So glad I found this forum! My computer (intel 4.0 WinXP SP2 1 gig Ram) shuts down and mostly when it's just sitting idle. No errors/blue screens nothing. Just like the power went out. I thought 'heat related' but I have the side off and put a big fan there already. When this happens it would take 15 mins to 1/2 hr to get it back on (a real pain when I'm at work and need to get into something quick) but once day out of frustration I just started trying to reseat stuff like Ram, cards, plugs. Then I found that once it shut down, I just pulled out the power supply plug from the motherboard and plug it right back in (pull off then back in) it would boot right up (normally) like I just started it back up in the morning......no error messages, no phone-home questions, just like nothing ever happened? Any ideas?
hi marthasgirl,
try using another PSU, it could be a PSU problem..make sure that there's enough thermal compound on your processor and the heatsink..
thank you for your reply. I've thought of switching but would have to go and buy a new 500 W one as my others are way smaller. What concerns me is that the minute it shuts down, if I unplug and replug the PSU from the motherboard it starts right back up...if it were heat related, this wouldn't work as it would still have to cool down first. As for the thermal compound, unless this dissipates somehow, there's been enough there for a year before this started. I'm just wondering if a power supply can get 'magnetized' somehow and when I pull the plug it clears itself (just like a tv used to?)
In addition to cguan_77 suggestion.
But meanwhile. Test your front power switch button, maybe it was sticky or defective or having a bad wiring.
Test it by pulling off the 2 wire connector from the pin terminal on the motherboard. Power it up by momentarily shorting the two pins together on the motherboard. If it works, either the switch or its wiring is the culprit.
Maybe your 20 pin power connector on the motherboard or from the power supply is loose or not properly connected to each other. Try to push all the wires towards to the motherboard socket.
If it still doesn't work, do what cguan_77 said.
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