PC won't shut down, act as if 'restart' has been choosen

I just built my first computer and for a while it was working great. Had one prob with a CPU overheating, but I guess we all learn the hard way. Now I've got two fans and I think I'm doing a little better.

Anyways, I didn't buy THE BEST case in the world, just something to get the job done. But now I have a strange problem and I think my power supply might be to blame.

My computer has had no problems up until today with shutting down, restarting or anything. The buttons on the case work just fine, everything is plugged in well. But today, when in Windows, I tried to shut down and it went thru the normal steps and shut down. Then it immediately came right back on. I thought I hit Restart by mistake. So I did it again. Same thing. If I use the Restart from Windows, it restarts fine... but shut down acts similar to a restart although you can hear a split seconds where it shuts something down.

The same happens if I push the power button on the front of the case. I thougth I read that the power supply needs to be shut down for 2 seconds before it will power up again. It sure doesn't seem to be doing that. HELP!

Thanks in advance.

 

Sorry,

WinXP Home Edition (German)

 

slight UPDATE

I checked a few of those links and it looks like there is something in XP that can grant it the right to restart.

I checked this out and my computer did have the check mark for restarting checked. I deselected it and it still restarts.

Now, I did some more investigation. I used a voltmeter plugged into the 12V feed for the fans. I wanted to see what the voltage was doing during restart and shutdown. As I suspected, during a "Restart" the voltage remained steady at about 12.4 or so... but when I tried to shut down, the voltage dipped for a split second from 12.4 to 10V or so. The dip was almost too fast for the voltmeter to detect. Then immediately the voltage went back to 12V and began the memory check screen.

I'm happy to have a computer that is on.. I would rather have this thing working too much then not enough. But I need to figure out how to shut it down.

Thanks for the help.

 

computer won't shut down.

If you have the Roxio Cd burner programs below a certain version level you need to go to their site to get a fix. Also depending on which CPU and power supply, you have you may be over heating and need 1 or 2 more fans. Beyond that I had a problem last week where all of a sudden the puter wouldn't shut down. It turned out that when they hooked me up to cable they laid all the wires from the cable modem together in a rats nest, along with the transformer right near the puter,and it was sending EMI or RFI voltages to it. I strung the wires out and it has shut down properly ever since.

 

ocala2, you said that I might be overheating the CPU or Power Supply.

I have a brand new CPU AMD2000+ and it seems to be running at an acceptable temp. 43C or so.

As I wrote originally, I have a funny suspicion it's the power supply.

I do not have Roxio or any CD burning software (no CD burner yet).

It just seems like there is a physical problem. When I do a restart I don't hear anything click, just memory check screen and carries on. No indication that it has powered down in any way.

But when I shut down, it acts like it tried and was made to come back on. Almost as if I had pushed the button to come back on as soon as I heard it turn off. I have checked the switch and it is wired correctly.

Thanks again for all the help.

 

If you want to continuously monitor the temps your mobo is reporting:
Motherboard Monitor

Did you try changing out your power supply, yet? What kind of mobo do you have?

Do you have a UPS? Fluctuating power (brown-outs) can damage the mobo. If the lights occasionally dim in your house, the board may have been damaged by a surge.

How do you get online? I fried a few mobos & modems from my cable connection before I put an APC between the cable and the modem.

Johanna

 

Hello gn85
I think you are on to your problem with that voltage measurement.
If that 12VDC bus dipped to 10 volts, it tells me your power supply probably is under rated.
AMD has a list of "prefered power supplies "

http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/SellAMDProducts/0,,30_177_4458_3505^809^965^978,00.html

If you look at my computer's makeup below in my signiture area, I chose an Antec True330 power supply when I built my machine.
All the True series power supplies are excellent power supplies.

They can be seen here:

http://www.antec-inc.com/pro_powerSupply.html

Too many people pay too little attention to their computer power supplies.

The words of wisdom by Johanna about using a UPS is well taken by me.

The combination of a well designed power supply backed up by a reliable UPS is THE way to go.

I use an APC Backups 500 UPS on my computer.
It will kick in on overvoltage as well as undervoltage fluctuations and clip voltage spikes with the built in metal oxide varistors (MOV)
If all power is lost, it will provide about 10 minutes of up time to get the machine shut down in an orderly manner.

Daddad

 

Johanna,

You have the exact mobo and processor I have. Except I have the pro mobo, not sure what the diff is. Anyways, I have a DSL connection. I don't think I've had any problems with that. Just a bit of a sidenote. I'm here in Germany so I'm not sure if they do anything different for DSL.

Also, thanks for the mobo temp link. I've had that all day and it has averaged 41C for the processor. Good/Bad? Turn it up? Cool it down?

No, I don't have a UPS, but I haven't really had flickering lights or anything of that nature here. I do have a surge protector.

Daddad,

The power supply came with the case, and to be very honest, I'm not sure if the quality of either is 100%. This was my first attempt at building a computer so I know I have to learn a few lessons the hard way. I will look into changing out the power supply. I figure it can't hurt. Thanks also for the list of recommended supplies. When I venture to the store, I'll bring this list with me.

