Computer shuts down randomly, sooner when playing games.?

Question

I am running Windows XP Home edition.

Duo Core 2.66ghz

Asus P5NDL-SLI motherboard

2x MSI 7300GT

2gb of ram

500W

ive had this computer for about 2 years and only recently it has been started to just shut down randomly. After it shuts down i cant restart it for a while. Funny thing is that sometime it shuts down after 5 mins of use and other times it stays on the whole time. I download Speedfan to check the cpu temperatures and they never pass 60 degrees. I have cleaned it of dust twice already so any other ideas out there? thanks..

Answer 1

power supply is going bad

Answer 2

look closely at the capacitors on your motherboard...



http://www.badcaps.net/

if they are swollen and leaking, that would be the problem...

if you have recently updated any drivers, such as video or sound, you may want to roll the drives back to the older more reliable versions.

go to control panel- this will vary a bit depending if you are in classic mode or xp mode

start-settings - control panel

system-hardware- device manager

click the plus sign next to display adapters, then your display adapter itself, right click and click properties, driver, then roll back driver- this will downgrade the driver to a previous version.  just note the driver version of your parts before and after, so if it does not help, you can go to your video card manufacturers website and get the best driver if the rollback doesn't work out...

you may also want to try shutting down any programs that are running in the background, like firewalls, virus programs, spyware programs, etc... (not forever, just for a little while to see if it stops the problem)

you may also want to go to www.filehippo.com and download some software that cleans up junk off your machine.

ccleaner

spybot search and destroy

you could also try removing, cleaning and reseating your video card and RAM.... (is there a fan on your video card that has gone out?)

lastly, bad RAM can cause this problem, or even a bad power supply, but 500w is pretty good, so that isnt as likely as some of the other supggestions....

www.dealram.com is a good place to shop for RAM, www.surpluscomputers.com or www.geeks.com has some nice prices on power supplies....

hope this helps

Answer 3

60 degrees is hot. Check your bios to see if it's set to shut down at 60...

Answer 4

You may have a faulty power supply.

Answer 5

If just shuts down like instantly off, then I think maybe the power supply is faulty. If the game closes randomly and then windows starts to shutdown on its own, it could be a virus or something might be overheating.

Answer 6

You need to CHECK ALL your power FANS as one is either not working or slow

1) CPU fan and heat sink clean

2) Power Supply fan vacuum out

3) Video Card clean fan and dust from heat sink

also check all vent holes in case clear

this should solve problem

Answer 7

i was thinking the same thing..power supply...hey you play diablo 2 exp..awesome game..awesome boss..Baal!!..i play druid...fun..you?