PC on life support!

[caz963]

A while back, my PC started switching itself on and off at random. I'd be in the middle of doing something and it would shut itself down for no apparent reason, and then once off, would boot itself up again. It didn't start out that way though, it progressed from doing it every so often to every day, every few hours until it was doing it every few seconds.

So it went off to the PC clinic (aka my parents' house) and Dad eventually found out what was wrong with it and it was fine.

Until last week, when it started doing it again.

I still run XP on the desktop - has anyone else come across this problem? Last resort is going to be a new motherboard I guess, which will be a bit of a PITA as the PC is a few years old now, and it's unlikely that all the stuff on it will work with a new motherboard :(

Ideas anyone?

Comments

[hooloovoo_42]

Sorry, nothing helpful to add. But I am still using XP and love it to bits.

[anita-coffee.livejournal.com]

I had that problem (though not with the frequency you had, and not on XP) but it turned out that there was dust in the heatsinks inside the case, causing the thermal cutout to, well, cut out. Have you checked the inside for dust bunnies? Ours had wacking great dust elephants. Hairy ones, too. I hoovered them out.

[caz963.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I found a few references to overheating when I tried googleing the problem, but my Dad checked all that last time and cleaned everything out, so it's not that :( But thanks anyway.

[flippet.livejournal.com]

Did you get a chance to look at the....um, I want to say the fan?

My last computer was doing just what you describe, and it turns out it was the fan motor, I believe. (If not the motor, then something do to with the electronics of booting, rather than the internal 'brain' parts of the computer, if that makes sense....hubby isn't here to ask, but I'm pretty sure I got it right in my reply the last time you mentioned it.)

Anyhoo---backup immediately, you don't want to lose anything. My 'puter was in a bad enough way that the problem it was having had an effect on the motherboard. Kind of like lack of oxygen starves the brain.


Good luck! Computer problems are no fun.

[caz963.livejournal.com]

When I googled earlier to see if I could find anything, there were references to overheating, but my Dad checked it out last time cleaned everything out, to it's unlikely to be that.

The problem now is getting the damn thing to actually stay on long enough to copy anything! Although luckily, I do have backups of most things and Dad fitted a 3rd HD last time, just in case, which I think will run okay on a different motherboard.

I adore modern technology, but it's like insurance or pensions - they're useful things to have, but very few of us have a deep understanding of how they work!

[hooloovoo_42]

If you need it, I have a useful device that you can slot the HD into and use it like an external drive, so you can copy stuff off it. I got it when my laptop went tits up, so I could take the stuff off there.

[flippet.livejournal.com]

AH! Hubby is home. It was the power supply.

Check that out, because that's just what mine was doing.

If it's not that---hm. Dunno. I hope you get it figured out without too much damage!