I haven't had any problems so far with interuption to service when it comes to electricity (knock on wood), but the idea of a UPS is well noted.

Thanks again everyone. Your assistance is truly appreciated and valued.

 

If my math is right, my proc runs about 49C (I'm American, still use F!) My power supply is a 300W AP350X from Star Tech.com. What is in your case?

Just for grins, unplug it, and toggle the kill switch on the back, then reboot. Maybe the key is stuck?

Daddad explained UPS well- and IMO, well worth the extra few dollars. If your comp isn't getting electricity evenly, it can do all kinds of weird things.

Just in case you are having a Windows problem shutting down, might want to try the System File Checker.

Johanna

 

Johanna,

I live in Germany, but I am an American so I do use the F as well as the C. Just seems that most posts I've read about CPU temps are posted in C. I've just learned to convert everything in my head.

As for your temperatures. Is that an exceptable temp for this setup?? Are you overclocking or anything to generate that heat?

I was thinking it might be a Windows XP problem. But next week, I'll be changing over to XP Pro (in English) so if there is a problem, hopefully that will resolve it. Not sure what power supply came with the case. It wasn't a name I remember right off hand. If I get the chance tomorrow I'll take the side of and see who's it is and what it is. You may laugh, but there is no toggle switch on the back.

Thanks for the suggestions.

 

My proc runs between 118-125 but will jump to 133 or so, on occasion. (That's F, people!) Seems to be just fine, has been for almost two years now.

That's why I suggested SFC, but if you are installing a fresh copy of XP Pro, you could see if that clears up the no-shutdown issue. You said it worked fine for awhile, and then stopped. That tells me that everything is hooked up correctly. Maybe try a system restore to the day before you discovered the problem?

Post back when you can.

Johanna

 

The temperatures stated by both Johanna and gn85 are about in the ballpark for Athlon CPU's from what I read.
They tend to pull more currant than Intel P4's hence the "preferred power supply" list AMD provides.

A question to gn85.
You said you added fans or a fan to help the cooling effort.
Did, by chance, this problem begin AFTER you added the fan(s) ??
If that be the case, the power supply again sounds like it is the most probable cause.
I'm an Intel junkie myself but from reading around, 300 watt power supplies seem to be the recommended minimum for Athlon CPU powered machines.

If you could look inside at what total wattage your power supply is rated at, that would tell us a lot.

Daddad

 

My temperatures were good, but I wanted insurance to make sure the temps stayed that way. I've been using the Mobo monitor and seeing an average temp of around 41C (105.8F) and a case temp of 33C (91F). So, I'm happy with that.

As for the power supply, I'll try to get to that today. My computer sits next to my desk and the side panel is not accessable unless I move the desk and computer.

As for the question with the fan. That's the funny part. As ironic as it may sound, I was JUST leaving to go to the store so I could buy another fan when I noticed the problem with it not shutting down. I knew I had to shut it down to install the new fan... BUT... that's when the problem came up. So I don't think that was a contributing factor.

If I have to buy a new power supply, it won't matter much anyways because I need one that can switch from 220V to 110V for when I go back to the US.

Johanna, you never said if you were overclocking or not. With my temps so far in range, does this mean I have room to turn up the wick?

Always thanks for the help.

 

I'm not overclocking, but I'm not a "gamer ", just a "power user ". Your temps look good- if you decide to make changes, just keep an eye on them with Mobo Monitor. You'll know if you have a problem (refreshes by default every 10 seconds). I only have one fan, on the cpu, but I run with the side off.

Have you figured any way to shut it off yet w/o pulling the plug?

Johanna

 

Have I figured out how to turn it off w/o pulling the plug? I could try not paying the electricity bill.

Beyond that, it keeps right on running. My copy of XP Pro gets here on Thursday but I'll be gone to Munich and won't be back until Monday or Tuesday of the following week. So if that doesn't change anything, I'll get a new power supply. So I'll keep everyone posted.

 

UPDATE

I apologize for the long time to reply.

I decided to try a new power supply to see if the problem was in there. Installed a new power supply and once again, the same problem. So I decided, something is really wrong and I need to disect this computer piece by piece until it is right. I can't afford to keep throwing parts at it.

So this morning (my birthday) I decided to clean my wiring up. Since the suggestion was made that a rats nest of wiring could cause the prob. I have my wires nice and neat now, which I'm sure helps the cooling as well. After that, I pulled my dial-up modem card as I had suspicions of that anyways and wasn't in need of it anymore (DSL now). After this, I fired the computer back up and tried a shut down. SURPRISE!!! It shut down fine!

So there you have it. I'm not sure if the cleaning up of the wiring or the modem was the trick, but all I can say is THANK YOU!! Everyone here REALLY helped me point in the right direction. Not bad, even my computer gives me a b-day present.

 

Happy Birthday gn85.

What a b/d present, eh?

lee