Hello. Recently I have experienced a lot of trouble with my computer...I am using a school computer so I will post specs later if necessary. My computer will, completely randomly, turn off, often times when I am typing up an essay...or even if I am watching a movie. There is no shut down screen, and no error messages; it just turns off. When I attempt to turn it back on, both my CD drive and my CD-RW drive show disc activity, as if they are trying to read a disc, but the computer never actually starts up. I hear a clicking noise from the drives (again, showing attempted disc activity), but the operating system does not start, nor is the hard drive accessed. After i leave it off for about ten minutes, I can turn it on again.


I have trying opening my case and (very, very carefully) cleaning out the dust bunnies and such, but the problem persists.

Help?

This post has been edited by paddymoran: Oct 9 2008, 08:59 AM

unplug the computer from the wall BEFORE opening the case and cleaning the computer..

Bad computer memory is one of the three main reasons for random system failures.. the other two are heat (usually caused by fans or heatsinks being blocked with dust) or power issues...
first...unplug case from the wall...open it up and clean out all the dust bunnies...be sure to clean the cpu heatsink fins up real good.....guide is here..

then lets make sure its not your memory going bad...get memtest +
here....
the lowdown is here..

if you have a floppy drive you can get the 6th one down ...set the bios to boot from the floppy drive A:

first...then the cd drive then the Hard drive C:
or you can get the 2nd one down and burn the ISO file to a cd and then boot it from the cd drive...

if you don't have a burning program that will burn .ISO files go

here and get burncdcc ..a small FAST no frills iso

burning program...

NOTE...do not put a blank cd in until burncdcc opens the tray for you
1. Start BurnCDCC
2. Browse to the ISO file you want to burn on cd/dvd ....in this case its memtest86.iso
3. Select the ISO file
4. click on Start

make sure in the bios the cd drive is the first boot device....put the cd in the cd drive..boot your computer....


let memtest run for at least 2 hours...if it starts showing any errors during that time then you will have

to replace the RAM...no errors after 2 hours just press Esc to end the tests and we will try some other

tests


go here and get everest home...install and

launch it...click the + by computer...click on sensor...get a screenshot and post it so I can check your temps and

voltages...

I'm sorry for taking so long to get back to you. For some reason, I can't load my BIOS screen...I've tried hitting the F keys and Escape and Delete and I can;t get it to work. I'll attach my screenshot of my temps and voltages.

your processor (CPU)is running hot...
next time click on the cpu and get a screenshot for me..
intel processors will throttle back if over heating and if it gets too hot will shut the computer off to keep from killing the cpu

here you go!

those PRESCOTT core processors are notorious for running hot...
I am out of town until tuesday morning and will pick this up then...
but you may want to try reapplying thermal paste between the heatsink and cpu
lowdown is here

So. I don't have any idea how to apply thermal paste, even with the lowdown. I bought a can of compressed air and really, really attacked the dust bunnies in my computer. Turns out, the fan and area around my CPU was caked with dirt and dust. According to Everest, my CPU temperature has dropped down to 30-35 degrees Celsius. Since then, my computer randomly shut off once, but it did not turn completely off...it just rebooted. And there is no disc clicking anymore. Any thoughts?

This post has been edited by paddymoran: Nov 11 2008, 01:12 AM

just run it for awhile and see if it continues to run without hanging...keep a eye on those cpu temps

Will do. I have been monitoring temps...they seem to stay low. I also have been trying to get into the habit of shutting down my computer every night.

I
this is good practice...

Ok....so my temperatures have remained very low....but very, very rarely, my computer will reboot (not shut off). This is very strange...any thoughts?

Windows XP is set by default to reboot your computer when it hits a critical error. For most users I suppose this is a good thing, as no one likes to see the BSOD (blue screen of death). But in this case, we actually WANT to see the BSOD because it contains some useful information in diagnosing the problem. In order to force your computer to show you the BSOD, we need to tell it to stop auto restarting on critical errors.

Right-click...My Computer... and then click ...Properties...
Click the ..Advanced tab...
Under Startup and Recovery.. click ..Settings... to open the Startup and Recovery dialog box....
uncheck the ..Automatically restart.. check box, and click OK the necessary number of times...

Restart your computer for the settings to take effect....

Done. And now we wait....?

yep...if/when it bluescreens...write done what the error is and let us know

So....my computer reboots without a blue screen...maybe it has something to do with the power cord's connection to the computer? I dunno.