for 8 months prior, so I don't think its something that I've introduced. I do run 2 disk drives. Cerion 2.4 cpu. The RAM is old and slow, so there's an intangible benifit in replacing it.

    Noise: I can't hear anything that I wouldn't expect to hear, but I'll check agian when I take the other cover off.

    Motherboard: 12 months old. It's a dud, you can't have a usb hub plugged in when you boot the PC. I'll check for burnt capacitors and anything else that I can visabily see. It's difficult to get a motherboard that has a games port for plugging in midi devices these days, so not keen on replacing it. BIOS settings need to be checked. Don't think I have PC utility, so will have to do on booting.

    Is there an XP version of the hardware diagnotistics tool ?

    Edit: I'm in the bios and there doesn't seem to be a setting for CPU temperature. I can change the voltage from auto to a specified voltage but nothing on temperature and while I was typing this (I'm in the bios), it switched itself off again and 3 attempts to switch on have failed. There is a monitor page on the bios that gives the actual temperatures and voltages, the motherboard was running at about 25deg c and the cpu was running a little over 100deg c.

    Edit2: Got it back up again
    CPU Temp: 106c/222.5f
    MB Temp: 24c/75f
    CPU Fan Speed: 2376rpm
    vcore voltage 1.408v
    3.3v voltage 3.328v
    5v voltage 5.107v
    12v voltage 12.736v
    Have a nice Day
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  13. DVD Ninja budz's Avatar
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    There is a monitor page on the bios that gives the actual temperatures and voltages, the motherboard was running at about 25deg c and the cpu was running a little over 100deg c.
    Are you sure the CPU TEMP said 100c? If it did then that temp is way too high and hot which could be why the pc shuts down. I suspect the CPU and heatsink needs a new coat of thermal paste. Remove the heatsink fan and clean off the old thermal paste or take off the thermal pad if you have one on there instead of thermal paste. You can use alcohol to clean the cpu and heatsink. Then reapply new thermal paste.
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  14. Member ViRaL1's Avatar
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    Blowing it out never hurts either. 12 months is not that old, but I do see systems come in all the time that don't look too bad on the outside, but inside they're caeked with dust. Too much dust inside can greatly reduce airflow and cooling. There's probably something else / more to your problem, but you should definitely check this out as it's an easy fix.
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  15. aBigMeanie aedipuss's Avatar
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    get yourself a new heat sink fan for that processor pronto. scrape/scrub off all the old worthless sticky thermal tape they used. use a high quality thermal grease - like artic silver- this time with a new hsf. 222 degrees f. is about 50f too high. 68c i believe is intel's recommended shutdown temp.
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    Originally Posted by mikesbytes

    Its mid winter here and I have one of the covers permanently off, so I doubt that its simply overheating.
    There could be your problem. Poor airflow. When you remove the side of your case you immediately render your intake and exhausts useless. They are not circulating as much air as they were when the side was on and their is an airflow pattern. You also have introduced your non-static environment to the static electrical world of the outside. Especially in winter time when the air is dry you have static everywhere.

    Never run your computer without proper airflow. Never run your computer for extended periods of time with the side off. I have heard all kinds of excuses why people like to run there systems with the side off. But have you ever noticed these are the majority of people who have alot of system issues?
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  17. Originally Posted by ROF
    I have heard all kinds of excuses why people like to run there systems with the side off. But have you ever noticed these are the majority of people who have alot of system issues?



    No.


    I've run my system for years with the sides off and NEVER had a problem. I have a small fan sitting beside the tower blowing air over my 3 hard drives and the CPU. Always runs cool. Why is it that you are always of the opposite opinion of the majority of people on this site?
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  18. Member slacker's Avatar
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    parallax1, ROF is absolutely RIGHT ON. Systems are designed and engineered ASSUMING the sides will be in place.

    And you sort of ruined your own argument by including the fact that you require external fans to cool your system. Hmmmm?
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    Ditto on the sides being off causing airflow problems. You have fans designed to pull air in and push air out on modern systems. That air flow doesn't work with the sides off. I've ran systems without the sides on for months but I usually have several case fans running just to keep things chilly. I also fight dust in my location which generally causes my fans to go out early but doesn't really mess with my current m'board though it has been a problem in the past. If you get a lot of dust then you have to blow it out often. Those cans of compressed air are important.

    It's been my experience that almost all causes of spontaneous shutdowns are heat related. Make sure your CPU fan is working correctly. They do fail sometimes. I've replaced many of them. They will run and stop and run again. When this is happening you will have heat issues.

    BTW in the dim and distant past heat would cause a system to run slow and run weird with constant errors. That's been over 10 years ago though. Modern systems shut down when the heat is on.

    Shutting down and staying off might mean a power supply issue or something else besides heat though. If your m'board is freaky like you say I'd look real hard at it being the problem. Electrical componenets break down because of heat after a while. Cheap boards go out quicker than the good stuff. A faulty board is certainly capable of causing shut downs. If it isn't heat (and it's easy to tell that really - run your system with a room fan pointed at the board and processor and look closely at the CPU fan) then the best and cheapest way to tell what is bad is to swap out parts until you find the bad one.

