[capty99]

Okay, if you remember i built this computer from scratch, and from the start it would randomly turn off. After a few weeks I moved and the problem seemed to fix itself.

Until this week.

I was watching a video online and poof it went out. Now it does it randomly... most of the time it SEEMS to happen when I am watching online videos (hulu.com streaming tv shows)

but occasionally just completely randomly. I'm trying to figure out the problem the only thing I can think of is that my bios auto shuts off if the processor gets to hot.
I think this because if I turn it back on immediately it will just shut off again, I have to wait 15- 20 minutes before trying again (cool down time i guesS)

If thats the case is it a problem to change the settings in the bios to turn that off, or will that just one day burn up my computer.

Any other ideas for what it could be>?



wow. i had random capitalizations, terrible grammer, and run-ons. ignore my sentence structure please.

[KYA]

I would first get a one of the many free tools online that can monitor the temps of your case and see what it is right before it shuts down. (Run it in the background).

If overheating is the problem, you may have an airflow issue. Ideally, in a non water cooling setup you want one fan in front to suck in air and one or two in the back to suck it out of the case. I'm a big fan of rear exhaust case fans:

Like this

Or this

I bought a few of the second one and it works great (was cheaper when i bought it though....)

[no2pencil]

If you have more than one stick of RAM, I would suggest swapping them out & try using each of them 1 at a time. See if you can single out one of the sticks of RAM as having the problem.

[marcells23]

well, since you say it happens while watching videos..
If you have a high end video card, maybe your power supply isnt powerful enough. I have seen that happen before.

[ferrari12508]

If it is a heat problem, KYA is right about moving air out of the case, but you might want to get some heat away from where it is being generated. Get an aftermarket cooler for what appears to be the problem and see if that helps.

[capty99]

downloaded hdd health. it started at 42 c when boot from long stay off.

i turned on a movie to see if i could recreate problem and it slowly inched up to 50 after about 20 minutes and then shut off.

is 50 c hot for a hd? if so then i think we found the problem.

i took a cover off for now and am running half naked to keep it going.

we'll see if it works.

[no2pencil]

capty99, on 11 May, 2008 - 12:49 AM, said:

i took a cover off for now and am running half naked to keep it going.

Just like the male on male movie you were watching... interesting.

[2457]

You should monitor temperature of CPU and VGA card too.

Reset bios to default, and only change things You know what are they.
Have You touched the CPU die with Your finger?
Did You put the heatsink on properly?
IS the fan running nice and smooth as it should be?

IS anythin operating off the mains in Your house/neighborhood that could poison the electric signals? (my computer shuts down if my neighbor is "welding" -> hope thats the correct word, LOL) solution was a 0.1$ filter cap at the main line.

Allso old electrick light cwitches may caouse simular problems.
Are Your mains line proper? "zero" and "ground" connected properly?
Some "craftsman" for some sorth of logic beyond human DO swap them rarely, as a fault CAN produce these simpthones.

What case are You useing? Whats in the box?
CAN allso be a motherboard temp. problem, some SLI capable chipsets on motherboards are a lack of fans, becouse the SLI config needs space.. And the little heatsink on the chipset IS NOT going to keep it cool for long..
(my experiance: MSI K9N4 SLI-F overheated and shut down with a single 8600gt inside.. Added a nice low-profile fan, and changed the thermal paste from non-exsisting to some ACS-5, and voila, it works. Have sold about 20 of them, none had thermal paste.. BAD boys at MSI forgot it.. only time I had to face a problem with MSI...)

Power supply can be a question too, but its more like You have something messed up with the CPU cooling...

Should You allso let us know if You let the cables laying around or not.
I NEVER let them just float around, they are held as far as possible from any heatsource, and are NOT disturbing airflow.

Wich is the setup to be followd..

How is Your computer placed? Is the SUN shining on the -black- case or not? is it close to any heat-source, is it.. under a desk where cold air is something that never exsisted?

Try to describe the things as much as possible.

RAM could allso make Your computer freeze, but it usualy produces a blue-death screen in windows, and hangs..
Allso after power down it should be able to resume power immidiatly if it is RAM related, or not power on at all.. most times, offcourse..

[no2pencil]

2457, on 11 May, 2008 - 02:17 AM, said:

RAM could allso make Your computer freeze, but it usualy produces a blue-death screen in windows, and hangs..
Allso after power down it should be able to resume power immidiatly if it is RAM related, or not power on at all.. most times, offcourse..

Yeah, I suggested the RAM to him before... but he completely ignored it, or already tried it.

[2457]

oh, my bad..
this is my.."usual" batch of questions to end users in cases of "strange" shut-offs, blue-screens or any other "intresting" problems..

Well, for windows users at least...
if its linux user I don't quite have an answer for software related things.

[no2pencil]

2457, on 11 May, 2008 - 02:31 AM, said:

Well, for windows users at least...

Yeah, I always get a kick out of a Linux system admin whom thinks a reboot will do something more than bring a system back up to a similar state that it was in before it was shutdown.

"well it worked before the change... maybe a reboot would fix it?"

[KYA]

50c + for a processor is kinda hot

My 8800 GTX (GPU) on the other hand runs super hot--60 or so under load, 70 is the fan isn't on all the way on it

[PsychoCoder]

If your video card is running that hot you need some additional cooling in that computer, and fast. I have an 8800GTS 1GB and mine don't run anywhere near those numbers. I have an expensive CPU cooler, 3 120mm fans and a 90mm fan inside my case, and under load I don't think anything even reaches close to 70C

[ferrari12508]

he said 50C for his hard drive and yea, thats hot. Mine runs about 30C or so after long hours

[capty99]

no2pencil, on 11 May, 2008 - 01:18 AM, said:

2457, on 11 May, 2008 - 02:17 AM, said:

RAM could allso make Your computer freeze, but it usualy produces a blue-death screen in windows, and hangs..
Allso after power down it should be able to resume power immidiatly if it is RAM related, or not power on at all.. most times, offcourse..

Yeah, I suggested the RAM to him before... but he completely ignored it, or already tried it.

i read it don't worry. added it to my db of things to check next time, but since its been a year or two with no problems and it hasn't been kicked or anything i didn't sense anything was getting unsettled there.

i'm pretty sure i have narrowed it down to a heat problem .

just realized i'm dumb and have been monitoring my hd health over cpu..... however, i'm showing a heat problem with that that could be the cause of the problem or just the symptom. i think a fan will fix. plus the problem coincides with a big change in weather hot & humid the last 2 weeks in austin, probably choking my computer.

its not a big vid card, 7100 g, but something is burning up some heat.

yeah i botted up after a full night off and it starts at 22c.... so it adds 30 during the day, definitely the problem.

thanks boys you got me a fix.