PC Randomly Shuts-down

[MikeP]

Desk-top PC, running Windows XP, AMD Athalon II, about 6 months old.

I don't get the blue screen of death, just a momentary pause (mouse doesn't respond etc) and then it just re-boots itself.

On re-starting there's no "computer didn't shut-down correctly" warning, it simply resumes picks-up where it left off but I do lose any work that I was doing at the time.

Before I take it back to where I got it, anyone got any ideas?

 

[repomanbe]

Desk-top PC, running Windows XP, AMD Athalon II, about 6 months old.
Before I take it back to where I got it, anyone got any ideas?

when you say 6 months old, is the PC 6 months old or that you have had it 6 months? I ask because XP is no longer supported mainstream by Microsoft, since 2009, and the Athlon II series processors only came out in 2009 and so few were shipped with XP as OEM software.

Anyway have a look in Control Panel (Classic view) - Administrative Tools - Event Viewer
In there you will find the system trapped events that are logged for Applications, System & Security, most will be flagged with an 'i' in a speech bubble with Information after it, these are 99% OK some however will be a white X in a red circle with Error after it to show err.. Errors. Have a look at these from around the time of your reboot. there should also be at the time of the reboot some events titled EventLog to show when the eventlog was stopped and started. this is the time frame you need to start checking to see what the PC was complaining about before the shutdown.

Also, is the PC set to stop on error or reboot? to see that again look in Control Panel (Classic view) - System.
System Properties window, click on the Advanced tab.
Startup and Recovery, click on the Settings.
Startup and Recovery window, uncheck Automatically restart.
Click OK and again to exit.
Now any BSOD or halt your PC will not automatically reboot.
Rebooting is now manual after a crash.

And, what service pack are you running? Control Panel (Classic view) - System.
It will tell you on the System tab
i.e. Windows XP build 123.567 (Service Pack 3) something like that

Let's see if that helps get you started.

 

[MikeO]

I used to have exactly this problem. It's simply cured, ju

 

[repomanbe]

I used to have exactly this problem. It's simply cured, ju

Did your PC shut down?

 

[David Nimrod]

I used to have exactly this problem. It's simply cured, ju

That's very funny for this time of the morning

 

[rodders]

Random shut downs could be due to overheating. May be worth taking off side and cleaning dust out.
On reboot go into bios and see what temp it is running at...

 

[MikeP]

Thanks for the advice.

It's a 6 month old system that was loaded with my old copy of XP (I didn't want Windows 7) and is up to date re service packs.


Good one Mike. Very fu

 

[dakarDude]

What rodders says - try running with the case sides off to see if it is heat related.

Also, check all fans are actually running, are any stopped? Check CPU fan, PSU fan and any additional case fans.

2nd thing to try:

Remove all RAM modules, insert ONE at a time. Run with one, does it reboot?

Repeat the above with EACH individual RAM module, if it reboots whilst one of them is installed, you likely have a bad chunk of RAM (rare, but has been known).

HTH

 

[MikeP]

Right:

System Windows XP Home Edition, SP3.

In the error log, there's loads of red X's that correspond to the shut-downs, all have the source "Service Control Manager" and event 7000.


Does that mean anything to anyone?

 

[Goose]

Random shut downs could be due to overheating. May be worth taking off side and cleaning dust out.
On reboot go into bios and see what temp it is running at...

AMD - heat - dust - automatic system reboot/shutdown........ all related.

Check the CPU fan as well to make sure it's turning. If heat is not dissipated, the CPU's thermal shutdown will activate.

The problem is seen often in laptops as well when the vents are clogged with dust.......... clean it out and voila...

 

[rodders]

SCM starts services on the computer

 

[rodders]

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314357

 

[repomanbe]

Unless your PC is in a very dusty place I wouldn't have thought the fans would get clogged after 6 months and restrict airflow over the CPU Heatsink.
Having said that your PC isn't boxed in anywhere and unable to get airflow? Is it parked next to a heat source that allows the fans to suck in hot air, like a radiator now that winter is approaching?

here is a link to a free onscreen temp monitor, there's others out there too that can do logging etc...

I wouldn't suggest you ignore the SCM 7000 errors but it could indicate a service that can't start due to drivers not supported properly by XP if they were written after XP ceased support. see if they relate to a peripheral.

What peripherals are running when it shuts down? printer, scanner, external hard drives, router. could be related to SCM 7000 error
try removing them all and seeing if PC shuts down within the same time frame, conditions etc...
If it doesn't add your peripherals in one by one till the condition resurfaces. if it doesn't it would be reasonable to assume its not peripheral related.

Are you always running the same piece of software when it happens? graphics editors are CPU heavy and heat up the CPU, downloading and copying are I/O heavy and don't use CPU much. Big games use the graphics card hard and that may indicate why there's no warning before shutdown.

If you take it back to the shop they'll only tell you that if it's not hardware related to 'upgrade' to 7

a few ideas of the top of me 'ead to get you going

 

[Decster]

It has been corrupted

 

[cookie]

...or the PSU's fucked.

 

[MikeP]

Unless your PC is in a very dusty place I wouldn't have thought the fans would get clogged after 6 months and restrict airflow over the CPU Heatsink.
Having said that your PC isn't boxed in anywhere and unable to get airflow? Is it parked next to a heat source that allows the fans to suck in hot air, like a radiator now that winter is approaching?

It's as clean as a very clean thing and it's neither boxed-in or near any heat source.

I wouldn't suggest you ignore the SCM 7000 errors but it could indicate a service that can't start due to drivers not supported properly by XP if they were written after XP ceased support. see if they relate to a peripheral.

What peripherals are running when it shuts down? printer, scanner, external hard drives, router. could be related to SCM 7000 error
try removing them all and seeing if PC shuts down within the same time frame, conditions etc...
If it doesn't add your peripherals in one by one till the condition resurfaces. if it doesn't it would be reasonable to assume its not peripheral related.

Are you always running the same piece of software when it happens? graphics editors are CPU heavy and heat up the CPU, downloading and copying are I/O heavy and don't use CPU much. Big games use the graphics card hard and that may indicate why there's no warning before shutdown.

That's the thing. I'm not running anything when it happens. One of the reasons that I wanted to stick with XP is that what few peripherals I have are all XP generation. I've not bought any new hardware or software, nothing has been added.

I could live with the issue but for the fact that recently I've bought a new version of PowerDirector to re-edit my travel videos and I don't want it shutting down mid-edit. I haven't loaded the software yet and my older version isn't loaded on this PC either.

If you take it back to the shop they'll only tell you that if it's not hardware related to 'upgrade' to 7

It isn't a PC World jobbie. It was built by a local small specialist shop and they were happy to load my old XP disc.

I'll pop-in with it I think.

Thanks for your help.

It has been corrupted

 

[GS_or_bust]

Could be a virus,run an antivirus scan

 

[shugie]

Power supply putting the machine into sleep mode perhaps, could be faulty wiring if the power button is configured for sleep mode.

Check the wiring, remove the power button connector from the motherboard pins, test with an alternative power supply.

 

[Grey Beard]

It does sound as if it is a PSU fault, so your shop should be able to test that by substitution. If not that, then perhaps a motherboard fault.

I would have thought that if the CPU was overheating, it would just throttle back it's computations and the PC would become very slow, rather than shut down.

Grey Beard

 

[rodders]

Get your own back

randomly turn it back on