Hi,

My computer stops responding about 10-15 seconds after I turn it on. This happens regardless of whether I try to boot into Windows or go into the BIOS menu. The processor is a PIII 1.0 GHz. Brand new mobo and power supply. Is this happening because there isn't enough cooling or is there some other cause?

Thanks.

There are several things that can cause this, overheating is one of them. If you haven't done so recently, you should open the case and clean it either with canned air or -- carefully -- with a vacuum. Be sure to ground yourself to prevent damage via static electricity. The main areas to check would be around the heatsink and all fans.

Let us know if it works or not; if not we can try something else. Next time you boot it up, listen for the beeps and try to write down their length and number (ie. 8-short, or 1-long 3-short, etc.)

you can buy special vacumm cleaners for computers. maplin electronics and pc world both do them at quite a reasonable price. failing that try your local hardware store or DIY store.

canned air is pretty good too but remember it only redistributes the dust elsewhere and doesnt fully get rid of it.

by all means check your cooling fans to see that they are properly connected and look to see if you can see them spinning when you first boot up. if you can't see them spinning there could be a fault in the circuitry or in the fan itself, both of which are common.

another thing to look at is the processor. maybe it just simply isnt powerful enough for what you are trying to run on it. Most O/S's now require you to have at least a 1.6GHz processor and in the case of win XP at least a 256Mb RAM (it uses 128 MB on its own) . If its 'hanging' or 'not responding' this could be the issue. let us know what O/S you are running on this specific machine and that would be a great help to us.

It's a brand new case and motherboard, so dust is not an issue. The operating system is Windows ME. The processor speed=1 GHz and RAM=128 MB. The computer stops responding before I get into Windows. The processor fan is spinning but not very fast.

See if the capacitors on your motherboard are healthy..

you'd be surprised at just how quickly dust can accumulate. could it be that maybe the machine is overheating especially as the CPU FAN does not seem to be spinning very fast. check your connections and your mobo for any faults, loose wiring etc.

Any beep codes?

is the motherboard compadiable with the cpu you are using !!
cold be a bus speed jumper on the board set wrong ,board may be overclocked to high

double check everything on your board while you are checking your connections. look for scratches etc. i have just experienced this problem with my computer and found a loose jumper.

Putting a more powerful fan fixed it. Thanks to everybody who replied.