[Joeyp]

Hey guys, My pc has been shutting down by itself lately, most of the time it happens when your in the middle of typing something like I am now,but a couple of times,including today,it shuts down and won't turn back on,and just sits and whines,with like a low pitch siren,and I had to turn the power off to it for a few minutes to get it to turn back on. I checked to see if it needed cleaning and how warm it was after the first time,the fan was a little dirty ,but not bad,and I don't have a temp gauge,but it didn't seem too hot. My sister has the same system as I do and said hers did it too about 3 weeks ago. Any suggestions? I hope this is the right forum for this.My PC is a emachine AMD 3000+ Sempron processor, 512mb ddr sdram ,120gb hd,if that helps.

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Download, install and run HD Tune

http://www.hdtune.com/

Click the cog wheels next to exit to get this

[attachment=6525:attachment]

Tick to run minimized and to run at start up, click apply, click benchmark and adjust to accurate, click apply

On the main page, click error scan, start scan

When windows loads now you will get the temperature in the taskbar so you can keep an eye on it

[Retired Tech]

Download, install and run HD Tune

http://www.hdtune.com/

Click the cog wheels next to exit to get this

[attachment=6525:attachment]

Tick to run minimized and to run at start up, click apply, click benchmark and adjust to accurate, click apply

On the main page, click error scan, start scan

When windows loads now you will get the temperature in the taskbar so you can keep an eye on it

[Joeyp]

I installed the HD tuner and ran an error scan which showed no damage,and the temperature shows 43 degrees celsius,is this good or bad? I tried to tick the items you said,but it won't highlight the apply button to let me change the settings.

[Retired Tech]

The temperature isn't a problem and the initial outlook is that the drive is fine

If you click OK for the settings and it does not show the temperature in the taskbar when windows loads, start the programme manually, no need to run an error check, you just want to be able to monitor the temperature in case a particular programme causes it to rise suddenly

Probably the two main reasons a computer shuts down are temperatures and video adapter errors, although the temperature would cause it to stay off and the video adapter would usually cause it to reboot

If you run through the next bit, it will help this or point to the problem

Click start then run, type sfc /scannow then press enter, you will need the XP CD

System File Check will display an onscreen blue progress bar, when the bar goes, reboot.

Click start then run, type chkdsk /f /r then press enter, type Y to confirm for next boot, press enter then reboot.

Windows will appear to load normally then either the monitor will show progress or the screen will go blank, do not disturb this. This will take an hour or so before it gets to the desktop.

Click start, all programmes, accessories, system tools to run disc clean up, click more options then clean up restore points, click confirm, click OK. Then from system tools, run disc defragmenter.

Click start then run, type prefetch then press enter, click edit then select all, right click any file then click delete, confirm delete, then reboot

When it gets to the desktop, the system files and the hard drive will be as they should and you can check for any improvement

This section is optional

Download and install Tune Up 2006 Trial

Run Tune Up Disc Clean Up

Run Tune Up Registry Clean Up

Click Optimize and Improve to run Reg Defrag, which will take a few minutes and need a reboot

After the reboot, click optimize then system optimizer to optimize the computer, select computer with an internet connection from the drop down menu, this also requires a reboot

After the reboot, click optimize then system optimizer to accelerate downloads, select the speed just above your actual connection speed, this requires a reboot

After the reboot, click optimize then system optimizer to run system advisor

[Joeyp]

Hi keith, I don't have just one XP cd. When I bought my PC I had to make my own back up disks when I first started my system, which disk would I most likely use, I have 4?

[Retired Tech]

It will say insert the XP CD so insert one of the discs, let it run in the drive for a while so the green light on the drive stops flashing, then click OK, if it says wrong disc, insert the next one, it will be looking for the i386 folder if you know which one that is on

[Joeyp]

I can't seem to locate disks at this time,I will find them and try this when I do.

[macten]

<and just sits and whines,with like a low pitch siren,>

I've read that capacitors will sometimes 'whistle' when they become defective. I'm wondering if a capacitor on the motherboard or inside the powersupply is defective......