Hi,

Thanks in advance for your help! My computer keeps shutting down. This happens mainly when I'm playing a PC game. Most recently, it keeps shutting down when I'm playing Heroes of Might and Magic V. The shut down problem is not specific to this game however. It's happened with the latest Civ and even games as old as Diablo II.

I'm not sure why it's happening. My system meets all of the requirements of the games I play.

Also, sometimes for no reason it just reboots while I'm on desktop (with games it shuts down completely). Perhaps the two things are linked?

Any ideas on what to do?

Thanks

Hello,

There are many causes for random reboots, but a majority stem from overheating in the computer or RAM instability. Does the computer seem to reboot after the same amount of time playing games? Do you have any programs for seeing the temperature of different parts of your motherboard? Is this a computer you purchased from a store pre-assembled, or one that you constructed yourself?

Cheers,
Tom

I don't think it's from my computer overheating (although a program recommendation for testing internal temperature would be great). The times when it shuts down is completely random. Sometimes I've only just started playing and other times, I play for quite a few hours before it happens.

Also, another thing that leads me to believe it's not overheating is that my computer actually goes through a shutdown sequence. The programs that I have open actually close out (I see the End Program window pop up). Usually with heat issues, the computer just makes a bleep and kinda dies out.

I put my computer together so it's a custom job.

Hello,

Have you double-checked that your computer is virus-free and ad/malware free? Also, are you running current anti-virus software and a firewall if connected via broadband.

Is this problem new, or has it been long-standing and has recently gotten worse?

Another area to check is to see if all drivers are up to date, especially video drivers.

Just before the computer starts the shut down sequence, do you see any windows, pop-ups or error messages?

Cheers,
Tom

I'm actually running AVG as I type this on my laptop. Ad-Aware came up pretty clean. I had Microsoft Updates disabled but now I just enabled it and got Microsoft Defender.

My system is pretty clean.

I would say that this problem has been on and off. It really only happens when I'm playing games. Once in a blue moon it will shut off/restart when I'm on desktop. It is annoying though and doesn't seem to be specific to anyone game. It's happened during Diablo II. That's a very old game where the system requirements are definitely not that high.

I have boughts when the system shuts off while I'm playing and I even have trouble booting it back up.

I've thought about driver incompatibility issues. How do I check if all my drivers are up to date?

Well,

The latest update is that AVG yielded no viruses. I actually tried to play a game again after I ran the virus check. This time I was able to play for quite a few hours. The first sign of problems was when the computer automatically tabbed me out of my game onto my desktop. But, it did not force quit my game, so I was able to get back in. After a little while more, it just rebooted.

Is it possible that there is a setting in XP that makes your computer reboot after a certain amount of time on?