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Thread: Computer shutting down out of nowhere

  1. #1
    Ultimate Member dragflameson's Avatar
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    Angry Computer shutting down out of nowhere

    Is there a specific way to find out what is going wrong exactly, without having to use trial and error? Is there maybe and error log or something I can look at after it happens?

    I think I might need a new power supply, but I'm not sure...

    I'm running Windows XP. Basically the computer will just shut down unexpectedly while in use. I leave the computer running 24/7 and it never happens while it's idle. It always happens while I am doing something.

    For example, it always happens while I am scanning with Malwarebytes, or randomly when I'm browsing with IE 7, or when I am using TurboTax.

    Now when I say "shut down" what I mean exactly is the monitor will just all the sudden turn completely black and display the "no connection / check connection" message as if the computer was off and then a second later I see the BIOS post screen and the computer begins to boot normally as if it had been off and then was powered on by pressing the power button. There is no Windows logoff screen or "saving settings" screen like you would normally see when the computer shuts down correctly. Its just there one second and then a black screen the next second. Funny thing is... when it boots back into Windows I dont get that screen that says, "computer was shut down incorrectly" where it gives you the different options to choose from where one of the options is to "use the last known good configuration". It just goes straight back into Windows as it normally would if the computer had been shut down correctly.

    Its almost like what would happen if you were to reach over and hit the restart button on your PC while you were in the middle of using it. It turns off and back on so fast that the computer never actually sounds like it was ever off. I do hear the hard drives shut down and start to spin up again though when it happens. It happens so fast.

    There are no viruses or spyware... so please dont ask me to scan and make sure my computer is clean. It's running perfectly fine expect for when it decides to shut off.

    I know this is a hardware issue and I think its the power supply. The reason I think this is because the power supply is at least 2.5yrs old now, I leave my computer on 24/7, there are 4 internal hard drives, one internal DVDROM, my mouse charges off the PC, it doesnt happen while idle, only when its doing something, ect. It just seems like this power supply has really been getting worked over the past 2 years!

    Anyways, what do you guys think?

    I'd like to get a better idea before I go out and buy a new power supply.

    Thank you!
    Last edited by dragflameson; 03-07-2009 at 01:18 PM.
    Motherboard: ECS NForce 3-A Socket 754
    Memory: OCZ EB Series Platinum Edition 1GB (2x512MB Dual) PC-3500
    CPU: AMD Sempron 64 3400+ Palermo 2.0GHz
    GPU: EVGA NVIDIA GeForce 7600GS 256MB
    PSU: Kingwin 600Watt

  2. #2
    Member Aviator_14's Avatar
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    You could also check for bad capacitors on the motherboard too.
    www.badcaps.net
    See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil

  3. #3
    Stark Raving MOD Midknyte's Avatar
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    I'd suspect PSU, especially since you run it 24/7. Do you have a UPS or not?

  4. #4
    Ultimate Member dragflameson's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Midknyte View Post
    I'd suspect PSU, especially since you run it 24/7. Do you have a UPS or not?
    K thats what I'm thinking too. No, it's not a UPS.
    Motherboard: ECS NForce 3-A Socket 754
    Memory: OCZ EB Series Platinum Edition 1GB (2x512MB Dual) PC-3500
    CPU: AMD Sempron 64 3400+ Palermo 2.0GHz
    GPU: EVGA NVIDIA GeForce 7600GS 256MB
    PSU: Kingwin 600Watt

  5. #5
    Stark Raving MOD Midknyte's Avatar
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    Uh, UPS and PSU are two different things. I usually go with APC brand.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uninter...e_power_supply

    If you don't have a UPS, then you should get one especially for a 24/7 machine.

  6. #6
    Extreme Member! BipolarBill's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by dragflameson View Post
    a second later I see the BIOS post screen and the computer begins to boot normally as if it had been off and then was powered on by pressing the power button.
    Dude, the PC is not shutting down. It's restarting. Your post is so long that everyone missed it.

    Go to Control Panel > System > Advanced > Startup and Recovery.

    Untick "Automatically restart" and set memory dump to None.

    Hopefully, you'll get a blue-screen error with a message next time. Note the complete error.

