Computer Problems

F

fartiusstinkius

Veteran XV
Here's the scenario. My computer was having some issues for the last month or two. It would basically just lose power and then it would restart. It would not shut down. It would sound like the power went out and then it would just restart as if I was booting it up.

Before it was doing it maybe once a week. It was annoying but I didn't do anything about it. Now today it seems to completely have died. It now will only boot up for a couple seconds after it posts before it turns off and restarts again. If I get lucky it might stay on for a couple minutes but I haven't made it any further. So at this point I really can't do anything (productive) with it.

I'm thinking that it is probably the power supply. I don't think it would be a heating issue and (when it turns on) the computer seems to work fine. I don't think it is the motherboard because I just replaced that last Christmas. Since the computer seems to work fine when it actually gets and stays on I think most of the components are intact.

Does anyone here know what might be causing these seemingly random turnoffs? Anything other than the power supply possibly an issue?

My comp specs are:

Pentium 4 2.4
1 gig ram
radeon 9700
(can't remember the motherboard or anything else off hand)

If anyone can help I would really appreciate it.
 
www.memtest86.com

My bet is power supply though; turn off "automatically restart" under advanced startup and recovery settings (control panel, system, advanced tab). That way if you're getting any kind of blue screen error or anything, it will hang, instead of restart.
 
Psychosis said:
www.memtest86.com

My bet is power supply though; turn off "automatically restart" under advanced startup and recovery settings (control panel, system, advanced tab). That way if you're getting any kind of blue screen error or anything, it will hang, instead of restart.
Click to expand...
Good info...thanks bud.
 
Its a bootable cd yo.

Actually I would reccoment Ultimate Boot CD (ubcd). It is a bootable cd that has diagnostic tools for everything you can image. Google for it.
 
Toast said:
Its a bootable cd yo.

Actually I would reccoment Ultimate Boot CD (ubcd). It is a bootable cd that has diagnostic tools for everything you can image. Google for it.
Click to expand...
Yeah I realized that but the comp usually only boots for a few seconds total. I'm not sure it will even stay on through running a test (actually at this point i'm pretty sure it won't).

ill check out that other proggie too though.
 
Try RAM 1 stick at a time

unplug everything but the floppy drive, pull all cards but the vid card... see if it stays running for a memtest.

I still say its the PS ;)
 
Got any other known-good computer parts lying around? Time to play the parts roulette and pinpoint the source.

If not, it's still doable but a lot harder.
 
could be heating, if that heatsink is not seated good, it will shut down pretty quick.

could be PSU and ram too. could be video, could be anything really. I usually swap stuff with another PC until i pinpoint it.

goodluck
 
well i ran memtest on it a few hours ago. it went through the test around 8 times and found no errors so i'm thinking the memory looks in good shape. i then let it sit for a few hours and now it's working (at least temporarilly...i'm typing this on it right now).

i have no computer parts to play with here so i'm kind of screwed in that department. if it comes to that, i can work on it with other parts when i go home in a few weeks. gotta get up early though so i'll just have to put off working on this until tomorrow. i still think it's the ps but i'm not totally sure atm...not sure enough to go out and buy another one.

on a happier note, my mom called and said that my yellow lab had eight puppies today. so when i go home after school i'll have 8 three week old pups to play with :)

btw thanks for all the help everyone
 
That shit can damage your other computer parts if it is the power supply and it keeps restarting your computer. Get that fixed.
 
yeah man, if it's the PS you need to get that fixed ASAP. Surges aren't good for electronics.

It's odd that sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't though. Did you check the connections to the Mobo?
 
okay i've checked connections and i can't see anything wrong.

...but now i was wondering about my cpu temps. it's a p4 2.4 and my bios says that it's running at 55 celcius...and that's when it's really not doing anything (i can't really test the temps in windows since i can't really boot it up). this site seems to say that i should only have a "Maximum Recommended Fan Inlet Temperature" of abou 40 celcius. is it talking about the same temp? i'm pretty stupid so i guess i'm basically asking: is 55 high?
 
No idea if that's good or bad, but I had a similar issue. Either the video card would shutdown for a second and come back or the whole computer would die. I got another fan and it's good now.
 
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