computer randomly turns off

[mcflurey667]

When you say your PC switches off, do you mean that it switches off and stays that way? If so then I can only think of two causes:

- Faulty power supply.
- Overheating processor.

Other problems such as faulty memory normally result in a reboots or failure to POST (says someone who's in the process of RMAing some memory that causes exactly such problems...) rather than switching off the PC permanently. Driver and codec problems usually cause reboots and/or bluescreen error messages.

it just turns itself off (just as if i had pressed and held down the power button) i have to press power to turn it back on, no error messages or anything, yer with the bluescreen reboot think my computer was doing that cos of my ram apparently thats why i took it to pc world to fix it.
and since taking it in ive had no bluescreen or crashes, if they didnt fix it properly ill be bloody mad with them cos they charged me a fortune ( £20 just for them to take it in for diagnostics then another £50 to fix ram then £30 to fix system tatoo ( and i dont even know what a system tatoo is )

[fireslide]

Open the box, make sure the cpu fan is spinning.

Turn off the pc, clean the heatsink. I have one of those P4's and they do give off a lot of heat, and the slits between the fins on the stock heatsink are very narrow and you tend to get a load of gunk stuck on top of it impeding the airflow.

[xavierd]

also update your sound drivers. they're 3 years old

[EventHorizon]

it just turns itself off (just as if i had pressed and held down the power button) i have to press power to turn it back on, no error messages or anything, yer with the bluescreen reboot think my computer was doing that cos of my ram apparently thats why i took it to pc world to fix it.
and since taking it in ive had no bluescreen or crashes, if they didnt fix it properly ill be bloody mad with them cos they charged me a fortune ( £20 just for them to take it in for diagnostics then another £50 to fix ram then £30 to fix system tatoo ( and i dont even know what a system tatoo is )

Hmmm, if it just turns itself off with no BSOD or CTD then that very very much points to a failing power supply Been there, done that, then threw the bloody thing in the bin.

As far as I can tell this is your computer? Pop the side of the case off and find the power supply, it's probably at the top (either way, your mains cable will plug straight into it). Post any information located on the labels and lets try to find out what it is.

Also, try and take a peek inside the PSU through the fan grill (when it's all turned off) with a torch and see if there is a load of crap clogging it all up. Most PSU's (even old ones) have a thermal cut off, so if the air flow to the PSU is being impeeded that could well be the cause of your problems...and that is somthing those "professional" people at PCWorld won't have checked.

[mcflurey667]

ahh turns out it was crap clogging up fan and other insides i cleaned it out, and now the game is playing fine, thanks to all for the help