[nubcaekk]

Hi, my computer has just started to shut down automatically by itself from about 2 minutes from startup. It doesn't give me a message or anything it just shuts down. The problem never happend a couple weeks ago and I haven't made any hardware changes. I opened up the computer and it doesn't nothing looks wrong? So could someone please me?

[Advertisements]

Is it just shutting down when it's just sitting there doing nothing... or are you running some app when it shuts down? If you just let it sit, does it shut down? How about in Safe mode, does it shut down there also?

Many things can cause a shutdown... including heat, and even software. How old is the computer? And please read my signature and list your specs.

[makai]

Is it just shutting down when it's just sitting there doing nothing... or are you running some app when it shuts down? If you just let it sit, does it shut down? How about in Safe mode, does it shut down there also?

Many things can cause a shutdown... including heat, and even software. How old is the computer? And please read my signature and list your specs.

[nubcaekk]

uhh.. i just tried to open it again and it shut down before even starting windows, like at the part where it checks the master and secondary slave thing. it's a desktop computer P4 2.4 ghz with 512 ram video card is a ati radeon 9600 xt and computer is about 4-5 years old now. after it shuts down automatically, it won't turn on unless i turn off the power and let it rest for like 2 minutes.

[makai]

Sounds like a heat problem.

Remove the AC plug from the computer.

Open the case up and check to see if there is a lot of dust inside. Make sure to touch a bare metal area of the case to discharge any static electricity your body may be storing before reaching inside to touch anything. If there is dust, go to your local computer store and buy some compressed air. Clean out the dust with the compressed air, but do not just blast the dust out... take it slowly and don't press the nozzle too hard. You just want enough air coming out of the can to clean the areas. You don't want the liquid spraying out of the can.

Once that's done, reconnect the AC cord and powerup the computer. Look inside the case and make sure the fans are spinning... especially the fan for the CPU.

Post back with your results

[makai]

Also make sure that if your video card has a fan, that it's spinning too!

[nubcaekk]

Well I just used half a can of air and my computer looks super clean =). BUT now my computer doesn't start up at all =\ I can see the lights and fans go on for like a split second, then it just shuts down and can't open again unless I turn off the power again.. btw thanks for all the help

[makai]

Hmmm... Perhaps your power supply has died... but it may be something else causing it. You will definitely need to do some isolation to find out.

Do you have a spare power supply, or can you borrow one from a friend for troubleshooting?

If not, then you will need to do the following...

You will need to disconnect all the power cords from your drives, CDrom, floppy, etc.

You should also disconnect any peripheral devices like printers, scanners, etc.

Then power up the computer and see if the fans run. If they still don't, you need to start pulling cards out... any modems, sound, etc.

Eventually, you will need to get all the way down to just the mother board and cpu.

And then, if the fans still don't run, you're going to have to try to find a way to isolate between the motherboard, and cpu... either by borrowing one or the other.

Power supplies are known to fail, and seeing as your machine is several years old, it's possible it did. You have to know this though, that every time you power up the computer with a possible bad power supply, you take the chance of spiking something enough to kill it. If it were my computer, the first thing I would try is a new power supply.