System Powers Off

[Marmelaki]

Hi all,

I've been having this problem with my PC and I can't seem to find a solution.
I bought the PC in May and it was all working fine, until one day (as I was listening to some MP3s) it just shut down.
The HD light stayed on and the CD-ROMs didn't have any power. I tried to reset but it didn't work. So I turned it off, powered back on and it wouldn't start at all (the HD light still on and the CD-ROM's no power). The light on the MB was on and the processor's fan was working.
I pulled the plug from the socket, put it back in and turned it on. This time it powered up, started to go in Win XP and died again before I logged in.
So, I changed the Power Supply (I had a 250W and got a 400W). Nothing. Someone told me it could be the outlet's power so I got a UPS (to stabilize power) but nothing. What puzzles me it that if the MB was fried it wouldn't work at all, but sometimes it manages to go in Windows although it dies shortly after. Sometime ago I tried to update my BIOS. I created a bootable disk, but when I started the PC with the floppy it didn't recognize the "keyboard.sys" (on the BIOS the USB keyboard option is enabled to work on DOS). So since the BIOS update didn't proceed normally I rebooted the PC. Could this be the problem? But why was my PC working normally up to that point? Could it be the processor overheating? I changed the Cooling Fan and Heat Sink to some heavy duty one (loud as a helicopter).
Can anyone help?

Aki

Here's my PC's config:
OS: Win XP
MB: QDI Advance 10F
PR: PIII 1Ghz
CPU Fan: Globalwin FOP 32
RAM: 512 (2x256@133hz)
HD: Quantum 20G
CD-ROM: LG
DVD: Toshiba
Video: nVidia GEForce 2 MX 32MB
Sound: Creative Live 5.1 PCI
Modem: External US Robotics
USB Keyboard & Mouse

 

[Bluto]

Hi....

This is an intermittent problem??? It sounds that way to me. You may be forced to remove the cover of your computer and start looking carefully at the connections. Get some strong lighting and check all the power connections first to make sure everything looks as tho it's connected to the correct places. Start with the obvious things first; power supply, MB, etc, and work your way down the list. You may want to unplug each end of each cable and then plug it back in again, just to make sure you have a good connection.

You could also have a faulty cable. You may have to find duplicate cables of all the ones in your box and start replacing them one by one. Starting your system each time to see if you found the culprit. Or you could just replace them all if you're more interested in saving time and don't care so much about where the problem actually lies.

You could have a bad trace on the MB....dunno about that one, but it's possible. Look carefully at the MB and other boards in your box and make sure there isn't some stray wire touching something nearby causing a short or something like that. That's unlikely I think, but hey....never know. If this is a 'mechanical' problem it could be very tough to find.

Also....take note of the beep codes your computer makes when it boots up. I think your manual woudl have something about that. If not, someone here might have a link that will tell you what all the beep codes are. If I had a website handy for you I'd give it to you...sorry. The beep codes tell of certain problems with the system as it boots up.......again, this might be useful, but I'm just trying to give you some ideas.

I don't know if a software conflict could cause your problem or not. If at all possible, get a backup of your system files and registry, just in case.

That's about all I can offer to help right now. Hope it helps and hope you fidn the problem.

Good luck to you...

Bluto