Same problem here, it was shut down probably during the nite. When I turned it on
the next morning, it automatically shuts off. Sometimes I don't see the bio, or once I get
to the Windows SAFE mode page it shuts off. The more time I let it sit, the further I get, but never logon to Windows. The shorter time I give it, it shuts down randomly. I can't even let
it run in safe mode. How do we fix this?

try booting to recovery repair with winxp cd ,and then type in CHKDSK /F

4 things to look for in all these cases
Hard drive
power supply
motherboard
processor
first clean it - properly
replace the heat paste
a tiny drop of machine oil on the fan bearings will help em spin
then it's just a process of elimination
try booting using a live cd or bootable cd, techies toolkit is good, there's plenty out there.
if it works it's probably not the cpu or mobo and you can run some basic daignostics
try a different drive if it works thats your problem.
try a live cd like knoppix or similar, this will put a bit more load on the system psu
disconnect cd drives etc all but your hard drive pull out all your cards and all but one stick of ram - see if it works - if not swap the ram stick - see if it works.
then add your components back one by one before each restart.
long winded but it works. when it stops playing again thats your problem
and go spend ten bucks on a psu tester but never spend 10 bucks on a psu!
if yr skint check out a few local companies see if they're chucking out any old pc's
ask if you can scavenge a few for parts. you'll be surprised how often they say yes it saves them money when they don't have to pay for disposal - you'll never get a hard drive tho.
Just for the record i've built/repaired at least 30 pc's this year from "bin jobs"

virus

I've got the same problem. I don't think it's a virus as I'm really careful and my pc is all up to date with antivirus stuff.
I can leave BIOS on for ages but as soon as I try to boot up Windows in safe or normal mode it switches off. Then I need to unplug it and wait till the green light goes off on my keyboard then I can switch it on again.
Unfortunately it's stuck in this cycle of getting so far then switching off. This also happens when trying to boot with xp pro cd. I tried with a floppy boot disk but I got an error saying the system file hal.dll was corrupt or missing.

Just to let you know my motherboard needs to be replaced. Still under warranty thank God.

Just read through all four pages, and I am still unsure as to what is wrong with my computer. Its about 2 years old now, all custom made by myself. I really dont think its an overheating issue seeing as I have about 9-10 fans running inside my computer and even after letting the computer cool for hours, it still shuts down. The problem is very very random, and started the other day when I was playing a game of Madden football. Atfirst I figured it was the game so I didnt play it, and the problem went away (atleast I thought). Everytime I played seemed to be when it shut down, so I let it go and grabbed the newer 08 version, figuring it was an error with the 07 version. Last night, I installed it, started playing everything was fine till about 10 minutes into the game, random shutoff. Decided to let it be and deal with it in the morning.


Woke up today and the problem is much more severe now. Now, I can seldomly get it past logon. I have tried system restores, but haven't tried safemode or BIOS yet, seeing as I just read through all this to see what it could possibly be. Its not corruption on the harddrive seeing as I have two hard drives, and cannot boot from either without a shutdown. I think that right now it could either be the motherboard, or the power supply. Upon shutting down (it isnt really a shut down, just the whole computer turning off at one time), I turn the power supply switch off for about a good 10 seconds, and upon returning it on I also hear the capacitor click, then press power and the computer starts up. I am about to go pull the power supply out and see if thats the problem, and also will try to deal with the processor fan (but I doubt thats the problem). Any help you can supply me with is greatly appreciated. Thanks

Well I'm useless when it comes to hardware so I took it back to the shop. They must've seen me coming. They told me my motherboard and power supply needed replacing. I think the power supply had helped damage the motherboard. Right from the start it had the noisiest fan I'd ever heard which is not good as I'm using my pc as a home recording studio. At the time they said it was because I had a powerful processor so it needed the powerful fan. Now they're saying it shouldn't sound like that.

The good news was that they said it was under warranty, the bad news was that they didn't do that motherboard anymore and the new ones didn't take DDR1 RAM so I had to upgrade to DDR2 and also I needed a new graphics card to fit new motherboard. I reluctantly gave him the go ahead to do the work. When I went in to pay he said they'd made a mistake and my stuff wasn't under warranty after all. They knocked off £40 labour for the mix up but I still feel robbed.

Hope you have better luck than me. I'm now stuck with 4gig of DDR1 RAM and a graphics card and having problems reinstalling my external Edirol sound card. I hate computers.

That sucks bout your warranty, unforunately I feel I am in the same boat.. My warranty just ended about 2 months ago, and of course this happens. After playing with it a bit last night, the problem seemed to sort itself out for awhile seeing as I was on it for about 4-5 hours, nothing happened so I shut it off for the night in hopes it corrected itself. Got on today, again, 1-2 hours playin around and then shuts down. Try to restart, restarts back to my profile, then shuts off. So I try one more time and now the computer is officially gone. Start it up, fans turn on for literally 1 second, then everything shuts off. Wont even start up anymore. So at this point I know it is either the mobo or power supply. I cant pinpoint which it is exactly simply because I have two theories:


1. The Mobo I bought (MSI K8T Neo) was problem riddled from the start. Back when it was under warranty I received one that died on me and had to get an all new one.
2. the power supply is just a stock thermaltake one that came with my case and I think I probably overloaded it. I think that if I could run the computer for 4-5 hours, run programs, games, update my iphone, ect.. it wouldn't be the motherboard. And now that it wont even power up, I have a strong feeling its the power supply.


If anyone has any suggestions or help for me, I would greatly appreciate it. I am gonna try to swap the power supply and if that doesnt work, then I will go for the new Mobo.

Well that's the most cost effective thing to try first. It does unfortunately sound like mine. I'm sure my dodgy power supply helped to finish off my motherboard. Good luck!