Random Shutdown

[PcPro12]

My computer randomly shuts down, its like someone unplugged, but my monitor, speakers, printer, external hard drive right next to the computer remain on when the computer shuts down...and it doesnt go through the normal shut down process, it just switches off...than when i turn it back on it says the computer shut down unexpected...

It sometimes does that when its idle, and sometimes when i make movies or compile movies or when i change the format of a movie...but other time no one is on it and i come in the room to find it off and get the same message when i start it up...

I have 2 computers in the same room, one runs windows vista home premium and the other runs windows xp media center edition 2005...Right now i just want to get windows vista straight...

I built both computers by hand myself and picked out all the parts, so im going to take a guess that i either didnt hook on a wire correctly or its not plugged in all the way in...

Im running windows vista home premium, AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 3800+ 2.00GHz, 2GB DDR2 memory (RAM), its a 32 bit operating system, and i have a Gigabyte motherboard, with a 600W power supply build SLI ready, i have an NVIDIA GeForce 8500 GT graphics card...

Is there any other information you need? Any suggestions? do i got to rewire my motherboard and the power to the motherboard?

Thanks A lot for your help...

[leo002000]

Random shutdowns, could be either as a result of CPU over heating, I would run Sandra sisoft, "system information freeware" which will give you real time CPU temps, compare this to manufacturers guidlines, may just need some thermal compound. It could also be a bad sector/area on your hard drive, try checking your HD for errors and attempting a disk defrag, if it shutdown during this you know its a HD problem. Laptop or Desktop pc?

[willcomp]

Overheating CPU or a faulty power supply are primary suspects. A bad hard disk will not cause a shutdown -- will either lock up or reboot.

If it will boot up immediately and run for several minutes or more, then CPU overheating is not likely. It takes several minutes for an overheated CPU to cool sufficiently for a successful boot.

Do check temperatures though. I prefer SIW but there are several other alternatives including Speedfan which many experts prefer.
http://www.gtopala.com/

[PcPro12]

ok, im using a desktop PC...

i have vista and i have a sidebar that monitors CPU, so when i do stuff, its normal, when i use windows movie maker to publish a movie to my computer, the CPU meter is between 90-100%, thats the red zone, so it must be that (i just checked that today)

but i have a heatsink CPU fan that cools it, and that fan is big, plus i got 4 fans including the CPU fan, i got a video card fan, and 2 power supply fans...a total of 6 fans, and a small video card fan, 7...how can the CPU overheat?

[willcomp]

Will it reboot immediately or do you have to wait? That's important.

[PcPro12]

the computer shuts down immediately and will start up normal, but it will display a message saying it was not shut down properly...than everything starts up like normal...right away...

[willcomp]

Then power supply is the likely suspect. Try swapping power supplies.

[Auch]

It can also be a drivers problem, I've had that happening on me.
For how long u have that runing? U have put it together recently or it was working fine till u got those issues?

[PcPro12]

no the power supply is fine, so are all the other drivers...

i have put it together and has been working fine for over a year now, but thanks to you guys, i have found the problem...it was the CPU overheating...i was using a program to convert video formats and thats when it shut down, than i downloaded a program to see the temperature of my CPU and also enabled a CPU alarm when the CPU temp goes over 70C, than i started my computer and after a few seconds the alarm goes on...

than i started doing the format, and checked the program, and the CPU temp went up to 91C and shut down...so i ordered a new CPU heatsink with thermal cooling...than AFTER i ordered that item, i decided to remove the heatsink, cause a guy was waiting for me to finish writing him some videos i recorded, so i needed the computer....

than after i removed the heatsink, i found a great, stunning and kinda shocking surprise...when i bought my heatsink and installed it, i forgot to remove the plastic covering the bottom of the heatsink, so i have been working with the computer for over a year with the plastic in between the heatsink and the CPU, im surprised my computer didnt catch on fire...

i have also rarely shut down the computer, so it was almost always on, after i removed the plastic from the heatsink fan, i put the fan back, and turned on the computer, no alarm went on, than i checked the program, and to my surprise, the CPU temp went down as low as 13C when it was idle, when i started doing the video format, i didnt go past 28C or at max 31C...

its working fine, i tried opening up to 4 video formats at the same time and other programs and tried to load my computer, but the temp wouldnt go past 31C, and my case temp was at 34C, so i just hope i didnt pay 70$ for a new heatsink with thermal cooling for no reason...

i just hope it cools my computer down more than my stock heatsink does, cause if it doenst, than i have to return it...

also, i got to check my other computer that i built if i removed the plastic from it, than i got to go to 2 other peoples houses that i built computers for and check their heatsink if i removed the plastic from them...i dont know how i missed that plastic, but im glad everything is working fine...

thank you all for your help...

[Auch]

Lol thats a funny one xD

Btw I meant chipset/graphic card drivers,but Im glad u got it workin xD

[PcPro12]

lol, yup, it is...but now my vista completely slowed and froze almost at every program...

so i tried to reinstall it and it completely doesnt start up...so im switching ti linux, which i completely cant even install because i get an error message that i dont know what it means...

well...this isnt the place, timeto jump to the linux forums...

[hskr_pwr]

I am having a similar problem with my Dell 8200. I had modified it 2 years ago to a 3.06 GHz processor w/HT. It involved upgrading to a bios A10 which dell had on their website for a week and then removed it. I and a few others dowloaded it and found it supported hyperthreading where the A09 version of bios does not. Well two years later I am having random shutdowns where the tower and monitor power light is on, fans running, no HD activity, and a black screen. If you press the power button the power shuts off and you can imediately go back to working and you may go on for a while with no problem.

When you reboot it comes up with a recovery message and request to send problem to microsoft. Microsoft reports back an unrecognized bios and something to do with memory problems. I bought 2 new rim of 256 rd ram and ran those alone for a while and thought I had it licked, but it happened again 2 weeks later.

The problem is becoming more frequent, and unfortunately I an 9 hours away from my desktop.

I have norton ghost, can I just move my existing hard drive contents to my extra HD(partitioned to F: and G:) and then rename to c:?? Any hints to make this happen??

[fray_bentos]

Hi there, I've just upgraded an old Dell Dimension 8200 and I am looking for the A09 special hyperthreading-enabled bios version. You don't happen to still have a copy of the installer do you?

The filename should be D8200A09.EXE (same as the non-HT-enabled bios)

[fray_bentos]

For anyone else interested to special hyperthreading 8200 BIOS, it can be obtained here:
http://www.powerleap.com/support/Dimension_8200_issues.htm

Thanks to goldivox on another forum!