Pc turning itself off

[jedimistress]

Hopefully it wont do it while I ask this question.

It keeps resetting itself. Is it on i'ts way out? Should I buy new one or can I do anything?

[vehelpfulguy]

This can happen if the components are running too hot.

If the machine is a few years old the fans and heat sinks are probably clogged with dust and not working very well.

Remove the PC covers and GENTLY loosen any dust round the fans and heat sinks, then blow it out with a hair drier or suck it out with a vacuum cleaner, or both (do this outside).

Be careful not to touch any components with any metal. If the vacuum cleaner nozzle is metal tape a drinking straw to it to get inside the gaps.

Turn the PC on while it is outside with the covers off to blow any more dust and dirt out and to make sure the fans are still working.

If it all looks OK then put covers back on and take inside and see if that has fixed it.

[rojash]

This can be caused by amy number of different problems. If you are running XP, it has a ridiculous feature that means if it encounters certain errors, it resets itself rather than actually telling you what the error is. You can turn off the feature as follows (that way you get to at least see an error message which can help with diagnosing the problem:

Right-click My Computer and choose Properties
Go to the Advanced tab and locate the section "Startup and Recovery"
Click the settings button
In the "System Failure" section, uncheck the box "Automatically Restart"
Click OK to close the Settings window
Click OK to close the System Properties window

Hopefully the next time the problem occurs you will get an error message which you can post back here.

[spacechimp]

After using the PC for a while, restart it, or when it resets of its own accord, press delete to enter setup and press down until you get to PC health status. If the CPU temp shows is more than 70� then you should definitely remove some dust and maybe consider a new fan.

[rojash]

Don't take Spacechimps figure of 70 deg as gospel. Differnet CPUs have different optimum operating temperatures. For example, the Pentium 4M normally operates at 100 deg C. You can see a list of opertaing temps for various popular CPUs here:

http://www.heatsink-guide.com/content.php?content=maxtem p.shtml

(you'll need to scroll down a bit.

[spacechimp]

Oh sorry, didn't realise. I was just going by my experience with 2000XP

[spacechimp]

Although your link seems to contradict my experience. I wouldn't want to risk my CPU going higher than 80� to be honest.

[rojash]

Well Spacechimp, believe it or not, just like a car engine, a CPU has an optimimum operating temperature, and although running it too cold won't damage it, it will make it less efficient!

[spacechimp]

But CPUs don't use monumental quantities of power?

[rojash]

Depends what you mean by monumental. Under full load a P4E 3G can consume nearly 90 watts, while the Pentium 4 560J 3.6 GHz can consume 115 watts. That may not seem much compared with an electric fire, but by electronics standards it's a massive amount - more than any other component inside the case (apart from some very high performance graphics processors).