random shut off

i built my sister a computer and it randomly turns off for no apparent reason. first i thought power supply, so i put a 300 watt enermax in it with no improvment. its an msi nforce mobo, 900 duron, crucial ram. funny thing is, you cant turn it back on right away, you have to turn the power strip off (dont know if simply unpluging it will do the same) then back on again to turn it on. im thinking the power strip could be bad. or could be the power to the house, its out in the middle of no where and i think there is a short or somthing somewhere. what else could it be? im gonna try getting an ups from work to see if that helps. but first im going to bring it over to my house and see how it runs here.

i went to the tomshardware forums and all i got was this lousy signature.

Oops. I should learn how to read.

I can't think of a good signature so I'll use this one.

When something like that happens it's usually the ps or RAM. It's weird that you have to turn the power strip off. It's just a power strip not a surge protector?

I think you're on the right track by hooking it up to a UPS. Surge protectors will prevent surges but not dips. My friend had a huge problem with data corruption. His house was built in 1964 and had never gotten rewired or upgraded. It has 100 amp power which is alright, but with all the modern appliances it should be upgraded to at least 150 amp. To make a long story short, he got a quality surge protector which cut down on the problems but they didn't go away until he got a UPS.

I can't think of a good signature so I'll use this one.

any one know of a good place to get an ups? under 50 bucks would be awsome. i found a belkin on buy.com for 35, but standard shipping is 25 bucks!

i went to the tomshardware forums and all i got was this lousy signature.

Make sure you get one with enough power to support your system. Otherwise you will get audible beeps and stuff from the UPS.