Tech Help Computer Keeps "shutting off"

[disneychrista]

HELP!! Can anyone help? For some unknown reason my computer just keeps shutting off. There is no rhyme or reason to it.

Anyone know what might be cause this? I have done everything I can think of and it does not help. A system restore to roll back to before it began. A system reinstall. All to no avail. Any help would be great

Oh and I have tried to run a virus check but it never gets through it before it shuts off.

 

[MosMom]

Sounds like maybe it is overheating. Make sure your fans are working.

 

[Dan Murphy]

http://www.microsoft.com/security/incident/sasser.mspx

Are you now on a different computer? I presume so. If so, look at this link.

Edited.....I am just rereading. You did a complete system reinstall, to original??

 

[Deb & Bill]

My computer did that once and it had a virus. I had to get a fix on a diskette or CD from a coworker at work to get it fixed. Then I got some better virus checker and a firewall.

 

[LMC]

Sounds like a virus to me too. The one that went out about a year ago. Check the microsoft website for a fix. Was it called msblaster? You will do a search somewhere in your files for a "blast" file.

 

[disneychrista]

Thanks for the link Dan, I will try what it says. Hoping it helps.

Originally posted by Dan Murphy
You did a complete system reinstall, to original??

I think that is what I did. What ever it is I did it by hit F10 while it was starting up and then doing to reinstall. I was kinda forced to do something when it shut off while I was doing a restore and something was done and it woudln't start up with out an error.

 

[disneychrista]

Well it is not the sasser worm, according to the link Dan provided.

The fan is on and running (while the computer is on). That too was the first thing I thought off.

Just to be clear, when it shuts off it just shuts off completely. No "shut down" like when you use turn off computer from the start menu. The green light on the back of the computer also goes off. The only way to restart the computer it to unplug it and plug it back in. Doing this half the time the computer will start up on its own from this the other half you have to manually turn it on.

This is very frustrating. I am leaning toward something machanical. I have Norton Antiviris, Norton Internet Security, and built in XP firewall. The last scan was done on Friday, and this began on Monday afternoon.

 

[LMC]

This sounds like what mine did and I did have the msblast virus and I did have McAfee antivirus at the time. go to:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;826955

There are instructions there on how to search your files for this virus and variants of it. If you find it and have an anti-virus software, then I would contact them for help on removing it! That's why you pay them right? Good luck. If the link doesn't work do a search on blast at the microsoft site.

 

[JoNo]

Sounds like it could be a bad powersupply. How long have you had your computer? When a powersupply goes bad, it starts off by shutting down randomly... then it will get to the point of not even turning on.

 

[Galahad]

Check to see if your "C:" drive is filling up. Many PC's have a logical C drive and a logical D drive, with most programs and (this is key) the temporary internet files and system "swap" files defaulting to the "C" drive. Problem is, most computer makers image the machine with the "C" drive pretty small. If you have less than 20% free space on the C drive, move stuff to the D drive, make the swap file smaller or move it, as well as the internet files. The machine just "shutting off" with no message or other symptom is exactly what happens when the swap file can't get any space on the hard drive.

 

[disneychrista]

If I am reading right about the C Drive I still have over half free (27.8 GB).

The computer is about 2.5 years old. I bought it in Jan 2002. I think the Power Supply might be it. There are times when even when I unplugg and plug back in (from the back of the computer) it doesn't work. So if this is it, how do I fix it? Is this something that can be replaced? How can I check to see if this is infact the problem?

 

[Galahad]

Originally posted by disneychrista
If I am reading right about the C Drive I still have over half free (27.8 GB).

Then space is not likely to be the problem. Good luck!

 

[Galahad]

Originally posted by disneychrista
If I am reading right about the C Drive I still have over half free (27.8 GB).

The computer is about 2.5 years old. I bought it in Jan 2002. I think the Power Supply might be it. There are times when even when I unplugg and plug back in (from the back of the computer) it doesn't work. So if this is it, how do I fix it? Is this something that can be replaced? How can I check to see if this is infact the problem?

If it is a desktop computer, the power supply is pretty easy to replace. They can be bought at a comp-usa or Best Buy. They can replace it for you. It isn't very hard to do that operation yourself. If it is a lap top (sorry I don't remember seeing that in the post) in can still be done, but probably not yourself.

 

[RadioNate]

I had a very very very bad virus that was doing this to our machine. It took my DH's entire IT staff to fix it. They had never seen the virus and have no idea where we got it.

One of the properties was that it disables virus software

Symantic had to talk them through the removal. Which was extreamly involved.

I'll ask them what it was called but it wasn't something common and publisized

Hopefully it's just a power supply issue

 

[disneychrista]

I even more leaning toward the power supply. I had done shut off my computer this afternoon and these evening the green light was off. It had never done that before.

Now how do I know what type of power supply to buy? I looked at them breifly online and there seem to be different types.

 

[Geoff_M]

I "third" the power supply suggestion, but first I'd also check your power connections to the motherboard and devices such as disk drives, CD drives, etc. to make sure that something isn't contacting intermittently or shorting out. Also make sure that un-used power connectors are capped or taped so they don't tangle and short out on the case or other component.