PC Troubles Turns itself on and off

[lonebyrd 0]

My PC turns itself on and off and I cant figure out why. I've done virus scans, ad-ware and spy-ware scans and nothing there has turned up. So it must be something hardware. I'm thinking it is the power supply or maybe the motherboard. But my question is how do I determine exactly what the problem is. Do I really have to take it somewhere or does anyone have any suggestions of something I can try before I have to spend some money that I really don't have.

[WeaponX 0]

Couple of things come to mind...Is the computer actually turned off or do you still see a light (possibly green blinking light, but just nothing showing on monitor)? Is hibernate enabled (assuming you are using Windows XP)? Go to Start->Settings->Control Panel->Power Options. Then go to Hibernate tab. Is that box checked? If so, then there's the problem with the pc turning off by itself.Do you have any devices that can bring a system out of standby? Check in your Device Manager (right click My Computer->Properties->Hardware->Device Manager and look at your devices). Look through the list and open up each one (not all of them will have the WakeUp or Bring computer out of standby mode). Just double click each one to bring up the Properties. Look through the tabs and see if you can find any option to bring the computer out of standby (aka WakeUp).

[lonebyrd 0]

No its not in hibernate mode. It will be running fine then all of a sudden it will shut itself down. If you leave it plugged in it will turn itself back on again. Like I've said, I've done virus scans and come up with nothing so I really don't know what to do.

[yordan 10]

No its not in hibernate mode. It will be running fine then all of a sudden it will shut itself down. If you leave it plugged in it will turn itself back on again.

er... this is exactly the way hiberbate works. After a given delay of inactivity (usually some tens of minutes) the computer hibernates, seems powered off except that (on my computer) a blinking blue light signals the hibernation. If you simply happen to slithly moove the mouse (or simply step strongly on the floor which makes the mouse sligthly move) the computer wakes up exactly at the same point where it stopped.
You see that it was hibernating because it comes up without booting, directly from power-off to the full Crosoft display with all your apps open.

[twitch 0]

It could be a hardware that is on your computer.When I had SP2 for my computer, there was an issue between my modem and the SP2 updated drivers and patches, this resulted in it automatically restarting. To over come this trouble I removed SP2 (format c:, reinstall everything and switch off automatic-updates).Also make sure that your virus-scan is up-to-date. The latest virus detected by McAfee continually restarts your machine.--mikP.S. Instead of having all of the up-to-date drivers and such, stick with the secure versions - as in previous stable releases.

[yordan 10]

The latest virus detected by McAfee continually restarts your machine.

So, lonebyrd, if you still have this issue then you may ask for a free online viruscan from McAfee website. The free online viruscan will not remove the virus, but will confirm that your are infected and will tell you which files are infected.

[HellFire121 0]

You could check the power supply, check if it is running at the right voltage and it is plugged into everything properly, it could also be a virus.Also about the hibernation, if it goes into hibernation windows will say that it is saving your session, then your computer will turn off. It is unlikely this issue because you need to manually turn back on your computer. So you have 2 possibilites:Its a hardware issueIts a software/virus issueI would reccomend checking all the connections and jumpers inside your case, make sure it is all running at the right freqency and you might also want to check your bios settings

[dhanesh1405241511 0]

You could check the power supply, check if it is running at the right voltage and it is plugged into everything properly

This is one possibility, Please do check your Power Supply Unit and check its voltage. Sometimes when you have 2 CD Roms and 2 Hard Disks installed, or any other hardware upgrade you ADD to your PC, the voltage requirements increase. I had a 300W Power Supply and added a new CD Rom to the hardware. My Pc used to do the exact same thing as it does now with you. All i had to do was upgrade my SMPS to 400W and it now works fine.

Plus if you have your extention socket that is shared by any other devices NOT computer related (like cordless phone base, lamp etc) do make shure that the voltage of those devices dont interfere with the voltage of your PC.

Regards
Dhanesh.
Edited February 27, 2006 by dhanesh (see edit history)

[finaldesign1405241487 0]

Yep, probably you have issues with power supply. Anyway check for peaks in your powergrid. Do you have some high powered devices on the same power grid/outlet?For eq. I used to have air fan for heating on the same power cord as my computer, and each time when airfan get's to high temperature it's shuts itself down and makes a peak that just, really, sends peak via powergrid and get's to computer and kinda shut's it down - because of way the ATX powersupply works. Anyway check for other devices on your computer's power cord, and unplug everything other than your computer and monitor. If shutting down happens again, then try to use some specialized power cords made for computers or hi-fi devices, they usually have some extra security like fuser and such stuff, and really are not that expencive, and will provide extra security for your computer and more stable voltage...If it shuts down again, then it's malfunction in your power supply. Anyway if you have some older extra powersupplys from old cases or such, then use that for replacing, if not - then I would recommend that you buy a whole new computer case because it's cheaper than just a power supply, and you will get a new case anyway Beaware just to use powersupply that got enough juice like 400 - 500 W powersupply, it's always good to use more than you really need, so you can upgrade your computer with new stuff, without worry's that it has enough power to handle it.Good luck!

[saga 0]

this problem could be a hardware problem since virus cant start your computer after it shutdown unless its just a restart. But in you situation it sounds to be a shutdown. The best possible approach is remove all the hardware you installed in your computer, then put back the basic components that it needs to be able to run (video card, memory, harddisk with OS). If in this set up the problem does not occur then one by one install the other hardware for your computer and observe. Maybe one of them is having a problem resulting into a shutdown. But if after putting the basic components the problem still occurs then its time to bring your unit to a repair shop. It might be the RAM, Processor or even worst the Motherboard.

[dhanesh1405241511 0]

this problem could be a hardware problem since virus cant start your computer after it shutdown unless its just a restart.

Ok no offence to your post, but isnt it possible that a virus could be programmed to set a time to the PC clock as to auto start a PC ? Just a weird thought, but could be possible rite ? i guess the programming gurus out there could clear up things ..

Regards
Dhanesh.

[lonebyrd 0]

I called a repair place just for some advice. They suggested I bring it in of course, but they also said it sounds like a memory issue. My question to put out is, would that be a RAM chip, Flash ROM, or something like a L1 cache memory thing. Any clues out there? And how expensive is it to replace something like that?

[pyost 0]

I don't know for it turning off, but my computer kept turning itself on, too. You might have the same problem.If you are constantly connected to the internet, the network send data packages now and then. There is an option is Windows (or was it BIOS?) for the computer to turn itself on when there is some network activity. If it's not that, all you can do (for it shutting itself down) is to pull the plug out everytime you shut it down. That way it won't turn on again, I assure you

[Vash1405241519 0]

I guess it's either a problem with the RAM or power supply or the CPU is overheathing. You can try changing your RAM or power supply with a friend's and see if it stops rebooting. Also, after the pc reboots, keep pressing del and look the CPU temperature in the bios. If it's too high, probably your pc is rebooting to prevent it from burning to ashes .
And to be sure it isn't a pesky virus, try booting to other OS (I would recommend using a linux live-cd like http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/ or Damn Small Linux, so you don't need to install anything)

[snutz411 0]

Do you have a lot of PCI devices? (i.e. modem, ethernet card). I have a problem before when the computer would randomly shutdown and restart. After some debugging, I found that it was because Windows XP wasn't comptatible with my WinFax Modem. Go figure something called WinFax not working correctly with Windows.But anyway if you do have PCI devices. Start taking them out one by and one, and see if it still happens. I resolved the whole issue by actually purchasing a new modem because there weren't any drivers for the current modem. Hopefully you won't have to spend money on that.Good luck