Why does my desktop turn off without warning?

[yiken]

My desktop turns off suddenly but the LEDs on the motherboard still turn on. I have to shut the whole thing down and turn back on for it to work however it happens again in a few minutes. What should I do?

 

[midnightfrolic]

if you have not installed any weird programs or updates recently, some obvious things to check are hardware.

reseat ram and CPU. apply new thermal compound to the CPU. run some hardware diags. look into Sysinternals.

Possibly faulty motherboard or PSU too

 

[Golfdriver97]

I'd say reseat the RAM first. If you have open slots, try reseating the RAM module in the open one first. The slot may have become faulty.

 

[xandros9]

Might be overheating, make sure there is adequate ventilation and that the inside isn't clogged with dust.

Was anything changed when you started noticing the shutdowns?

 

[Laura Knotek]

Are the fans functioning? That could be another cause of overheating.

 

[TITAN Roo]

i definetly know exactualy how to fix this but first what do you do with it? like does it only do it in the middle of a game or something else thats really cpu intensive? have you installed new hardware? this includes [hard drives,Graphics cards,disk drives,etc] and how old is your system

and im also new here....

 

[Golfdriver97]

What should I do?

OP, If you haven't already, I would open up the side panel of the PC. Check to see if @Laura Knotek suggestion is on to something here. If the fans stop spinning, the CPU will first react by shutting down.

Are the fans functioning?

If they aren't spinning, it can be one of several reasons. One of which @xandros9 suggested:

inside isn't clogged with dust.

Dust can inhibit a fan's cooling ability. Try blowing everything out with compressed air you can get in any electronics or department store. Do this outside, if the computer has some age to it.

The fans spin on a bearing, so to speak. You could try re-oiling them. I can't recall which oil to use. Something that is safe for electronics would work. Sewing machine oil should be ok to use, but I would suggest double checking that one.

The fans could also just be shot. If this is a prebuilt PC, there is always something to keep in mind; OEMs use the cheapest parts possible, in most situations. It wouldn't surprise me if the fans can't be serviced like I suggested above, and need to be replaced. Basic case fans are pretty cheap....5-10 USD (and that price should be decent fans, too) on places like Amazon, or NewEgg.

Beyond that, You could try examining the CPU for it's heatsink.

You may want to post photos of what the board looks like. We might be able to tell how easy other methods of fixing this will be.

 

[TITAN Roo]

and how long has it been since you have give it a nice dusting?

 

[Golfdriver97]

and im also new here....

Welcome to the forums. If you'd like, you can start your own introduction thread here: https://forums.windowscentral.com/new-forums-introduce-yourself-here/

 

[TITAN Roo]

one thing that can help is download hardware monitor Open Hardware Monitor - Core temp, fan speed and voltages in a free software gadget

if possible and as soon as system starts open hardware monitor immediately once hardware monitor opens write down or take a picture of all the data being displayed or even better a recording or screen capture of it from as soon as it starts to till it shuts down that can help a lot that will give us a lot more data to work with and solve the problem...

 

[TITAN Roo]

OP, If you haven't already, I would open up the side panel of the PC. Check to see if @Laura Knotek suggestion is on to something here. If the fans stop spinning, the CPU will first react by shutting down.



If they aren't spinning, it can be one of several reasons. One of which @xandros9 suggested:



Dust can inhibit a fan's cooling ability. Try blowing everything out with compressed air you can get in any electronics or department store. Do this outside, if the computer has some age to it.

The fans spin on a bearing, so to speak. You could try re-oiling them. I can't recall which oil to use. Something that is safe for electronics would work. Sewing machine oil should be ok to use, but I would suggest double checking that one.

The fans could also just be shot. If this is a prebuilt PC, there is always something to keep in mind; OEMs use the cheapest parts possible, in most situations. It wouldn't surprise me if the fans can't be serviced like I suggested above, and need to be replaced. Basic case fans are pretty cheap....5-10 USD (and that price should be decent fans, too) on places like Amazon, or NewEgg.

Beyond that, You could try examining the CPU for it's heatsink.

You may want to post photos of what the board looks like. We might be able to tell how easy other methods of fixing this will be.

not only that dont forget it can short Motherboard traces.... which is very bad...........