Computer Busted -- Trying to Figure out What the Problem Is

[CrazyCarl]

Just posting this on a few different forums to see if anyone has any ideas. I imagine some of you are good with computers so if you could help I'd really appreciate it. Thanks.

Hey guys, if anyone has any ideas I'd love to hear them.. trying to figure out what's going on with it. It's a desktop that I built a couple years ago, has worked pretty much perfectly till now.

Anyhow, this morning it shut down without any warning and would shut down again before it even booted windows if I turned it back on. Even though nothing inside of it was even warm, I decided to leave it alone for a few hours to see if it was a possible overheat. But a couple hours ago I tried again and although I got windows to boot up a couple times it still shut down within a few minutes.

Since then, I have tried messing with the RAM to see if maybe one of the sticks was bad, and it doesn't seem to be the case unless both sticks went bad at once.

Also, I ran and got a thing of compressed air and blew everything out since the power supply and the video card was pretty dusty. I figured it was the supply and that blowing the dust out would fix it, but even after that it continued to shut down.

What could be the possible problems at this point? I don't think overheating or a virus was the culprit, since it was never hot and still did it after hours, and since it does it even before windows starts booting. I was gonna buy a new power supply to see if that would work, but walmart didn't have them and the local pc shops have already closed for the night.

[soul786]

Try getting into your bios menu before the restart, i.e press either f8 or f2 or f12. If you can get into that then it's not a mobo issue. Could then be a hard drive issue or another component giving issues.

[RubberKettle]

Maybe problem with power supply?

Could try swapping out power cable maybe. Need more info about what is happening during startup? Windows logo , bios as stated above? what?

[CrazyCarl]

Maybe problem with power supply?

Could try swapping out power cable maybe. Need more info about what is happening during startup? Windows logo , bios as stated above? what?

@Soul Thanks for the suggestion about the BIOS, I'll check that when I get back.

I tried swapping the cable, it didn't change anything.

It shuts off at a seemingly random time -- generally within the first 30 seconds of powering it on, regardless of whether I told it to start booting windows or not. But, a few times I was able to actually get windows running and start a program or two before it shut down. Unfortunately this is my first computer I built and I don't have any spare power supplies or hard drives sitting around to test if that's the problem so I was hoping to try to figure it out before buying a new part haha.

[RubberKettle]

Likely hard drive problem. Try to backup what you can it does not sound good.

Or it could be a windows system failure. Which would require re-installing windows operating system.

[CrazyCarl]

Hard drive problem for sure.

My hard drive was nearly full -- so I wouldn't be shocked. I don't think I mentioned it but the sound from the fan coming from the power supply got more intense and higher pitched before shutting off, so I was thinking the power supply. But this could be completely wrong.

Would it be possible to try to disconnect the hard drive and run it connected to an external or something to test this? -- all I've got is my main hard drive and a couple externals. And if it is the hard drive is there any way to retrieve that data? Some stuff on there that I hadn't backed up yet

[soul786]

My hard drive was nearly full -- so I wouldn't be shocked. I don't think I mentioned it but the sound from the fan coming from the power supply got more intense and higher pitched before shutting off, so I was thinking the power supply. But this could be completely wrong.

Would it be possible to try to disconnect the hard drive and run it connected to an external or something to test this? -- all I've got is my main hard drive and a couple externals. And if it is the hard drive is there any way to retrieve that data? Some stuff on there that I hadn't backed up yet

Easiest way to back up with only a harddrive will still need you to go to a store to pick up an external SATA harddrive dock. They plug into your usb port, and the harddrive from the computer slots in like its a toaster. Harddrive gets read just like a usb stick.

[CrazyCarl]

Easiest way to back up with only a harddrive will still need you to go to a store to pick up an external SATA harddrive dock. They plug into your usb port, and the harddrive from the computer slots in like its a toaster. Harddrive gets read just like a usb stick.

Thanks. Any way to try to run windows on my external hard drive or something to try to verify that the hard drive is the problem, though? Sorry, I feel like this is a stupid question but I never had a hard drive problem before on any of my computers.

[soul786]

Do you mean putting the harddrive from inside your computer into your external?

For that, so long as the internal connections are the same (sata for example), you could take external harddrive apart and swap the harddrives, then in your boot options (either pressing one of the f8/f2/f12 options, forget which it is) choose the external as your boot device and it SHOULD work. That'll tell you if you've got a harddrive issue.

Going a little more in depth before doing that, try unplugging the sata cable going to the mobo and plug it into another sata port. Could be a port failure too. Something to test before dismantling other things.

[CrazyCarl]

No, I didn't mean taking them apart. I meant, trying to completely take out my hard drive, and simply replace it with my external.


Not sure if externals were meant to actually be used as a main HDD though, or if I can simply pop it in and have it work.


(I'm at the campus lab right now so I'll test the ports and the bios as soon as I get back)

[soul786]

Yeah but that would just give you an error because there's no bootable OS on the external yet; unless there is.

[CrazyCarl]

Yeah but that would just give you an error because there's no bootable OS on the external yet; unless there is.

Oh, gotcha. I don't believe there is, lol. What if I stuck linux on there or something? Or, since my computer shuts down before even booting an OS, wouldn't I still be able to see whether it was a HDD problem? Or could it still be a windows problem even though it will shut down before booting it?

[RubberKettle]

He could make a bootbable external thumbdrive...just a thought

[RubberKettle]

http://arstechnica.com/business/news/2009/12/-the-usb-flash-drive.ars

[soul786]

Try this:

Unplug the harddrive from the sata port on the mobo, then boot up, let it sit on the black error screen and see if it shutsdown and reboots on you. That'll tell you whether its a harddrive or not.

I'm pretty sure it will just sit on the black screen normally if there's no HDD detected without restarting so its worth a shot.

[griz]

Sounds like a case of TMP

[soul786]

He could make a bootbable external thumbdrive...just a thought

Yep! Another option, linux guides are plentiful on the interwebs

[CrazyCarl]

Thanks for all the help guys. Got quite a few suggestions in here so I'll test these out when I get back. Hopefully can identify the problem .

If TMP is temporary files, I don't really think so. I just cleared out that stuff a few days ago.

[RubberKettle]

Get a big mug of coffee and some nicotine my man. Settle in for a long night of frustrations and semi-fixes.

TMP is too much p#rn.

[soul786]

TMP is too much p#rn.

[FindTheLock]

there are viruses that are programmed to turn your pc off. You might want to check software stuff before you go buy a bunch of hardware. You may just have a virus. If it's not a virus then reboot hit f8 and enter CMOS setup, and let the computer sit. If it doesn't shut off after trying this then it's your operating system. Try reinstalling windows and all of the easier choices before buying a new hard drive or any other hardware components.

[Madison]

yeah I know but your about the 20th I've told this to and always after the fact. Buy yourself a copy of Ghost and a usb HD and take a snapshot of it for a one time $120. You can even restore to disparate hw. Eliminates software issues. GL.