PC turning off randomly

[Ford Prefect]

Hi there!

Lately I'm having the problem that my PC turns off at random (happened again just an hour ago). No crash, no messages, just as if I had cut off the power. First I suspected something with the power management, so I turned off all ACPI / APM functionality, but it still happened.
My question: Why? Could the cause be a dirty PSU? I've opened my PC and once again cleaned it out, and there were LOADS of dust in the PSU and the CPU cooler; as the PC didn't crash, I assume it wasn't an overheated CPU. Does an ATX PSU cut off the power when it gets too hot? I didn't exactly burn my fingers, but the PSU was quite warm when I opened my case.

Any opinions?


edit: Oh, I forgot: The PC was running all day, but being idle (just running a screensaver and some ISDN stuff like answering machine and fax receiver), but when I decided to go surfing a bit before bed time - bang! - it went down after a couple of minutes....

 

[Ford Prefect]

nope. Cleaning didn't help. Happened just again.

Any ideas?

 

[Ford Prefect]

As a side note, I don't know if there's any connection or if it's coincidence... it never happens when I sit and watch my PC, like watching DVD's or some fancy game fly-by (did that for testing purpose... really boring ). Most times it happens when I scroll my MOUSE WHEEL.... (MS Intellimouse Explorer USB). Possible? Could the mouse be defective and causing a short or something? I don't really want to buy a new PSU and then realize that it's not the PSU's fault....

 

[Nukfutz]

Please list your complete system specs, and cpu/case temps.

 

[Ford Prefect]

Epox EP-8KTA2 KT133
AMD Duron 750
MSI Geforce2 Ti
Creative SB Audigy
Realtek NIC
AVM Fritz! Card Classic
No-name ATX case w/300W PSU
Win98SE

I guess it's not a heat issue. My sensors read 38/33/26°C for CPU/Board/Aux. Must be either the mobo or the PSU; or could Windows somehow be sending the signal to turn the PC off "by accident"?

 

[PrestonZX]

Try updating your mouse drivers or try a different mouse. If that doesn't do it, then I would think it's your Power Supply Unit (PSU). Good Luck!

 

[Ford Prefect]

hmmm I've tried a different mouse, even different types (PS/2, serial). No change. I have, however, noticed that the problem only *seems* to ocur when I'm using MSIE.... I can work / surf for hours, even heavy tasks like video encoding, but when I have to us the IE for certain pages that don't support Mozilla (which is a shame that those pages even exist), it's a matter of time that the PC turns off. I've made an intense scan of my HDD, but haven't found any viruses.... now this is becoming really eerie....

 

[Todd a]

What OS? I think Windows 98 had an AMD patch for it. I personally thnik it is the PSU.

 

[Ford Prefect]

believe it or not.... I've tracked it down to a software problem. I can work fine as long as I avoid the IE. Use the IE - bang! - the lights go out.

 

[Berserker]

What version of IE are you using??
Probably you can update your version to the latest IE6 SP1..

 

[JollyRoger]

alternativly, don't use IE

www.opera.com

www.mozilla.org

www.netscape.com

 

[Ford Prefect]

that's what I do . Mozilla is my stadard browser, but there's always a few pages that simply don't work with browsers other than IE. Bummer .