URGENT Help!!!!!!

[JGresko]

Well all day to day my computer has been shutting off by itself and it coulc take up to 10 trys to get it to stay on again. Sometimes it will stay on for a few minutes and sometimes for a couple hours, I figured i want to just refresh the computer for now since we should be getting a new on in a few weeks. My question is: We have a 80gb slave drive installed and i wanted to know if I can transfer all my important files and music to the slave drive and refresh the computer and not worry about it deleting the stuff on the slave? If i would save all the stuff to the slave drive is it possible to be on the safe side to remove the slave,refresh and plug the slave back in and have all my files?

It would be great for me to save the stuff to the slave drive since it would take awhile to burn it to disks,even if i can't fit it all on the slave i can burn some of it to a disk.

I am running Windows XPhome, I am not sure how long i have till it shuts down again so a answer a quick as possible would be appreciated.

Thanks
Jeff

[festerw]

Pop the cover off of the case and see if all of the cooling fans are working, most newer motherboards have temperature sensors and will shut the computer off without warning if it gets too hot.

If you have a slave drive it's always a good idea to copy important files onto it also. Then once your new computer arrives all you need to do is pull the slave out of the old and connect it to the new.

[wyldman]

First you need to determine if the computer is locking up,and rebooting (software issue),or if it's shutting off on it's own )hardware.

A failed case or CPU cooling fan may trip the hardware monitor,and cause a forced shutdown.A bad power suppy will just shut off.

[JGresko]

Wehn it shuts off the screen says " No video connection" or something of that nature. Then when it shuts down it does not sound like it is completely off anf the activity light is a constant yellow/orange. I will pull the cover off and check the fans,and blow the dust out of it.

Jeff

[wyldman]

While your in there,remove and reseat the video card.The video card could also be bad.If you have another one,try swapping them.

[scfall]

Mine started doing the same thing a couple of weeks ago. Might run fine all dat then only run for a few hours or even minutes the reboot it self. I let it go too long before looking in to it. It was totally plugged up with dust and wound up sizzling the mother board:weld . But on the upside I love the new system LOL:grinz :grinz . Take the cover off and check it out like they said and hopefully its not to late for you. Scott

[JGresko]

I am posting this from a different computer we have.

I looked inside and all rthe fans are running and I cleaned out all the dust and then it shut doown. Since i had the cover off i could see that only the software shut down cause the CPU was still running. I tried to restart it and it would only get so far and shut down again I tried restarting it like 100 times and the said screw it and figure if their is something wrongwith the harddrive i will just refresh it. So i started it up and and got to where you refresh it and it start to refresh,but shuts down after 3 minutes which means in those 3 minutes it has deleted a critical startup file and has not reinstalled it yet. Until I can get all the way thru the refresh that computer is a sitting duck.

Thanks for the help

[pbeering]

This will sound weird, but......Shut it off, disconnect it from the power. Remove the hard drive and place it in the freezer. Leave it overnight.

Reinstall and see if it will boot. If not, go shopping. Computers have become disposable commodities. If you don't already own one, buy a back-up drive.

[JGresko]

I know placing it in the freezer will free it up for a little bit till it heats back up. Would it give me enough time to refresh it(min. 20 minutes) and see if that helped? We are planning on going computer shopping for a new one maybe 2,one fore internet and games and a laptop for all the candywrapping and crafts she does as a side job.

I am at school at the moment so i will try the freezer thing when i get home around 8:45 and let you know if it worked.

Thanks
Jeff

[Rick]

From what youve said it sounds like somthing imbeded in your soft ware (spy ware) My brothers was getting dog slow and he couldnt even get on line.
After talking to many people about this,he found a small shop that told him basicly he had to much crap go through it. Just because you delete some thing doesnt mean its all gone. They took it ,asked him what he wanted to keep and what he didnt. Two days later his 4 year old Dell is as good,and fast as new.Total cost $75.00.:cash

[JGresko]

I am gonna try throing it in the freezer and see if that lets me get it running long enough the clear the system and refresh it to factory. If refreshing it don't work then it is a gonner and going to go shgopping for a new computer.

Thanks
Jeff

[pbeering]

If you get it resuscitated, try to do a system restore to a point before it croaked.

[JGresko]

I would do that,but since when I tried to do a whole system restore it shut down half way thru so it has no startup files. If i get it working i need to do a whole restore since there is no way to start it up with out doing it.

Jeff

[festerw]

Did you try booting in safe mode, usually that will allow you to fix 90% of all the problems.

[Waterlogd2005]

What type of computer is it? Manufacturer would help. I have seen several machine with the exact same symptoms you describe with in the past several weeks. Check the video card and mother board. The problem is NOT with your Hard drive. The machine is loosing the video connection. The machine is still on but loosing the video. You may want to check out your local computer shop and have them test the video. I have been seeing this very often. One of the manufactures is having issues with their mother boards. Your local computer shop or Geek Squad will be able to check it out. If it is video they can replace.