Computer randomly switching itself off

[Scott Newton]

And when I say switch off it doesn't shutdown - it just stops. Power is still
getting to the motherboard (the motherboard light is on) but everything else
stops. It's not OS related as sometimes it will switch off while the grub
screen is displaying. If it shutdown while the OS (Ubuntu 10.10) is running
there is nothing in the logs.

I've tried replacing the memory but it does the same thing. The next three
things on my list are power supply, motherboard and cpu. Does anyone have any
suggestions as to what is most likely to be the cause and is there anyway to
diagnose what piece of the hardware is the issue other than by replacing them
one piece at a time.

Thanks

[t94xr]

Post by Scott Newton
And when I say switch off it doesn't shutdown - it just stops. Power is still
getting to the motherboard (the motherboard light is on) but everything else
stops. It's not OS related as sometimes it will switch off while the grub
screen is displaying. If it shutdown while the OS (Ubuntu 10.10) is running
there is nothing in the logs.
I've tried replacing the memory but it does the same thing. The next three
things on my list are power supply, motherboard and cpu. Does anyone have any
suggestions as to what is most likely to be the cause and is there anyway to
diagnose what piece of the hardware is the issue other than by replacing them
one piece at a time.
Thanks

this sounds strangely familiar...
My issue was to update the BIOS because it wasn't handling the graphics
card.

CameronW

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[Scott Newton]

Post by t94xr
this sounds strangely familiar...
My issue was to update the BIOS because it wasn't handling the graphics
card.

The only thing that is changed in this computer is a new hard drive and that
was at the end of February. It's been running fine up until Friday evening.
First switched off about 21:00 hours and since then haven't been able to keep
it up for more than about 3 hours.

Thanks

[t94xr]

Post by Scott Newton
The only thing that is changed in this computer is a new hard drive and that
was at the end of February. It's been running fine up until Friday evening.
First switched off about 21:00 hours and since then haven't been able to keep
it up for more than about 3 hours.
Thanks

Swap the hard drive into another sata connection or controller.
If that doesnt work, swap your modules with someone else with similar
kind of modules.
Your heatsink isnt overloaded with dust and crap?
Also check your SATA cable itself - I've come across where a system has
locked because a new cable was dodgy, thankfully they're not expensive
so i swapped it and it worked straight off.

CameronW

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[Nevyn]

Post by t94xr

Post by Scott Newton
The only thing that is changed in this computer is a new hard drive and that
was at the end of February. It's been running fine up until Friday evening.
First switched off about 21:00 hours and since then haven't been able to keep
it up for more than about 3 hours.
Thanks

Swap the hard drive into another sata connection or controller.
If that doesnt work, swap your modules with someone else with similar kind
of modules.
Your heatsink isnt overloaded with dust and crap?
Also check your SATA cable itself - I've come across where a system has
locked because a new cable was dodgy, thankfully they're not expensive so i
swapped it and it worked straight off.
CameronW

*pfft* I'm willing to put $5 on a failing power supply. The other
thing.... has it been running hot? Check the state of capacitors and
the like...

Regards,
Nevyn
http://nevsramblings.blogspot.com/

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[David Hawke]

Post by Nevyn

Post by Scott Newton
The only thing that is changed in this computer is a new hard drive and that
was at the end of February. It's been running fine up until Friday evening.
First switched off about 21:00 hours and since then haven't been able to keep
it up for more than about 3 hours.
Thanks

*pfft* I'm willing to put $5 on a failing power supply. The other
thing.... has it been running hot? Check the state of capacitors and
the like...

Second checking the caps on the board -I've had a batch of ASUS M2N68
boards die with beautifully bulging caps - similar symptoms too - runs
for a short time then hangs.

David H

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[Cliff Pratt]

Post by Scott Newton

this sounds strangely familiar... My issue was to update the BIOS
because it wasn't handling the graphics card.

The only thing that is changed in this computer is a new hard drive
and that was at the end of February. It's been running fine up until
Friday evening. First switched off about 21:00 hours and since then
haven't been able to keep it up for more than about 3 hours.

Did you check if the CPU cooling fan is spinning? are the heat sink or
the fan clogged with dust?

Cheers,

Cliff

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[Scott Newton]

Post by Cliff Pratt
Did you check if the CPU cooling fan is spinning? are the heat sink or
the fan clogged with dust?

All fans working fine (CPU fan RPM > 1000) and case vacuumed of dust etc.

Thanks

[Robin Sheat]

Post by Scott Newton
And when I say switch off it doesn't shutdown - it just stops. Power is still

I can give you an Athlon X2 system that has exactly the same issue :)

Memtest showed up nothing (although it couldn't run for the whole time.)

My hypothesis for this is that the CPU heatsink became slightly wonky when I
moved the computer (about 20 metres to another room.) This is based on its
behaviour of running for a while when cold, but running for about 3 or 4
seconds if it's just shut down. Although, the BIOS temp monitors never showed
it getting terribly hot. So, I'd also suggest the PSU.

I solved it by buying a new computer because I was thinking of upgrading
anyway. This probably doesn't help you though sorry.

Robin.

[Steven Ellis]

Based on the board involved they are fairly rugged units so a bad PSU is
possibly a good call. Problem is finding an SFX unit the right size for
the case.

I'll bounce Scott and email off list

Steve

--------------------------------------------
Steven Ellis - Technical Director
OpenMedia Limited - The Home of myPVR
email - ***@openmedia.co.nz
website - http://www.openmedia.co.nz

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