Computer keeps restarting/shutting down randomly

[random_brad]

Hey, i'v had my comp for a few months now, the problem only started recently, but i can't figure out whats going wrong. Sometimes when it turns itself on the computer seems to start up but the lights on the keyboard don't flash and the monitor doesn't display anything, when turned off and on again it usually starts up fine.
These are the specs:

CPU - AMD Athlon 64, 2200 MHz (11 x 200) 3200+
Motherboard - Asus K8N-E Deluxe (5 PCI, 1 AGP, 3 DDR DIMM, Audio, Gigabit LAN, IEEE-1394)
Motherboard Chipset - nVIDIA nForce3 250Gb, AMD Hammer
System Memory - 1024 MB (PC3200 DDR SDRAM)
BIOS Type - AMI (10/04/04)
Video Adapter - RADEON 9200 PRO Family (Microsoft Corporation) (256 MB)
Audio Adapter - nVIDIA MCP2-S - Audio Codec Interface
Disk Drive - Maxtor 6B200P0 (200 GB, 7200 RPM, Ultra-ATA/133)
Optical Drive - LITE-ON DVDRW SOHW-1693S

I just copied and pasted what i thought could be relevent from another program, from what i can tell the temperatures for the hard disk, the cpu and the motherboard are well within normal at 32°C, 36°C and 27°C respectively. Not too sure about the power, but it seems to be where the manufacturers say it should be.

All the fans are running normally as far as i can tell, the prgram i'm using (Everest Home Edition) tells me the fan that it can detect is running as roughly 5720 RPM, there are also two other fans on the computer, a side fan (which doesn't seem all that powerful) and what i'm guessing is the cpu fan, the hard disk doesn't appear to have one. There also don't appear to be any odd noises coming from within the computer.

There doesn't appear to be much consistency with when it does it either, it can do it about 4 times in a day or not do it at all, i've ran
powermax on it and all the system tests have said that the hard disk is fine, the cpu seems to be running normally as well, and the problem actually seems less prevelent when i'm playing games such as max payne 2 or halo. I've also tried reinstalling windows and nothing appears to happen. Needs cleaning perhaps?

Anyone think they can help?

Also bear in mind that i don't actually know all the much about poking about inside PCs.

[BuggZ]

Are you getting any error messages when it happens? It could be a problem with system RAM or a video card not completely seated. Check all the RAM, cards and cables to make sure they are seated and then try the system again. You may want to download and run memtest86 (Gogle for it). If you are still having the problem see if you receive any error messages or try to determine if it happens only when running specific problems. BTW, did you add any new hardware, update any drivers, or install any new programs around the time the problem first appeared?

[random_brad]

hey, i think i've figured out wot it was, i opened up the machine and discovered that the PSU power box thing was loose, looked round the back at the screws and discovered that they weren't fixed in properly and had been forced in, the guy that built it used wood screws to secure the PSU into place, which i think was causing the whole thing to wobble when it was on, i think this was wots been causing me problems anyway, it appears to have gone away since i replaced the screws with the standard type that are supposed to go into it. i'll post again if the problem keeps occuring.
Does anyone think that this is a particually likely explanation for why it was doing this, give that the screws in it were about 3 times longer than they should have been.
thanks for the help BuggZ, and no error messages or recently installed hardware, numerous software installs though

[BeastOverlordH6]

My friend and I both built PC's, and, at one time or another, both either shut down randomly or wouldn't start at all.

Either way... my problem with my box was that my heatsink was shorting the board-power wasn't going to the right places. My friend had a fried pin off the motherboard power cable (20-pin). Either way, these bootup troubles occur when power isn't traveling. RAM has been found to act similarly.

[random_brad]

the probs persisted so i opened it up to check the pins like BeastOverlordH6 said and discovered that the mother board also was not correctly fixed. it only had two screws holding it on, after the mother board was fitted with the rest of the screw i checked the pins and found no problems, but since everything has been fixed properly into place i haven't been having any problems with the comp.
just wanted to say thanks for all the help
c ya

[BeastOverlordH6]

Happy computing, dood. :D

[brendakay59]

I was having problems with my computer shutting down and restarting, and I completely messed it up by going into the bios and messing with the fans, now I can't get it to start up. It acts like it's gonna start, then immediately shuts down, before it even shows a screen. Is there any way that I can get back into bios before it shuts down to change it back? Can I press f something to stop it from shutting down?

[Bob_180_Bob]

Hi,
Yes and yes.
But before I answer I would need to know what you are running.
If you have a desktop, remove the BIOS battery for 3 minutes and then replace and reboot. (Earth yourself to the metal frame of the unplugged PC first.)
When it boots, it may ask you to press F1 or something to access the BIOS or show a button to access the BIOS on the first screen. Get into the BIOS and set it for failsafe defaults, save and exit.
If not a desktop, post back with details of machine and OS.

[Bob_180_Bob]

Hi again, and welcome to Daniweb,
This is a very old thread you have hijacked (Oct 4th, 2005) if you need to post back, please start your own thread.

[brendakay59]

Hi,
Yes and yes.
But before I answer I would need to know what you are running.
If you have a desktop, remove the BIOS battery for 3 minutes and then replace and reboot. (Earth yourself to the metal frame of the unplugged PC first.)
When it boots, it may ask you to press F1 or something to access the BIOS or show a button to access the BIOS on the first screen. Get into the BIOS and set it for failsafe defaults, save and exit.
If not a desktop, post back with details of machine and OS.

thanks, that worked. I got it back to where it was, but it keeps restarting and windows won't load. My son built this computer, so I don't know the other stuff u asked.

[brendakay59]

thanks, that worked. I got it back to where it was, but it keeps restarting and windows won't load.

[Bob_180_Bob]

Hi again, and welcome to Daniweb,
This is a very old thread you have hijacked (Oct 4th, 2005) if you need to post back, please start your own thread.

Hi,
See if you can now start in safe mode and then do a chkdsk. If you need more help, please start a new thread with a lot of details about your machine, OS and problem.

[jasmine88]

Go to Start, Run and type: eventvwr.msc then hit Enter. You are interested in red errors under Application that occurred at the same time as dwwin.exe errors. Double clicking them will open a window describing the error.
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[hbirnfrn]

It sounds like your power supply is on its way out. Try and see if you can borrow one from a friend (if you're comfortable removing and installing one, and also it it is compatible) and see if that makes a difference. I'm willing to bet it does.
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[Bob_180_Bob]

How much are you willing to bet?

[bharansiva]

Look in Event Viewer under Application for other errors that occur concurrent with the dwwin.exe error. Dwwin.exe should not normally run at shutdown, so something else is causing it.
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[bharani88]

Random Rebooting How to turn off Automatic Reboot
In order to figure out why you are getting random reboots, you need to make a settings change to your computer. Go to:

Start > right click on My Computer > Properties > Advanced tab > Setup and Recovery 'Settings'

UN check 'Automatically Restart'. Click OK.

Reboot your computer. Now when Windows detects a problem it will not automatically reboot, but rather give you a blue screen.

Blue screens are often called 'Blue Screens of Death' (or BSOD) by users, and 'Stop Messages' by Microsoft. We need to know the exact message you see when you get the blue screen. We especially are looking for a set of letters and numbers about half way down the page that take this format:

0x0000008e

This is usually followed by a set of 4 similar numbers in parenthesis. For now we just need the first set of letter and numbers (before the numbers in the parenthesis)
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