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Day before yesterday my computer decided to start shutting down just about every 2 hours. I took the cover off the tower and blew out the inside with canned air thinking it may be dust. I put the cover back on plugged everything back in and turned it on and checked to make sure the fan was working and it is. I also ran 2 dif. vrus checks and came up with nothing. Anybody know what may be going on with this thing?
Thanks, Karen
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When you had the cover off, did you by chance, take a look at the capacitors? (They look like AA batteries set on end.) Their bottoms should be bright and shiny. No brown residue or bulging.
Are there any error messages displayed before the computer shuts down or does it just shut down? And when it has shut down can you immediately boot it up again?
I took the cover off the tower and blew out the inside with canned air thinking it may be dust.
Well, we know, that you know, how to take the cover off. So, pop it off again, and have a look inside again. You don't need to touch a thing. Just look.
As I mentioned.... Capacitors look like AA batteries set on end. You can't miss them. You'll have quite a few. Take a good look at them to make sure the ends of them are flat and shiny.
Just looked and the capacitators are flat and shiny. No, Pete there are no error messages or anything when it shuts down. It just shuts off as if I did a hard shut down and no I cannot turn it right back on I have to wait a bit before it will turn back on.
I'm wondering if this is not an overheating problem or a power supply problem. Symptoms typical of a circuit breaker tripping, then resetting after cool down.
Your mother board may be set to shut the machine down if the CPU is overheating to prevent damage. That is a good thing.
When you blew out the machine, did you pay particular attention to the CPU heatsink? They can accumulate a lot of dust between the fins that impede cooling.
Could be a CPU fan problem or heat sink problem? On reboot right after you can first get machine to run after shutdown, what CPU temperature is your BIOS reporting??
Does your BIOS have a PC Health reporting function? If so see what temp the CPU is running at.
Alternative: install Aida32, available for free download:
Gee whiz Karen, those temperature readings are well within the acceptable parameters as far as I know, my CPU runs consitantly at 115-117f.
Would seem to rule out CPU overheat problem. I wish someone else would chime in here, and I'm sure they will given time.
Access to BIOS (Basic Input Output System) varies by motherboard manufacturer. Many use the delete key. To try on your machine, boot (or reboot) and as the first screen appears, look on the bottom while the BIOS is detecting your drives. It should tell you what key will get you access. Probably the delete key. May be an F# key. Press the key before the BIOS finishes detecting the drives, you will be in the Basic Input Output System.
A very interesting and confusing place to be. Don't change any settings, just look around. Use the up and down arrows and the enter and escape keys to navigate. On the bottom of the BIOS screen you should see the keys (methods) to navigate and close the BIOS. Once closed the machine will reboot.
Each category and sub category of settings is opened with the "enter" key and closed with the "escape"
I went ahead and shut off the computer a bit ago before you posted your last thread because the cpu had gotten up to 120 degrees and I didn't know if that was bad or what. What would the power supply problem be? (and mean)
I thought for awhile maybe I had gotten some sort of virus that was causing this but I ran my Norton and Trend Micro and both came up clean.
I'm with Martin on this - could well be temperature related or a failing power supply.
Martin Always happy to chip in - as you know - but we Brits are up to 8 hrs ahead of you and need our sleep
spoiledroten This may be difficult to resolve, but a few things you can do ......
The power supply unit (PSU) is the large silver (probably) box right at the top of the tower with a host of red/yellow/black .... cables coming from it which are attached to the drives, motherboard, etc. Looking on the back of the case you should see a grille - at the top of the case, behind which is the PSU fan. Shine a torch (flashlight) through the grill and see if the fan is running - when the PC is powered up.
Run the PC with the case sides removed and see if this affects the frequency of shut down - would be a good idea to set a fan to blow into the case if you have one.
Post back with the results.
Monitor the temperature of the PSU by touching it - quite safe - is it warm or very hot and does it get really hot just prior to shut down?
Go back to Aida32 > Computer > Sensor and let us know the speed of the CPU fan and the voltage readings.
Then go to Motherboard > CPU and post the CPU type
Then go to Motherboard > Motherboard and post the motherboard name.
And for completeness Motherboard > Memory and post Physical Memory - total.
Well, we know, that you know, how to take the cover off. 
