[stevanilson]

Hi. My PC has developed a habit of turning itself off and not allowing me to start it up again again until some considerable time later. When it refuses to restart something in the tower emits a faint siren sound. I am suspicious of the PSU that i received when I purchased the case, its label says its a Mega Power CTX-450WCE but I cannot find any reference to this model. None of the components appear to be damaged. Can you help me solve this very annoying problem.

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Download and install Everest Home Edition

Run the programme, click + next to computer then sensor

Look on the right for temperatures and post those

[Retired Tech]

Download and install Everest Home Edition

Run the programme, click + next to computer then sensor

Look on the right for temperatures and post those

[stevanilson]

motherboard 24
CPU 42
hard drive 25

[stevanilson]

by the way, sorry i couldnt reply sooner, partly due to the problems i'm trying to get sorted

[Retired Tech]

Can you run the PC with Everest minimized on sensor and check it every 5 minutes to see if any of the temperatures rise quickly

If you also click computer then summary in Everest you can see most of the installed components

[stevanilson]

sure. how long should i monitor this for?

[Retired Tech]

Whenever you run the PC, if the temps don't rise too much it isn't that

You can click start then run, type chkdsk /f /r then press enter, type Y to confirm for next boot, press enter then reboot, it will check the drive but take an hour so only run it when you do not need the PC for a while

[stevanilson]

Noticed my PSU was installed with the vent side closest to a side panel a few days ago and turned it round. Initially there was no noticeable improvement (took a second or two longer for the siren to kick in), then it started running longer but still wouldn't restart. Got it to run the check disk though, which it is still doing, does this info help at all? Also, what is this chkdsk command about?

[Retired Tech]

This is clickable

chkdsk /f /r

[stevanilson]

shutdown again towards the end of the chkdsk, got it back on again, said volume checked and ok

[Retired Tech]

Can you give check disk another run to see if it completes without interruption, if it shows progress on the monitor you will 5 stages go to 100%

[stevanilson]

Ran the check disk again, but my pc cut off before it begin when I tried to restart, and again after check disk had finished. Now it wont start up again.

[Retired Tech]

Items in blue which are underlined are clickable to give more information about the process

Start the System Restore Utility at a command prompt

1. Restart your computer, and keep tapping F8 during the initial start-up until you get options, select Safe Mode with a Command Prompt then press enter.

2. Log on to your computer with an administrator account or with an account that has administrator credentials.

3. Type the following command at a command prompt, and then press ENTER:

%systemroot%\system32\restore\rstrui.exe

4. Follow the instructions that appear on the screen to restore your computer to an earlier state.

Look for the most recent system checkpoint created before the errors to restore from

For additional information about the Safe mode with a command prompt, click 315222 to see a description of the Safe Mode Boot Options in Windows XP

Or

You can use this guide to repair XP

Possibly, you will need to press the start button and keep tapping the delete key, (possibly F2) until the PC enters set up. Change the boot order to CD ROM Drive then hard drive, press F10 then press enter, load the XP CD then type Y then press enter, as it reboots, look for press any key to load from CD, press enter

You will need the XP product key to complete this

If you have audio / video files which are subject to DRM you should check with the provider for known issues with performing an XP repair install

XP Repair Install

Windows XP repair feature won't delete your data, installed programs, personal information, or settings. It just repairs the operating system

After running XP Repair you will need to install all Windows Updates

Microsoft Update

[stevanilson]

Havn't been able to do any of the stuff you said as I havn't been able to get my PC to start up since I last posted. Its started making a sort of faint whistling sound when the PSU is switched on, and the LCD display has started flickering between different brightnesses.

[Retired Tech]

Is that when you try safe mode with command prompt