Computer Shuts off for no apparent reason - HELP

Running Windows Vista, system is not that old, about 2 years -ish
HP slimline - usually very sexy

AMD Athlon 7750 Dual Core Processor
4GB RAM


I have not installed any software recently.


About 10 days ago, I was in the middle of something that uses Java (as most things I use do), and about 45 mins in, it shut off.... I was surprised, but hit the power button, it booted right up, seemed OK.

Went back to what I was doing. 2 hours later, it shut off again...

At this point I of course assume its overheating, and I download speedfan to keep an eye on it. Never did it go above 58C, and seemed to run fine for about an hour when I headed out for dinner and family time.

When I came back it was all good, and uptime was around 5 hours at this point.

I decided I needed an entire fresh reboot, since I had already had 2 improper shutdowns. Stupid me, I didn't sit to see what happened, I just hit restart and walked away. When I came back, it was off, and wouldn't come on at all. There was clearly no power getting to anything, so now I (of course) assume the power supply went.

No big deal - I've changed them out on previous systems so I went and ordered it. Received it on Saturday, installed, worked perfectly, and the system ran fine for the last 4 days.


Today.... about 6 hours after I started clicking at stuff... it shut off again


So I guess at this point my question is... if its not overheating and its running with a brand new power supply.... could it have something to do with the Java.. though I doubt that - I keep it updated cause I use it all the time...
Is my motherboard going? God I hope not.
What else could it be?


There was only one other unusual thing that happened about 15 mins before it shut off - an MP3 buffered.... its on my hard drive... why would it buffer??


Any thoughts would be appreciated.

reply to post by Forevever


Try a different powerbar and outlet and see if it is still doing it.
It could be an intermittent electrical problem.
Also check your power supply cord.

Other then that...i am no computer expert so i have no other helpful advice.

Sounds like you might have some serious cooties in your booties. Maybe you should wipe the whole thing and re-install windows?

reply to post by Forevever


58 Celsius is pretty hot. I would check your BIOS settings and see what they are set for. They could be set for auto shutdown due to heat at 50C or even 60. I never trust downloaded programs to tell me what the internal temp is.
So I'd suspect overheating still.
Also...it might not just be your overall internal temp. It's possible the heat sink paste has hardened between your processor and processor fan.
Hard drives also can overheat and cause shutdowns. My main hard drive I have inside it;s own hard drive fan to blow heat off of it.
It does seem to happen when your running Java applets though, and they can cause lots of heat.

Open your case and spray some canned air in there. Sounds like you are overheating on your processor or in your power supply. If you are a smoker this threat is increased dramatically. Also, if you download MP3s from the Internet there is a chance you downloaded one that had a malicious payload. To test this download a good antivirus program like Avira (the free version). Uninstall Symantec or what ever other AV you have installed THEN install Avira. Run a full system scan after it updates. If Avira finds nothing and you still feel dirty you can try other tools such as HiJackThis, Malwarebytes, or Unhackme.

reply to post by Forevever


It could be your hard drive on the way out. Or corrupted files on there. You could backup and try a system restore. Have you recently upgraded anything? Maybe your power supply isn't adequate for the job?

Other than that maybe a faulty RAM stick. To test those take one out and start up, if the problem persists replace it ant take the next one out and so on. Bear in mind the type of ram you have. For example DDR3 only works in matched sets of 2 or 4 making it harder to test.

reply to post by BIGPoJo


NO NO NO!!!!!!!!!

Never spray canned air into a computer case with components attached. They are obviously under pressure, and when you start spraying they release water vapor and droplets. Very bad for computer parts to encounter water!!!

reply to post by Forevever


Sounds like you know you're way around a computer, so I'm sure you made sure the CPU heat sink / fan, and internal power supply heat sink / fan is clear of dust .

If it is a brand new power supply, perhaps try another to see if the problem persists.

No matter what, check event viewer for the corresponding error messages with the times that the computer shuts down.

Question: When the computer reboots, does the BIOS retain it's settings?

although the problem may be related to overheating, it's not likely
if your processor gets hot enough to shut down your system, the system will not boot back up until the processor has cooled (to prevent further damage)

i could be wrong but 9 times out of 10 if it's a heat issue, the unit won't come back on immediately or it will shut off soon after

it's most likely software, or as a previous poster mentioned, intermittent power issue (power strip, power cord)
I would lean towards software

click start and type "event viewer" in the search box and press enter
in the left hand column, select "windows logs"
and look through the system and application logs for errors . . that may point you in the right direction

58c is hot you dont have to get a new heat sink just some new thermale compound. Order some stuff called artic silver 5, its 5 dollars on amazon. Its easy hear are some directions on how to put it on
www.arcticsilver.com...
I have had allot of problems with speed fan and temperature readings, speed fan is not the best all ways triple check. Download 2 programs called core temp and real temp. See if the temperatures read the same on all 3 programs.
My next guess would be your motherboard all though if you did just get a really cheap crappy power supply it could be the power supply again.

