Random shut offs and sometimes power button doesn't work :(

A

Aldhissla

New Member
So my girlfriend's computer has been acting a little strangely for the past couple months. It shuts off randomly (like instant loss of electricity) and couple days ago it made unnormally loud noise and she went outside her room for a while and as she came back the computer was off. She tried powering it on but pressing the button did nothing, not even a light blimped.
So I went there and checked that the power cord was plugged well and a green light that indicates that the power supply gets electricity was also on. I pulled the cord and waited for the light to go off and then plugged it back in and then it worked with no problem.

I mentioned this to my dad and he told me he had had a similar thing happen which in the end led to the point where the computer wouldn't power on no matter what he did. He assumed that something like the power supply or mobo had broken.

What I'd like to know is: do you people think it's the power supply that's going bad (would make the most sense) or could it be some other part, like the motherboard.

Thanks in advance.
 
Aldhissla said:
and couple days ago it made unnormally loud noise and she went outside her room for a while and as she came back the computer was off.
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LOL what you mean is she pooed herself and bolted out the room LOL[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]
roflol.gif


When you say it made a loud noise- was it loud beeping?
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Could be any number of things

1. Power supply going bad or overheating

2. Processor over heating and hitting the shut down temp

3. Motherboard problems

4. Driver issues (it's a long shot but I've seen it happen)

5. Is it plugged in to the wall good and sturdy into a good outlet?


- What type of computer is it? Write down all the information you can about it and post it here.
- Have you ever messed with anything inside or upgraded a part? If so what have you worked on?
- Have you ever made any BIOS changes?
- Do you clean it once a month? (blow out Power supply, cpu cooler, video card, clean fans and just do an over all check for cleanliness)

CASE:XION II
MOBO:ASUS P5N-E 650i
CPU:Intel Q9300 @ 2.875
CPU COOLER: Cooler Master Hyper TX2
RAM:Corsair XMS2 Pro 4x1 GB
Graffix:Evga 9800 GTX @ 750 MHz
PSU:Antec Neo Power 650w
 
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sg1 said:
LOL what you mean is she pooed herself and bolted out the room LOL[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]
roflol.gif


When you say it made a loud noise- was it loud beeping?
[/FONT]
Click to expand...

Actually she powered the computer on, heard the sound, thought "meh" and went to watch TV for a while. :(

And if I understood her right the sound was like something spinning fast, definitely not a beep.

I don't know much about the components, it's a Compaq Presario and I guess it's from around 2002-2003 so it's pretty old. I added a RAM chip there the day before the powerbutton funkyness, but it worked fine and Windows (XP, don't know which SP but I guess 2) recognized the added RAM and didn't do any weird stuff after a couple test reboots (used CCleaner on her computer's registry cause the computer is full of crap). Didn't fiddle with the BIOS and I have no idea when it was last cleaned before I added the ram, but it was full of dust then.

Also forgot to mention she said that a couple times now it has powered on but the screen was black. Haven't seen it happen myself so I don't know if it went past the whatchamacallit that happens before it starts loading Windows or not.

P.S. Fallout 2 just crashed as I tried entering Mr. Salvatore's room for the first time. Whyyy?! :(
 
It's one of the unofficial patches that has some content added that was left from the release, like EPA or whatever it was.

OS is Vista as it came preinstalled with my laptop, and I didn't get a driver CD with it so I don't want to try and install XP :(

But let's not go too much offtopic :p
 
I've done nothing cause I haven't been to her place today, but it isn't that much of a problem as it doesn't happen too frequently. I asked the question hoping someone has had similar problems or would know for sure where the problem is.
In case it stops powering on no matter what is done it would be nice to know which part to replace, you see.
 
- Give it a really good cleaning first, get at least 2 cans of compressed air and get rid of all dust.

- Make sure the RAM you added is fully seated. Did you add RAM to the computer with the RAM already installed still in there? Are you running two different types of RAM? Did you add the new RAM in the right spot? Run Prime95 stress test for about 4 hours, that will test the RAM and CPU. If it becomes a bigger problem, go back to the original RAM and see what happens for a while.

http://majorgeeks.com/Prime95_d4363.html

CASE:XION II
MOBO:ASUS P5N-E 650i
CPU:Intel Q9300 @ 2.875
CPU COOLER: Cooler Master Hyper TX2
RAM:Corsair XMS2 Pro 4x1 GB
Graffix:Evga 9800 GTX @ 750 MHz
PSU:Antec Neo Power 650w
 
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