Another person with boot problems...

[Drew Man]

My computer turns itself completely off after about 40 minutes of use. No warning, nothing. And it won't turn back on readily, either. I've noticed that moving the RAM around and then turning it on seems to work every time. Otherwise it seems to require waiting a random amount of time.

I have:

Athlon 1.1 GHz (Gateway)
Windows 2000
128, 512, or 640 MB of RAM, depending on what I do with the RAM. (Currently 512.)

Is there a way to find out what's causing this? I bought the 512 MB stick of RAM yesterday, but the automatic shutdown started ***before*** that. I'm not electrically inclined, so if there's a short somewhere, I don't know how to find it or what to do about it. I haven't added any hardware to the PC other than the RAM itself. I'm going to check the BIOS numbers now. It's not the power from the wall, because I've been using a PC at this spot for years. It could be the power cable itself...I'll probably swap that out next.

Any other ideas?

Thanks for your time! http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif

[Whyzman]

Hello Drew Man,

Welcome to http://www.pcguide.com/ubb/pcgubb.gif Forums!

Could be a few things that shut you down completely...I would suggest checking for a heat problem first. How many fans do you have inside the case?

You might try removing the case shell and directing a fan toward the motherboard...not up close and blasting so as to disturb the CPU fan...a "gentle" breeze.


I would also suggest that you go back to your original RAM configuration, the one when the shut downs were occuring prior to the addition of other RAM sticks.

See if that helps out and let us know.


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May all your dealings in life be win/win!


Whyzman
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Reserved for Punishing Humor...A Pessimist's blood is always B-negative!

[This message has been edited by Whyzman (edited 03-17-2002).]

[Drew Man]

Thanks, I'll try those things. I see what you're saying about the new RAM...eliminate variables that may be confusing the issue.

There is only one fan in the box at the moment. I now have the PC "exposed", with another fan pointed at it.

Along those lines, I saw another post that mentioned temperatures and voltages reported by their BIOS. Mine doesn't do that...is there another tool out there that does?

[UPENDRA UPADHYAY]

Once I was also faced problem like you, in my case pc turn off but power LED was remain on when I touched to power socket of m/b pc start automaticaly and works for 30 to 35 meniute and than it went off.I remove all other sockets and start pc then pluged one by one, I found that when I connect the cd drive pc turns of I remove it and it works fine. I found in cd drive that one chip is over hited.In your case check the component for hiting it may causes the load to smps and power sppuly's protective parts may turn off the pc

[Whyzman]

You didn't mention which MB you have? Some boards come equipped with a "thermistor" and utility for reporting temps. I would check the documentation that came with your MB.

Yes, you've got the idea...eliminate variables! http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/wink.gif

------------------
May all your dealings in life be win/win!


Whyzman
----------------------
Reserved for Punishing Humor...A Pessimist's blood is always B-negative!