What is the problem when a pc shuts down randomly?

[vcdentro]

Recently i upgraded my pc to an athlon 1.6 gb with a dfi motherboard, and the problems began...Sometimes the pc just shut down when i'm doing something, not always using the same program...
I first thought it was the ram but i can't be sure because i don't have any other for comparison,i bought it on two different shops and one is 256 mb and the other 128 mb, could be the different brands or clocks, how can i know the speed 133 or 266 of my ddr? It's my frst time using it so i dont know what can it be...
Please help me....

[Sefy]

First i would suggest you take out one of the chips, secondly, the problem could very well be Windows, or maybe even a mainboard protection incase your CPU Fan isn't working properly, and it's shutting down the PC when it detects the CPU overheating.

[Allan55]

It may be:

DDR memory "quality" is iffy right now, Some Motherboard manufacturers have gone so far as to post lists of "qualified" memory. You may have this problem.

Another one is that sometimes one brand of memory isn't quite compatible with another. Try running with only one stick at a time. If the problem goes away, this is your problem.

[Nelson37]

Suspect #1 = improper cooling fan installation or operation - add copper shims, make sure proper fan installed, check temp readouts if available
Athlons require particular fans, incorrect fan or installation can crack chip,
DO NOT run with fan off, chip will fry very quickly
#2 = Motherboard grounding on case - remove, insulate, re-install
#3 = flaky Motherboard - replace under Warranty
#4 = Inadequate Power from old PS - unlikely unless was very low wattage
Remove all boards but video, one RAM chip, board out of case, boot to C:> prompt and do nothing - if no freeze is not hardware

[Mirror_Image]

What are the specs on your power supply? Specifically, does it meet or exceed these values that AMD recommends for Athlon systems:

20A for the +3.3V power.
30A for the +5V power.
165W for the combined +5V/+3.3V power

What temp does your CPU generally run at most of the time?

How about the CPU temp (should be able to tell in the BIOS setup) right after the spontaneous shutdown/reboot?

Is your vid card or CPU/Bus overclocked?

[artbatista]

I had a similar problem, and after several brands or RAM, I bought from Crucial.Com

I installed that chip and have been trouble free for months. In my case it was the SDRAM chip that did it.

Art

Recently i upgraded my pc to an athlon 1.6 gb with a dfi motherboard, and the problems began...Sometimes the pc just shut down when i'm doing something, not always using the same program...
I first thought it was the ram but i can't be sure because i don't have any other for comparison,i bought it on two different shops and one is 256 mb and the other 128 mb, could be the different brands or clocks, how can i know the speed 133 or 266 of my ddr? It's my frst time using it so i dont know what can it be...
Please help me....

[zzyzzx]

I had a similiar problem. Worked fine when I left the case open, but had the random shutdowns with the caes closed. Added a cooling fan and the problem went away. Try running with the case cover off and see if the random shutdowns go away.

[TIbrO]

That used to happen to me when I first got my Marvel G400TV when I would try to capture in anything else besides the included capture application. After they updated their drivers, I was able to capture in anything and it went away...

So it's not always hardware that causes it, but drivers can cause this, too.