Hi folks,

I am not sure if I am in the right spot as I am not sure if its a power issue but thought I would start here and see if someone could direct me.


I am running a Windows XP PC and lately I have had a problem with the computer spontaneously shutting down. I have had a heat monitor for the CPU and it is not registering as overheating. The strange thing is that when the computer does this, I can't get the computer to turn back on using the button in the front. I have to wait a few minutes; turn the power switch in the back off and on and then it will power back up.

I have looked inside the case when this is happening and there is a green power light on the motherboard that is lit up so power is going somewhere.

The only other thing is that I can here a whine sound which I think is one of the hard drives. It sounds like that blade sound they use for dramatic effect in some tv/movie soundtracks ( I know that description is a reach but its the best I can come up with. :) )

So, I don't want to start buying new parts and building a new computer in attempts to find out what the problem is. Given the information can anyone hazard a guess what the problem might be? Is there more information needed to diagnose? Is there another forum page I should move this to?

Thanks for any help you can provide. :)

Is the fan in the power supply working?

Because, especially for the delay, it does sound like an overheating problem...just that the power supply is overheating, not the CPU.

Yes, all the fans are running when this happens. The power supply; the CPU fan and the front case fan.

I checked the case again after the question above and it turns out that no the power supply is NOT working now. So, this is likely the culprit. Does this mean I have to (or should) replace the power supply or can the fan be replaced?

Replace the power supply...usually when the fan goes it is a sign that the it is time to replace the whole unit.

Thanks, I picked up a new powers supply today and installed it. So far no problems. I had a low end power supply I guess and the comp guy was surprised I got two years out of it. I picked up an ANTEC Earthwatts 380 Watt supply.

The only thing was I had some trouble getting my DVD drive to work at first. The drive had power but it didn't want to spin. Now its spinning but no sound from any dvd. I think I missed a connector.

Thanks for the help on the supply!

I think I missed a connector.

You may want to recheck all of your connections.

Make sure you have digital audio enabled in your drive's properties

My Computer> right click the drive> Properties> Hardware Tab> highlight the drive again> Properties> Properties> Put a check in the box next to the line that reads: Enable digital audio for this device...