Please Help! Why is my computer turning off/restarting on its own while im on the computer?

Question

Somtimes it stays on for 15 mins and sumtimes for 10 secs. Why is that? I have a windows vista desktop. I do not know much about computers so please help! I need my computer to start working soon. The answer that can fix it gets 10 points

Answer 1

Well it could be multiple things... most likely its a hardware issue, I don't think re-installing the OS will work. It could be your motherboard, your RAM, or Power supply if I had to guess. Take out your memory and see if that helps.. if you have any stick laying around replace it and see what happens... Does it ever freeze on the splash screen of Windows?

Answer 2

1) If it is a Vista computer.. then is it still under warranty? I'd contact the manufacturers and let them work on it over the phone or warrantee it.

2) Make sure your computer isn't flashing to a Blue screen and THEN rebooting.. this makes it harder to diagnose issues. Here's how to turn off "automatic reboot on error"

http://vistasupport.mvps.org/disable_aut...

3) Sounds like it could be: (in order of likelihood)

Bad RAM

Bad Powersupply

Overheating

Driver issue

Damaged CPU from voltage spike.

Have you mostly had it plugged into a surge supressor to protect it from power surges?  If not, then the CPU and Motherboard could have been damaged slightly over a period of months or years and is just now starting to show the damage.

USUALLY random reboots, in my experience come down to a bad power supply or bad Memory (RAM) -- both of these will cause the computer to reboot.  Not Window's fault.. the system will just reboot when either of these 2 components go bad.

Modern computers usually detect overheating and alert you then actually slow down the processor before they completely lock up or reboot.  If it's a Desktop computer and not a laptop, you might try popping the case open while it is unplugged from elecricity and try blowing out the dust with compressed air or using a slightly dampened cloth to wipe dust and cobwebs from it. -- Make sure to touch the bare metal of the computer case BEFORE wiping it down to discharge any static electricity you may have built up. Especially in dry climates.

A Driver is a program deisgned by the manufacturer of the part to tell Windows how to communicate with that part. It helps Windows "drive" the hardware.  A bad driver COULD theoretically cause your computer to reboot, but USUALLY a bad driver will just cause an error message to appear on the screen OR the computer to flash to a "blue screen" (see link at top for how to turn that annoying feature off)

Answer 3

Most likely overheat. Is it hot in your area? Is the computer old? It might have a lot of dust inside which causes it to overhaeat. Try reinstalling windows. But I'm 90% sure it's overheat. Let it rest for 30min and see how long it stays on. After in shutsdown turn it back on (or if it restarts) if after that in 10 sec it restarts or turns off again then it's overheat, because when it turned off, it didn't have enough time to cool down. It turns off so it wouldn't get damaged by heat. There is a little chance but it might also be the power supply.

Answer 4

could be overheating or it happened to me someone put a virus in mine and doing it to me and again your hard drive maybe going