    Hardware shutdowns are normally just that - shutdowns. The PC does not restart until you press the button.
    MS MCP, MCSE

  7. #7
    Ultimate Member dragflameson's Avatar
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    BSOD

    Thanks BP

    I made the change you said to do and then it finally restarted just a little while ago - this time it gave a BSOD. It happened twice actually. Both times it was the same BSOD, which is:

    Motherboard: ECS NForce 3-A Socket 754
    Memory: OCZ EB Series Platinum Edition 1GB (2x512MB Dual) PC-3500
    CPU: AMD Sempron 64 3400+ Palermo 2.0GHz
    GPU: EVGA NVIDIA GeForce 7600GS 256MB
    PSU: Kingwin 600Watt

  8. #8
    Extreme Member! BipolarBill's Avatar
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    The first thing I do for page fault errors is a complete hard drive scan. Right-click each drive and select Properties. Go to Tools > Error Checking. Check each drive for errors and select *both* checkboxes. Reboot if necessary. This will take a long time. You are checking the entire disk surface for errors and drives are rather large these days. Be patient.

    The other primary problems are:

    1. Bad RAM - use Memtest86+

    2. Wacky antivirus - try uninstalling and reinstalling.

    3. Out-of-date or bad drivers. Update video *and* audio drivers. Uninstall/Reinstall.
    MS MCP, MCSE

  9. #9
    Ultimate Member dragflameson's Avatar
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    Thanks BP

    I decided to scan the hard drives first and obviously I started with the C: drive. I havent done any of the other 3 drives yet, but I will soon!

    I've done the C: drive twice in a row now - Take a look:

    1st Run
    Checking file system on C:
    The type of the file system is NTFS.
    Volume label is Local Disk.

    A disk check has been scheduled.
    Windows will now check the disk.
    Cleaning up instance tags for file 0x6c36.
    Cleaning up instance tags for file 0x6c37.
    Cleaning up instance tags for file 0x6c38.
    Cleaning up instance tags for file 0x6c39.
    Cleaning up instance tags for file 0x6c3a.
    Cleaning up instance tags for file 0x1b61f.
    Cleaning up instance tags for file 0x1b620.
    Cleaning up instance tags for file 0x1b621.
    Cleaning up instance tags for file 0x1b622.
    Cleaning up instance tags for file 0x1b623.
    Cleaning up minor inconsistencies on the drive.
    Cleaning up 584 unused index entries from index $SII of file 0x9.
    Cleaning up 584 unused index entries from index $SDH of file 0x9.
    Cleaning up 584 unused security descriptors.
    CHKDSK is verifying Usn Journal...
    Usn Journal verification completed.
    CHKDSK is verifying file data (stage 4 of 5)...
    Read failure with status 0xc0000010 at offset 0xb9e06000 for 0x10000 bytes.
    Read failure with status 0xc0000010 at offset 0xb9e11000 for 0x1000 bytes.
    Windows replaced bad clusters in file 86255
    of name \FTP SITE\MP3\_ALBUM~3\VA_-_P~1\115_DE~1.MP3.
    File data verification completed.
    CHKDSK is verifying free space (stage 5 of 5)...
    Free space verification is complete.
    Adding 1 bad clusters to the Bad Clusters File.
    CHKDSK discovered free space marked as allocated in the
    master file table (MFT) bitmap.
    Correcting errors in the Volume Bitmap.
    Windows has made corrections to the file system.

    156280288 KB total disk space.
    130528588 KB in 166679 files.
    70024 KB in 14616 indexes.
    4 KB in bad sectors.
    356888 KB in use by the system.
    65536 KB occupied by the log file.
    25324784 KB available on disk.

    4096 bytes in each allocation unit.
    39070072 total allocation units on disk.
    6331196 allocation units available on disk.

    Internal Info:
    00 da 02 00 d1 be 02 00 cb 40 04 00 00 00 00 00 .........@......
    d1 4a 00 00 04 00 00 00 ea 04 00 00 00 00 00 00 .J..............
    3c 91 60 04 00 00 00 00 7a 22 2f b1 00 00 00 00 <.`.....z"/.....
    bc ca da 16 00 00 00 00 38 e6 88 2c 09 00 00 00 ........8..,....
    98 95 2d 2b 01 00 00 00 3c ea d2 2d 0b 00 00 00 ..-+....<..-....
    99 9e 36 00 00 00 00 00 08 3e 07 00 17 8b 02 00 ..6......>......
    00 00 00 00 00 30 d5 1e 1f 00 00 00 18 39 00 00 .....0.......9..

    Windows has finished checking your disk.
    Please wait while your computer restarts.


    For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
    2nd Run
    Checking file system on C:
    The type of the file system is NTFS.
    Volume label is Local Disk.