    I always had a set of test parts when I repaired computers. It was much faster to find problems that way. If you don't have spare parts laying around you should find a friend willing to loan you a computer for an evening to do testing. Keep in mind that anything you burn out of his you will have to pay for. But you can fix your problems when you find out what the problem is and test parts are faster than any other method IMO.

    It is possible that software can cause the problem especially if you are running an old OS or you have way too many background programs running. If you don't keep up with spyware it will choke your system to death. Modern OS's are much more stable though. If you're running XP I'd be surprised if you have any software issues (inc. drivers) that are causing this problem but it is possible. I'd check the hardware first then start looking at software if you can't find a hardware issue.
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  20. Member Skith's Avatar
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    I would say his CPU temps are way too high to be caused just by having the sides off, especially if he has a fan on the cpu/heatsink.
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    Definitely sounds like a CPU HSF problem.
    Remove, clean, apply the minimum required thermal paste, and make sure the heatsink retaining mechanism is holding the HS properly to the CPU. Ensure the cooling fan is working properly, and see how your PC works afterwards.
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    YOU should do a maintenance

    Put new thermal paste

    Change for a new cpu fan yours is running to slow

    That is all simple
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    Originally Posted by mikesbytes
    CPU Temp: 106c/222.5f
    YIKES!!! As other folks have said, this is simply way too hot.

    I also had this happen with one of my secondary systems, an AthlonXP 2700+ based system. Been running it for two years without issues and over the last month or so I would get spontaneous shutdowns, particulary when heavy processing was going on.

    Finally got fed up last sunday and opened it up.

    Although I vacum the floor and back of my PC's regularly, I found a nice clot of dust blocking the main air intake area, and of course a nice light layer of dust on all of the major components.

    I cleaned out all of the dust, and then popped the fan/heatsink off of the CPU. Ahhh ha!! Thermal tape was drying and cracking.

    Also noticed that one of the rear case fans wasn't really doing a good job, so off to the store for some decent thermal paste and a new case fan.

    Put the system back together, sparked it up and set it to do some video conversions.

    The PC has been on since then without any more mystery shut downs.

    You should do the same thing to your PC, a good general cleaning and inspection and potential replacement of fans and thermal paste will do wonders .....
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    cpu was running a little over 100deg c.
    That is the temp for boiling water ( 212 F ) and you claim there's no overheating problem? Cover off or not, mid winter or not. 100c is clearly a condition for a fried CPU. You lucky it hasn't simply died of you.

    Keeping the cover off is actually worse unless you are running a desk fan directly at it.

    A layer of dust makes a perfect winter coat on the parts that least need it. It is retaining heat instead of releasing it.
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    Originally Posted by parallax1
    Originally Posted by ROF
    I have heard all kinds of excuses why people like to run there systems with the side off. But have you ever noticed these are the majority of people who have alot of system issues?
    I've run my system for years with the sides off and NEVER had a problem. I have a small fan sitting beside the tower blowing air over my 3 hard drives and the CPU. Always runs cool. Why is it that you are always of the opposite opinion of the majority of people on this site?
    Opposite? I'd bet most system engineers would tend to agree with me and also agree that by leaving the sides off and using an external fan that you have alot more issues with dust and debris contaminating your system. You also have completely destroyed your opinion in this situation by using an external fan. You are no longer contained computer system but are instead running some hybrid . . . I really don't know what you would call it.
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  26. Is his machine reporting the correct cpu temp? over 90c it would be crashing like crazy it would be virtually unusable, at 106c as jtoolman2000 said is a condition for a fried CPU.
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  27. Member gadgetguy's Avatar
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    My $.02 on the cover issue.
    I agree that covers should be in place, but generic cases are designed ignorant of the components that will be installed, and are not always designed well. I had one case that had mounts to allow you to install a case fan to blow across the hard drive rack, great idea but the back of the fan would be right against the solid front wall of the case so no air could flow through it. This actually contributes to the heat problem as the fan itself becomes another heat source. If you have to take a cover off and direct a desk fan to keep it cool enough, then the case you are using is probably not designed for the system you are running (assuming properly routed cables, properly installed heat sinks, etc.), or is just plain poorly designed. Look for a case that better addresses your "hot spots" so you can close that system back up.
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  28. Member oldandinthe way's Avatar
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    gadgetguy has brought up an issue which is too often ignored.

    When you build your own system, you take responsibility for many aspects of the system which are not obvious.

    As well as cooling, you may impact electromagnetic emissions, and even potential shock and fire hazards.

    In the US factory built systems must be tested to meet FCC standards for emissions. You home built system may not comply and the ability to test for this is beyond the equipment normally available. (Obviously if it kills your TV picture it doesn't comply).

    Factory built systems are normally tested to the standards of Underwriter's Laboratories for safety including shock and fire risks. A home built machine, even with UL rated components may not be risk free.

    A system which runs too hot due to inadequate ventilation may be a fire hazard.

    Buried deep in many insurance policies is a clause which requires UL approval of electrical equipment to file a claim due to fire damage caused by the equipment. (A long shot but still an item to be aware of).
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  29. DVD Ninja budz's Avatar
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    Lots of replies on the OP problem. Now let's see when he'll respond to all of our suggestions.
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  30. In the bios of computers there are instructions on what to do if there is over heating. off/suspend/restart Etc.
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