Computer shutts down randomly, no overheating problem

Hi,
I've been having a problem for a week, that has me baffled. I've tried lots to fix it, but have no more clues. Here it goes:

It seems like a simple overheating problem, where the computer simply shuts down unexpectedly. In half a second, it's shut down. And won't restart unless I play with the power supply switch for a couple of times. Then it will boot again. Sometimes, it will boot completely into windows, other times it will stop again during the boot process. If it stop during the boot process, it's 90 % of the time around the moment where the Login screen shows up. If it stops during a windows session, it can be anytime. Sometimes, it will run for hours, then stop. Other times, it's minutes. One thing is weird: my computer has a Win98 partition. Booting that one will go fine all the time, plus I can work for hours and never was there a problem. Also, if I boot using a Linux boot CD (I tried Knoppix), everything goes fine for hours again. Never a shutdown happened.

I've opened up the computer and gave it a real good clean. I checked the fans, everything is working right. I also checked the CPU and frame temperature using a software made for that, and the temperature is normal. The power supply itself is cool to the touch, everything seems fine there. An overheating problem was my first concern, but it revealed nothing.

After that, I assumed it had to be a virus somehow. I had it checked with current virus scans: nothing is found. I used BitDefender and PC-Cillin, figuring two checks were better than one.

Then, I assumed it had to be a problem with windows itself. So I formatted my disk, after a backup, and re-installed windows. It seemed fine, and I was ecstatic. That was when I finished installing yesterday night ! Then, this morning, I'm back at the office, and BOOM, it shuts down again. Now I'm really confused. What could be happening.

The only other thing I can see: the problem started the day after I installed MSOffice 2003 over my old copy of Office 97 ! (yes, it was time for an upgrade). Could it be an office 2003 problem ? I've looked for something similar happening to someone else in google, but couldn't find anything. Plus, I don't see how Office could cause a shutdown, when it's not yet opened.

If anyone has other suggestions, please advise.

My computer is an Athlon XP 64 3000+ on a ASUS K8VSE-deluxe motherboard. There have been no hardware changes since I bought it 2 years ago. And one last thing: I also checked to make sure the memory dimms were correctly inserted all the way, and that every connexion in the computer was good.

Thanks for reading so far and for your suggestions.

Yohann

 

All the fans are spinning freely? (PSU fan?)

Everest in my signature should have temperature and voltage readouts. Asus also have utilities.

You may need to uninstall and reinstall Office.

Matt

 

Fans are all running freely. Voltages and temperature are all within normal according to the ASUS utilities. I have reinstalled office also. No change. I just bought a new power supply, and will install it shortly. We'll see what happens. Maybe the supply itself is okay, but a contact inside isn't what it used to be.
Yohann

 

I have installed a new power supply. For some reason, I can't boot at all anymore, for the computer won't find my hard drives! Both are SATA drives. I have only removed power supply outlets and plugged the new ones the same. Is this supposed to happen, or is there something that I'm missing ? Thanks for the help, I REALLY appreciate it.
Yohann

 

Are you running RAID 0? You might be sunk if you are. If you are I hope you have your system backed up.

Run the HDD manufacturer's testing utilities on the drives.

What error messages do you get?

Matt

 

Steve has hit the nail on the head unless you shorted something out when you were replacing the PSU. You also want to pay particular attention to make sure the ATX power connector is frimly (all the way down) in place and if your board has a 4 pin 12V connector - ditto on that too. This certainly appears to be a problem with a connector/connection.

Now, once you get that resolved, you will probably have to uninstall Office and I fully expect you are going to have some difficulty. Assuming you can uninstall 2003 successfully, then you can try uninstalling 97, but this (if memory serves me correctly - been a long time) required the original Office 97 CD. You may be better served to save all of your docs and other important data and do a clean install of your OS followed by an Office 2003 installation and then restore all of your docs and other data.