I decided to buy a new computer so I gave my old one to my sister. Worked very well for about 5 months then suddenly it just turned off. Now it will only stay on for about 5-10 minutes then it will just turn off again.

I tried switching the power supply and it didnt work. reformatting didnt work either. and the last thing i did was try and upgraded the ram and that didnt seem to work (wont even let me go into bios, just looked for the motherboard cd too boot then told me too turn it off and on again, and it repeatedly did that for quite sometime). Heck I thought it was the electricity in her room but it wasnt, i gave her a really old computer just so she can use her work, but i would really like to fix this one.

So now im I really need serious help. can anyone tell me what i can do?

Quote: Originally Posted by carlogz I decided to buy a new computer so I gave my old one to my sister. Worked very well for about 5 months then suddenly it just turned off. Now it will only stay on for about 5-10 minutes then it will just turn off again. I tried switching the power supply and it didnt work. reformatting didnt work either. and the last thing i did was try and upgraded the ram and that didnt seem to work (wont even let me go into bios, just looked for the motherboard cd too boot then told me too turn it off and on again, and it repeatedly did that for quite sometime). Heck I thought it was the electricity in her room but it wasnt, i gave her a really old computer just so she can use her work, but i would really like to fix this one. So now im I really need serious help. can anyone tell me what i can do?

You can start helping her by opening up the case, vacuuming out dust / cat hair / etceteras, and making sure there's proper airflow in her room. Also, with the case side off, power up and make sure all fans are spinning (CPU, graphics, intake and exhaust for the case, anything you've got).

You can start helping us to help you if you give us a bit more information. Specs for the machine help, environment it's located in, beeps coming from the machine, make/model of the mobo, things like that. From there, we can help you a lot more. Also, check the system logs ... you should have some informative error messages being generated. And if it just shuts off ... beeping noises? Any sort of indicators will do.

From your text above, I wasn't sure which machine you were talking about ... the old one you gave to your sister, or the new one you bought. Looks like the one you gave your sis.

Get back to us when you've got more info and we'll try to help some more.

-godling

Staying on for 5-10 mins then shutting down definately sounds like overheating. So what Godling said: room airflow, case airflow, clean out dust, ensure heatsink is seated correctly, ensure thermal paste is applied properly.

Quote: Originally Posted by godling You can start helping her by opening up the case, vacuuming out dust / cat hair / etceteras, and making sure there's proper airflow in her room. Also, with the case side off, power up and make sure all fans are spinning (CPU, graphics, intake and exhaust for the case, anything you've got). You can start helping us to help you if you give us a bit more information. Specs for the machine help, environment it's located in, beeps coming from the machine, make/model of the mobo, things like that. From there, we can help you a lot more. Also, check the system logs ... you should have some informative error messages being generated. And if it just shuts off ... beeping noises? Any sort of indicators will do. From your text above, I wasn't sure which machine you were talking about ... the old one you gave to your sister, or the new one you bought. Looks like the one you gave your sis. Get back to us when you've got more info and we'll try to help some more. -godling

Thanks for the help so far guys...yeah, its a clean room, but small. It's the computer I gave to my sister (old one). Here are the specs

CPU: Pentium D 2.66ghz
RAM:1GB DDR2 RAM
OS: Windows Vista
HDD: 60GB IDE
Motherboard: P5RD2-VM ASUS (onboard Audio and Video)

that's about it. I left it open, checked everything and it is still turning off. No error messages whatsoever, if I left it for about 2-3 hours it will turn on and actually enter Windows, but after a while it will just shut down again, then when I turn it on, they it asks me if I want to boot with the original Windows Vista or on Safe Mode (tried both, still turns off).

Cleaned the case, noticed a lot of dust in the fan and heatsink of the cpu so I just cleaned it off. The rest are clean too.

I dont understand how this couldve happened, never happened to me when I was using it, and it still lasted 5 months before this started happening. Even got ASUS to replace my motherboard and used my 3 years store warranty to replace my CPU. Since I though those were broken, but it isnt.

Does your mobo have a fan on the Northbridge. I would investigate that for proper operation. If the fan is working "Good" I would still remove it and add some new thermal paste :-)

Lets go over the list,
New MOBO,
New Processor,
New Ram,
New PSU,
Clean Case,
Well, thats everything but the Hard drive. Thats quite a dilemma

Quote: Originally Posted by carlogz I dont understand how this couldve happened

Hah! We never understand why things just go tango uniform when they seem to be working so well. Never fear .. you'll learn to expect this kind of thing.

Quote: Even got ASUS to replace my motherboard and used my 3 years store warranty to replace my CPU. Since I though those were broken, but it isnt.

Well, that's something good to hear: you've got a new mobo and CPU on this system, and it's still having this problem?

First thing to realize is that it *does* sound like a heat issue ... if you leave it for 2-3 hours and then it starts up fine, but shuts down after 20-30 minutes ... that's very likely due to a heat issue. Wait that 2-3 hour period again, then boot up and go into the BIOS. Watch the BIOS cpu temp readings ... keep it there for a while (20-30 minutes and tell me if the core temps are rising.

what kind of cooler are you using on the CPU? Stock? Any lapping? thermal paste?

Slay's suggestion for reapplying thermal paste to the CPU and/or northbridge cooler is spot on. But please also do the above, as I've outlined, so we can get a solid analysis.

-godling

if inside case all clean of dusts then it's your PSU

Goodman made a good point about the psu.

Even though you may have tried using another one. What are the specs/maker of both power supplies. There are good quality ones and there's the ones that dont make the passing grade.

From the information provided thus far.....
The issue still exists after replacing the cpu, mb, and ram. Provided your not using a video card. I would not say its a hardware issue. If you have followed the above recommendations to clean and reseat the cpu heatsink and fan (be sure the fan is plugged into the correct fan header). Im going to put my chips on the power supply. I personally would take this down to bare minimum. Unplug all devices connecting to the motherboard but cpu and memory. Fire it up using a keyboard and onboard video. Go directly into the bios and let it run for awhile monitoring the temps or till it shuts down on its own.

On another note try this with the side cover off to allow better airflow.

Let's see if this helps to isolate the problem.

Also it wouldnt hurt to post your temps.....

Glad you got it sorted bro