I am still inclined to think it is a hardware failure. Double check all your fans, as this does seem to be an overheating problem. Although two of the most difficult aspects to troubleshoot is a flaky processor and flaky memory. I have seen many strange and other false positives occur with memory or processors that have either overheated or otherwise become unreliable.

As far as software to determine operating temperature, I can not say that I am very confident in its ability to work accurately. Unless the temp software is built into the hardware and designed to do just that I do not put a lot of faith in that sort of program.

58c is still nothing, certainly not enough to shut the pc down, and there's nothing that would default to such a low temp and install itself.

Could be a faulty component on the motherboard, which is overheating and causing the power off.. Check the event logs and see if it's shutting down gracefully or if it's unexpected.. M$ should tell you when you boot back up, give you the option to boot into safe mode, etc, if it's an unexpected shutdown.

I have the opposite problem, I send my pc into sleep mode and it has started turning itself back on at about 4am. WOL is set, but nothing else is on.

Computers... who'd work in IT...

Ahh the above post reminded me of ram.. I'd reseat the ram. Move it around just to make sure. Make sure all the cards (if any) are seated securely. Make sure the heatsink is tight, check the temps of both cores, see if one is vastly different to the other.. a sign the HS is skewed.

give the entire case a good blow out if there is any dust in there...

check all the cables to the HDD's are connected securely. Rejig them to make sure..

what sort of video card is in it? onboard or pcie? check to make sure thats not overheating.

Usually when I OC mine and it overheats, I get a bsod so I know what it is.. but anything that can be checked, I'd check.

sounds like a dodgy PSU or perhaps power transformer on the mobo.

Re-seat all power related power cables and reattach, if it does it agian only plug in the nessery power consuming parts and try ti again, if theres no crach you need a bigger or just new PSU.

Originally posted by BIGPoJo
If you are a smoker this threat is increased dramatically.

Wrong. You may have read this in CompTIA's beautiful A+ book, but unless you're servicing PCs in a Vegas casino this is absolute BS.

Also, if you download MP3s from the Internet there is a chance you downloaded one that had a malicious payload.

Fairly certain Vista and up have patched all currently known MP3 exploits, so no, this isn't the problem.

To test this download a good antivirus program like Avira (the free version). Uninstall Symantec or what ever other AV you have installed THEN install Avira. Run a full system scan after it updates. If Avira finds nothing and you still feel dirty you can try other tools such as HiJackThis, Malwarebytes, or Unhackme.

This might help, but it more than likely is A) BIOS turning off PC due to safety measures, B) bad power supply.

Also, Avast is better than Avira by far. I'm a certified computer technician and extensively experienced in the field.

You know what, I have had this happen to me a few times recently too. There is usually a snapping sound like an old tv tube and it shuts down.

I actually have the same computer you do and noticed that it automatically restarted itself during some kind of java update. I think most of the java updates I have encountered have prompted me to install/restart with no problem. I remember thinking that it was weird that my computer suddenly shut off, restarted and then a java update finished upon restart. I have not had any problems since this happened (1-2 weeks ago) nor did I have any weird problems before that time. Best of luck to you.

Something else I just thought of, there is a small lithium battery something like a (2032) inside the case that I believe helps power the internal clock/thermostat. I had to replace this once on an older model HP when I was getting a lot of random shut downs and it fixed the problem. I think those batteries run at 3V so if you pull it out and have a volt meter check it, anything under 3V is no good.

open the case and clean out the dust bunnies and check all the fans are working as a starter

when computer kit is on its last legs it can exhibit funny effects which can make the detective process a rather challenging job

make sure all the electrical wiring in the place is nice and tight as well, as i had one system where shutting the door made one of the wires jump out of its connector on the socket and that was enough to cause it to seemingly die at random

Sounds to me like ram going bad. Check windoze and the bios to make sure it's reporting 4gbs. There should be a memory test in there, or a "fast boot" option to uncheck, to get it to count thru all 4gigs.

Overheating problems are consistant, as opposed to ram problems. Over time, the contacts on the ram chips tend to get glazed over from heat, and don't make a solid connection. One thing to try is to pull your ram chips (if you changed your PS, you know how to do this), and gently clean them with a pencil eraser. The eraser is just abrasive enough to remove the glazing, and insures a clean connection. Ram problems are flaky, sporadic, and annoying. Good luck, hun, and give us an update.

reply to post by Druid42


RAM going bad will throw a lockup, not a shutdown in most cases.

It is usually accompanied by a BSOD.