    A disk check has been scheduled.
    Windows will now check the disk.
    Cleaning up 2 unused index entries from index $SII of file 0x9.
    Cleaning up 2 unused index entries from index $SDH of file 0x9.
    Cleaning up 2 unused security descriptors.
    CHKDSK is verifying Usn Journal...
    Usn Journal verification completed.
    CHKDSK is verifying file data (stage 4 of 5)...
    File data verification completed.
    CHKDSK is verifying free space (stage 5 of 5)...
    Free space verification is complete.

    156280288 KB total disk space.
    130540356 KB in 166905 files.
    70096 KB in 14613 indexes.
    4 KB in bad sectors.
    357400 KB in use by the system.
    65536 KB occupied by the log file.
    25312432 KB available on disk.

    4096 bytes in each allocation unit.
    39070072 total allocation units on disk.
    6328108 allocation units available on disk.

    Internal Info:
    00 da 02 00 b0 bf 02 00 82 42 04 00 00 00 00 00 .........B......
    d6 4a 00 00 04 00 00 00 a4 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 .J..............
    2e 6a 59 04 00 00 00 00 44 bd 6a b1 00 00 00 00 .jY.....D.j.....
    e4 ae 35 14 00 00 00 00 2c 15 e4 26 09 00 00 00 ..5.....,..&....
    88 37 ce 2a 01 00 00 00 be 4f 3a 25 0b 00 00 00 .7.*.....O:&#37;....
    99 9e 36 00 00 00 00 00 08 3e 07 00 f9 8b 02 00 ..6......>......
    00 00 00 00 00 10 8d 1f 1f 00 00 00 15 39 00 00 .............9..

    Windows has finished checking your disk.
    Please wait while your computer restarts.


    For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
    So the second test seemed more "clean" - there was no "Read failure" in it like there was on the first test. But the second test still shows "4 KB in bad sectors." But at the end of the test before it reboot it said something like "drive is clean" or something... but above is what it's showing in the Event Viewer logs.

    What do you think?
    Motherboard: ECS NForce 3-A Socket 754
    Memory: OCZ EB Series Platinum Edition 1GB (2x512MB Dual) PC-3500
    CPU: AMD Sempron 64 3400+ Palermo 2.0GHz
    GPU: EVGA NVIDIA GeForce 7600GS 256MB
    PSU: Kingwin 600Watt

  10. #10
    Stark Raving MOD Midknyte's Avatar
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    Run a hard drive diag. I suspect the drive is going south. bad sectors are not a good sign.

  11. #11
    Ultimate Member Ol'Tunzafun's Avatar
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    That disk is on a slippery slope. Don't use it any more until you can install it as a slave for the purpose of recovering your data.

  12. #12
    Extreme Member! BipolarBill's Avatar
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    Yup - the drive is dying. You should replace it ASAP. You can skip checking the other drives.
    MS MCP, MCSE

  13. #13
    Ultimate Member dragflameson's Avatar
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    Thanks guys

    I did start checking the other drives over night last night... I ran the scan on one of the slave drives. Just a quick question though - where can I get the log? It did the scan right it Windows (didnt have to reboot).
    Motherboard: ECS NForce 3-A Socket 754
    Memory: OCZ EB Series Platinum Edition 1GB (2x512MB Dual) PC-3500
    CPU: AMD Sempron 64 3400+ Palermo 2.0GHz
    GPU: EVGA NVIDIA GeForce 7600GS 256MB
    PSU: Kingwin 600Watt

  14. #14
    Extreme Member! BipolarBill's Avatar
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    CHKDSK is pretty bad about generating log files. No matter - it's pretty obvious that the primary (C) drive was the culprit.
    MS MCP, MCSE

  15. #15
    Ultimate Member dragflameson's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by BipolarBill View Post
    CHKDSK is pretty bad about generating log files. No matter - it's pretty obvious that the primary (C) drive was the culprit.
    True

    I'm not gonna go crazy scanning all the slave drives now, like you say - it just so happens that I started that one slave drive last night before I went to sleep and I thought it would just be interesting just to see the log. No big deal though!

    Anyways, I'm buying a new hard drive today or tomorrow... In the mean time, is there an easy way to transfer everything over to the new drive after I get Windows installed?

    I was just planning on installing Windows & all drivers on the new hard drive, then hooking up the current drive as a slave and copying over all data/documents that way. Is there an easier way?
    Motherboard: ECS NForce 3-A Socket 754
    Memory: OCZ EB Series Platinum Edition 1GB (2x512MB Dual) PC-3500
    CPU: AMD Sempron 64 3400+ Palermo 2.0GHz
    GPU: EVGA NVIDIA GeForce 7600GS 256MB
    PSU: Kingwin 600Watt

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