Computer Shuts Down Randomly

[bob_the_flying_monkey]

For some reason my computer will randomly shut down, it'll just go black and all the fan's and everything will stop, but the light stays on.
Here are my specs:
Intel(R)
Pentium(R) 4 CPU 1.80GHz
1.79 GHz, 768 MB or RAM

[Penopat]

By "randomly"... do you mean when it is idling only? Does it happen when you are doing active work on the computer? Does it ONLY happen when doing strenuous work on the computer?
Power problems usually mean the power supply is messing up. We'd probably need more information to really say it's anything specific.

[bob_the_flying_monkey]

Uh, by "Randomly" I mean... randomly, no matter what I'm doing.
Whether I'm online, playing games, or absolutely NOTHING (It's on, doing nothing) it'll shut off at random times.

[Sonict]

Then your computer is overheating. Open it up and clean it up. Dust is always the issue.

[bob_the_flying_monkey]

Alright, I'll try that later, but I just found something weird, even when I don't have anything running, a lot of times my CPU usage is at 100% (Not all the time, tho.)

---------- Post added 01-28-2010 at 12:14 AM ---------- Previous post was 01-27-2010 at 11:32 PM ----------

OK, cleaning the computer didn't work...

[Retro SS]

Check your computer for a virus. It could be a malicious program that executes Shutdown.exe randomly. Either that or any of the following:

• Your computer could have a bad power problem
• Series of power outages
• Laptop Battery; check it often. If you're using a laptop, the battery could be damaged or low on power
• Turn on firewall and change IP Address. A hacker could be utilizing a way of tracking your computer and activating Shutdown.exe at every chance he/she/it (automated machine) gets.

[SSNTails]

Bad power supply unit.

[Blitzzo]

I'm inclined to agree with AJ on this. Either the power supply is bad, or you're pushing it beyond its capacity somehow (extra hard drives, other hardware).

[Callum]

Sounds like an issue with the power supply. If it's not bad, you are overloading it... have you recently added some hardware that could have pushed your computer's necessary power usage to more than what your power supply can provide?

[:SonicMaster:]

The light stays on, hm? I guess it didn't completely power off EVERYTHING then, so I doubt anything with a power supply myself. Could it be a bad motherboard, or components on it like the CPU? After all, he's saying the CPU is maxed out.

[Cue]

Originally Posted by :SonicMaster:

The light stays on, hm? I guess it didn't completely power off EVERYTHING then, so I doubt anything with a power supply myself. Could it be a bad motherboard, or components on it like the CPU? After all, he's saying the CPU is maxed out.

The power supply could still give some sort of power to a light, even if it was overloaded. Those things can stay on quite a while on residual power.

[bob_the_flying_monkey]

I think the problem is just the CPU overloading, because when I look at the CPU meter, most of the crashes happen when it's at 100%. I'm checking for viruses again to see if a virus could be overloading it. (I also keep getting popups at websites that don't do popups, so that's more evidence that it's a virus.)

[Autosaver]

My friend used to download stuff all over the internet. He caught a virus and his computer started to shut off randomly. I'm more leaning on it is a bad power supply unit. But if it is a virus/Malware/crap
Download MalwareBytes
Scan

[SSNTails]

Power supply. Trust me, in a past life I worked as a bench technician and replaced TONS of these. Mostly Packard Bell.

[Blitzzo]

Originally Posted by bob_the_flying_monkey

I think the problem is just the CPU overloading

Erm, I'm pretty sure you can't "overload" a CPU. You're acting like the CPU usage is some sort of ticking time bomb. It's not. If the CPU is at 100% usage, then it means that there is no more room for all the currently running processes to take full advantage of the processor. The task scheduler will try to satisfy the demands of all processes as best as it can, giving preference to those with higher priority (on Unix systems, these are processes with a lower "niceness" value).

I mean, come on. It's basic multitasking environment stuff.

[MasterJace]

There are a lot of things it could be; viruses, overheating or something might be causing a mmeory fault. I know that some motherboards have a setting in the BIOS where you can choose how your computer reacts after an error, either to shut off completely or reboot.

[bob_the_flying_monkey]

Well, I got a the power supply and the fan replaced and got a new hard drive, and it seems to be working.

[a bee]

It's a Pentium 4. If it overheats it'll just throttle. That kind of survival assurance is why it's a huge OEM favorite.

Glad a new PSU fixed your problem though, I was going to suggest a long thorough run of memtest86+ and on defect, playing russian roulette with your physical memory.