Computer turns itself off

nitro · Dec 18, 2002

Quote from m22au:

Does anyone have suggestions as to what is causing my computer to turn itself off?

I'm not anywhere near any of the cables. And I'm not anywhere near the power button either

Have you thought of getting an Exorcist?

nitro

m22au · Dec 18, 2002

Thanks momotrader,

That could be the answer. Because when the Scandisk type program ran after the reboot, it was finding problems with INI files that I was using, and correcting those problems. Having to restart programs won't be as painful as having a complete reboot each time this happens, if this is the explanation.

Quote from momotrader:

right click "my computer," left click properties
click on your advanced tab
click on settings under "startup and recovery"
under system failure, unclick "automatically restart"
XP comes default to reboot everytime a program crashes.
bad. I'd suggest everyone running XP go check this feature.

[/B]

m22au · Dec 18, 2002

I haven't tinkered with the CPU, so I should be fine there.

It could be an overheated CPU - it's been quite hot here recently and my room faces west

but on the other hand, my old computer ran fine on days when it was over 100 outside. Who knows.

Voltage / power supply .... could be. How much is enough for P 1.7 Ghz, 512 MB RAM, 32 MB Video card, 1*17" monitor, 1*15 monitor?

Quote from aphexcoil:

This is usually caused by a signal to the CPU to reset, thus sending a message to BIOS to reboot the system.

Symptoms would include:

Overclocked CPU beyond ability to run at overclocked speeds.
Overheated CPU
Voltage too low or too high to CPU
Inadaquete power supply (too little wattage for motherboard / CPU)

When does this happen? If it happens when you run programs, it could be software related. XP is designed not to reboot the computer automatically -- this is almost always a hardware issue. However, a very strange combination of software and hardware and cause this to happen.

If this continues, try reinstalling XP and see if this corrects the problem, but only after you have eliminated all other possibilities.

(This happened to me when I tried to overclock my system to 3.3 gHz, and I had to settle with approximately 3.2 gHz)

m22au · Dec 18, 2002

Quote from nitro:

Have you thought of getting an Exorcist?

nitro

I might try an Exorcist if this problem persists in the weeks and months to come. I'll add that idea to the list.

Option_Attack · Dec 18, 2002

My new XP computer started shutting off and restarting after I added another 512MB of DDR. It would then show a message sometimes like "Windows has recovered from a severe error...". It would only do this once within about 2 minutes of cold-start, and then would work fine all day.

Funny thing is that the memory check showed that all of the RAM was being seen by the system and was available. I took out 256MB and it doesn't reboot anymore. Need to check into this further when I get time.

bungrider · Dec 19, 2002

Quote from Option_Attack:

My new XP computer started shutting off and restarting after I added another 512MB of DDR. It would then show a message sometimes like "Windows has recovered from a severe error...". It would only do this once within about 2 minutes of cold-start, and then would work fine all day.

Funny thing is that the memory check showed that all of the RAM was being seen by the system and was available. I took out 256MB and it doesn't reboot anymore. Need to check into this further when I get time.

you have a bad stick of memory. "bad" as in defective...

happened to me once.

the memory check won't tell you sh!t about that.

bungrider · Dec 19, 2002

Quote from m22au:

Does anyone have suggestions as to what is causing my computer to turn itself off?

I'm not anywhere near any of the cables. And I'm not anywhere near the power button either

you need 300 watts.

sounds like you have a bad memory stick.

did you add new memory recently??

bungrider · Dec 19, 2002

Quote from aphexcoil:

(This happened to me when I tried to overclock my system to 3.3 gHz, and I had to settle with approximately 3.2 gHz)

maybe an unstable system isn't the best thing for a daytrader...

besides, don't you have a supercomputer now??

aphexcoil · Dec 19, 2002

It has been running XP for 2 days straight with no problems. I was using FLASK MPEG encoder constantly to test the CPU at full throttle.

I can get some pretty decent FPS out of Quake -- But I need to upgrade the video card.

It isn't encased in liquid nitrogen, though. I had to move up to liquid helium.

Miki · Dec 19, 2002

Last time my computer refused to cooperate I assumed it was disgusted with the way I traded that day.