Computer shutting down randomly

[GoatMonkey]

I have a computer that is shutting off randomly. It does it even when sitting in the BIOS setup screen, so I've ruled out a Windows issue.

My first thought was overheating. There were 2 case fans that had failed. I replaced those and it didn't seem to help. I can watch the temps and fan speeds in the BIOS and it sits at a constant 60 Celcius up until it shuts off.

The motherboard is a EVGA nvidia 680 with a dual core e4300 cpu.

I'm thinking it's probably either power supply, or memory now. I don't really have the tools to test a power supply. So, I guess I'd have to just get another one to see if that fixes it.

Any other suggestions of things I might have missed?

 

[NoStateofMind]

If you aren't making it into windows its most definitely something during POST. If you have two sticks of RAM, remove one and start it up. Try moving that stick of RAM to different slots and see if that changes anything. The try the other stick in the same manner. Remove your video card and check for dust that may be clogging its fan. If these don't work I suggest you start buying parts to replace until you find the problem. After trying these, the first part I would buy is a PSU. BTW, which PSU/graphic card are you using?

 

[GoatMonkey]

It does make it into windows, but it will shut down at some random point between 2 minutes and 30 minutes usually.

The power supply is a OCZ GSX700, which is a 700W unit obviously. The video card is a EVGA 7800GT.

I will give you memory suggestion a try first. Free is much better than ~$125 for a new power supply.

 

[GoatMonkey]

Memory Testing:

Originally the computer had memory in slots 0 and 2, 1 GB in each of GSkill PC2-6400 CL 5-5-5-15.

I removed the memory from slot 2 and it booted and ran for a few minutes, but shut down at a random point as it was before.

I inserted the memory from slot 2 into slot 0. Boot failed entirely. The CPU fan turned on for a few seconds, then if shut down immediately.

So, I may need both sticks of RAM replaced and it might need a new PSU on top of that if that doesn't work.

 

[octopus41092]

You can just use a simple multimeter in order to test your PSU. You don't need any special tools.

 

[Fardringle]

Originally posted by: GoatMonkey
Memory Testing:

Originally the computer had memory in slots 0 and 2, 1 GB in each of GSkill PC2-6400 CL 5-5-5-15.

I removed the memory from slot 2 and it booted and ran for a few minutes, but shut down at a random point as it was before.

I inserted the memory from slot 2 into slot 0. Boot failed entirely. The CPU fan turned on for a few seconds, then if shut down immediately.

So, I may need both sticks of RAM replaced and it might need a new PSU on top of that if that doesn't work.

Try a single stick of RAM in slot 2 (or 1 or 4) and see what happens. It's possible that slot 0 has failed.