[russrmartin]

Hey guys, new to this forum, but looks cool. I have an HP I purchased new 4 years ago or so. I installed a new Maxtor hard drive about a year ago and had no problems. Recently though, at random times, sometimes while booting, the computer will shut down. It doesn't go through the shutdown, it just powers off as if unplugged. One thing I did notice for sure, when trying to run the system recovery disk, it shuts down every time. Does anyone have any ideas what is up? The last thing that I tried to do was reboot in DOS and formatted the hard drive, but it still will not run the recovery disk w/out turning off. Thanks in advance for any input.

Russ

[Advertisements]

Hi russrmartin...Welcome to G2G!

Random shutdowns can be caused by quite a few things...Bad Power Supply, Malfunctioning Fans, Dust and Debris in the CPU Heatsink, HEAT...etc...it's not always a software issue.

It might be a good idea to start with a good cleaning.
1) Power off and unplug your machine...then pop the cover off and make sure that:
2) All fans (CPU fan, PSU fan, and any case fans you might have) are powering up and spinning. (You'll have to plug it in and turn it on for this check...remember to power down and unplug before cleaning)
3) The CPU heatsink fins are free of dust, etc...
4) The PSU is not "full of dust".
Use compressed air (cans of this are available at most office supply stores) to clean everything up in there...Please be careful and be sure to ground yourself to the machine's metal frame either by touching it with your free hand or by using a static strap attached to your wrist and the chassis. Static electricity can damage delicate components.

Run the machine up and see if the shutdowns are still happening.

wannabe1

[wannabe1]

Hi russrmartin...Welcome to G2G!

Random shutdowns can be caused by quite a few things...Bad Power Supply, Malfunctioning Fans, Dust and Debris in the CPU Heatsink, HEAT...etc...it's not always a software issue.

It might be a good idea to start with a good cleaning.
1) Power off and unplug your machine...then pop the cover off and make sure that:
2) All fans (CPU fan, PSU fan, and any case fans you might have) are powering up and spinning. (You'll have to plug it in and turn it on for this check...remember to power down and unplug before cleaning)
3) The CPU heatsink fins are free of dust, etc...
4) The PSU is not "full of dust".
Use compressed air (cans of this are available at most office supply stores) to clean everything up in there...Please be careful and be sure to ground yourself to the machine's metal frame either by touching it with your free hand or by using a static strap attached to your wrist and the chassis. Static electricity can damage delicate components.

Run the machine up and see if the shutdowns are still happening.

wannabe1

[peterm]

also check the capacitors when you have the case open
Capacitors