PC Problems :(

[daledavies]

I have an intermittent problem with my pc. Every now and then it just turns off, sometimes it may boot back up again, sometimes I have to turn if off and on again at the wall.

There seems to be no obvious action that causes this to happen, so Im finding it a bit tricky to diagnose the problem. So far after doing a bit of research ive discovered that its probably to do with one of two things.

Either the processor is over heating, or the power pack is not generating enough power. I got Sandra Lite by SiSoftware which reports that the temperature of my processor seems to be within the recommended range. But the power seems to be at the very lowest end of the recomendations for my processor.

Does anyone know how much below the recommendations the power can drop before there are problems?

FYO I have a AMD sempron 2800 processor.

Thanks

[Rock]

If it's the hardware, try keeping the cabinet open, which might help keeping the CPU cool for a bit. Or either scan the HDDs for viruses. Most of the times, they are responsible for such malicious activities. Get the Microsoft Malicious Software removal tool installed on your PC, it helps in removing such pests. Also, if it's system software, I'd recommend you to reinstalling the OS.

[RSVEcosse]

Get the case opened up and give it a good clean out to get rid of dust etc.

What sort of cooling set up have you got in there?. Fans etc?.

Might be an idea to reseat the CPU using something like Arctic Silver paste.

Then install http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php SpeedFan and see what it reports back.

[DPS Computing]

Also check your hard drive and RAM - sounds like you have some bad memory in there - most time it happens when one or part of one of your RAM sticks fails - this has happened to me in the past.

Also take your RAM sticks out and make sure they are dust free - RAM is very very sensitive to even the smallest amounts of dust!

Hope that helps

[daledavies]

Ahh thanks for all your replies. So far Ive cleaned the PC and fans, and have been running the machine with the case off to help keep it cool. Ive also formatted the system drive and reinstalled Windows, Im using AVG Free Anti-Virus and AVG Anti-Spyware but none have reported anything. However after doing this things were fine for about a week but it did it again the other night.

What you say about the RAM is interesting I'll give everything a damn good dusting. Im sure the RAM inside this machine is probably of the cheap variety, can RAM just fail all of a sudden?

[DPS Computing]

Originally Posted by daledavies

Ahh thanks for all your replies. So far Ive cleaned the PC and fans, and have been running the machine with the case off to help keep it cool. Ive also formatted the system drive and reinstalled Windows, Im using AVG Free Anti-Virus and AVG Anti-Spyware but none have reported anything. However after doing this things were fine for about a week but it did it again the other night.

What you say about the RAM is interesting I'll give everything a damn good dusting. Im sure the RAM inside this machine is probably of the cheap variety, can RAM just fail all of a sudden?

Yes, RAM doesn't generally go in stages and once it goes bad it normally goes with a bang.

If you going to spend money on one part of your computer make it your RAM. Cheap RAM is prone to failure and doesn't even utilise all of the available resources at most times. I went out and constantly got cheap RAM that lasted a few months - then I spent £30 on a Kingston 256MB RAM stick (actually got 2 of them at the time) and they are still working in my old computer no problem. Never go cheap on RAM - it ends in tears!

Don't forget to try and clean it and make sure there isn't even any slightest bit of dust in it first as RAM is extreamely sensitive!