HELP!!! pc keeps crashing!!!

[e_newton1]

Please give me some assistance.

Our pc keeps crashing for seemingly no reason. (I know there is "some" reason but no obvious hardware or software issues.)

There doesn't seem to be a pattern either, but it just shuts off whenever we are in the middle of working on something or when it's just sitting idle it has been known to as well. The other wierd thing is that you still have to hold the power button down for 8-9 seconds for it to go off (because the power light is still on) and then push it again to turn it back on. We have checked the power settings and it's not that....we have run spyware, adware, antivirus...even norton utlilities which each time has fixed things but nothing relating to this...usually registry errors or disk errors.

Please give me any advice where to go from here to fix this problem it just seems to get worse.

could it be the motherboard overheating? I just vacummed it out and also checked the fans although they are very quiet they appear to be running fine. Right now I have another fan blowing on it to see if that makes any difference. If this could be it, can someone lead me to find one of those softwares that help you determine the mb temperature?

I appreciate ANY assistance!!!

Emilee

[e_newton1]

also another note....would memory cause the pc to crash? Cause today it was crashing on me more than usual and I have been working on photos doing alot. and right in the middle it goes down.

hopefully this gives some insight into my problem.

thanks!

[TechPro]

To find out the tempreture of your MB use this:

http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=311

or this for temp of cpu:

http://www.majorgeeks.com/download337.html

Did this issue occur after adding or removing any hardware?

Have you checked windows event log for errors? Go to start - run - eventvwr.

You could try running memtest to see if it is a memory problem:

memtest (http://www.memtest.org/#downiso)

burn the iso to cd or download the floppy disk version.

It could be a heat issue or a failing Power supply or your graphics card.

Do you have a spare graphics to card to swap it out with?

Hope that helps.

Let us know how you get on

[e_newton1]

ok we'll give that a try...I don't think we have added any hardware and I can't remember exactly when this started. My husband might rememebr more details.

I will see if any of this helps.

thanks again!

[Stealth]

Judging from the intermittent power, I'd pin the trouble on the PSU, although memory itself might be a problem - depends on whether the OS creates a Blue Screen of Death or not. A RAM-faulted system usually generates BSoDs during boot-up or work, a PSU-faulted system usually just shuts down on the spot.

[e_newton1]

no it just goes off, no warning...no locking up nothing...everything works fine, it will just go off in the middle of everything.

my husband now seems to believe it's the fan on the power supply, we're checking that out as well. Because it went off on us last night as we were trying to check the temps and such, but the OS wasn't even running so then my husband said he believes it's a bad fan on the ps and it's overheating and turning itself off.

[TechPro]

I would replace the Power supply then.

Let us know how you get on.

[Bryce W]

but the OS wasn't even running so then my husband said he believes it's a bad fan on the ps and it's overheating and turning itself off.
Seeing that the OS wasnt running and it can happen even after the PC has been shutoff (and therefor, not hot), its most likely going to powersupply or ram. Id say its a dodgy power supply, they can die from age or they can be damaged by outside sources such as a power surge.

[geekette101]

It was my CPU overheating. I didn't realize it until I went into the CMOS and found the CPU temp was very high. Maybe the CPU fan isn't working thereby not cooling the CPU. Just a suggestion. I replaced the CPU fan but in hindsight which isn't your problem since you just cleaned it all out, anyway, realized there was so much dust the power supply was overheating above the CPU.

[e_newton1]

I never got a chance to come back and update...but we replaced the ps and it is working perfect!

Thanks for all the help!