Sudden computer shutdowns

waynax

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Jun 21, 2009
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I have an Asus p4p800-e deluxe motherboard, 2.8 gigs of ram, dual core processors Intel/Pentium dual core processors (3.20 Ghz) and a new GeForce 6200 LE video card.

My problems began on my old ATI Radeon X800 video card. Artifacts would occasionally come up with heat. It seemed to be resolved when I placed a fan next to it and moved it to a cooler location, but about a week later the artifacts came back and stayed for good. The computer would also shutdown randomly when I was playing a game - and I don't mean "Windows is now shutting down...". Just a nanosecond and boom.

The artifacts issue was resolved by my new video card. But the random shutdowns persist. I don't think it is overheating because I can run it on a game for hours on end without issue. I can let it cool overnight, turn it on in the morning, and it shuts down. I can play it in the warm summer afternoons for hours on end and it doesn't flinch. Temperature does not effect these random events.

I added 2 gigs of ram recently, but the timing doesn't seem right for the ram to be bad.

It may be a power supply issue, but I don't want to splurge hundreds of dollars if it is not going to fix it. Plus, the computer has no trouble turning back on after sudden shutdowns, which contradicts most power supply issues.

Any advice or comments would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading my post.
 
1. Check CPU/GPU temps.

2. PSU issue. This is probably the most likely cause. Although in most cases, the PC won't turn on after a PSU failure, I have seen PSUs just shutting down randomly and starting up like nothing happened and even manages to let Prime95 run for a few hours.
 

waynax

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Jun 21, 2009
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I'm just renewing this thread - my problems still exist after formatting my computer (for other, unrelated purposes.) Now, it sometimes shuts off even when I'm not playing games (although not as frequently.)

I notice that my new graphics card gets hot fairly quickly. While the spontaneity of the shutdowns initially suggested to me that temperature was not an issue, I am reconsidering it because I certainly do not want to break the bank on a new power supply.

And now for some questions:

I've recently learned that my computer has a 550W power supply. Is this an inadequate amount?

The graphics card has a heat sink, not a fan. What products or methods should I use to cool it down?

What other symptoms should I be looking for if the problem is bad RAM?

How damaging to a computer is it to leave the case open to allow greater cooling? It seems to help the performance at times.


Thanks for checking out my post and considering this problem.
 

waynax

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Jun 21, 2009
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No, the problem still exists. I might as well add this while I'm at it:

The computer shuts down more frequently when I am on sites that use video. It HAS shutdown while on plain websites, however.

That tidbit probably isn't worth much, but hey, I don't know a lot about computers.