Tower keeps switching off

[trish432]

My daughter brought her tower today,for me to have a look at , She said there was nothing at all when she tried to boot.
I booted it up, and went straight into windows, got into user screen, but after about two minutes it switched itself off, light on tower went out and then came back on, sounding like it was trying to start up, but nothing on screen. Tried it several times , but keeps switching off. Seems the longer I leave it, in between trying, the longer it stays on, but never more than a couple of minutes.
Has anyone any idea what the problem could be?
I would be grateful for any suggestions.

[SmellyCamel]

It's hard to say, but if your computer is simply turning itself off without any user intervention then it sounds like a hardware problem to me.

[ACtheTROLL]

sounds like a bad case of mucky processor !!!!!

Open the box .... have a look at the processor heatsink/fan

if it looks like a dandelion clock .... (or something the cat coughed up) it needs a clean

you need a softish brush (I use one of the wife's blusher brushes) .... or a half inch paintbrush ... give it all a good going over (be careful - but get into all the nooks and crannies)

then if you have a vac with tools ... suck the dust out of the bottom of the case (don't get closer than 3-4" from the processor!)

while you are at it you can safely give the power unit a good going over.

that should solve your problem.

[ACtheTROLL]

Question for the regs
ladies and gents.

I've been following a couple of threads on some of the more technical sites - here is a summary

The "standard" advice on cleaning out a processor heatsink is to use a "propper" Computer vac .... which is correctly grounded and will set you back �300-600.00 (we have a couple in the workshop)

or a duster spray (on a couple of occasions I've used this in the field ... and the spray (a new full can) has actually squrted propellant over the heatsink!!) (and one exploded on the front seat 2 years ago) do blow out the detritus
(ignore the dangers of accelerating particles and "throwing" them accross the room!)

Right .... the argument is that
old processors were mounted onto the socket which is mounted on the mobo ... so the only discharge path is down through the enclosure top through the chip and the pins to ground.

new processors however are encased in a chuffing great heatsink assembly which is bolted directly to the mobo chassis fixings.

according to Faraday cage effect this should protect the processor ... and so using a vac on the heatsink is OK

any buyers?