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Had kind of a scare earlier today; I had started my computer and had
been online just a few minutes when it suddenly shut itself down, just
OFF. The only thing I had noticed was a slight harmonic waver from the
fans that I'd heard before.

I sprayed the case out back with canned air, but it was clean.
Connections on the motherboard were secure, and the motherboard, memory,
and video card were new two years ago.

For now, things seem ok, but anybody know why the system would just shut
itself off like that? I hope this motherboard doesn't have capacitor
problems like the one it replaced.

Thanks,
JPM

Here are some specs:
MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum mobo
512 MB Crucial 3200 RAM
ATI Radeon 8500 Video
Windows 98SE
Spybot, AdAware, AVG, SBlaster

DemoDisk wrote:
> Had kind of a scare earlier today; I had started my computer and had
> been online just a few minutes when it suddenly shut itself down, just
> OFF. The only thing I had noticed was a slight harmonic waver from the
> fans that I'd heard before.
>
> I sprayed the case out back with canned air, but it was clean.
> Connections on the motherboard were secure, and the motherboard, memory,
> and video card were new two years ago.
>
> For now, things seem ok, but anybody know why the system would just shut
> itself off like that? I hope this motherboard doesn't have capacitor
> problems like the one it replaced.
>
> Thanks,
> JPM
>
> Here are some specs:
> MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum mobo
> 512 MB Crucial 3200 RAM
> ATI Radeon 8500 Video
> Windows 98SE
> Spybot, AdAware, AVG, SBlaster
>
>
You might want to swap in a new power supply...

"DemoDisk" <> wrote:

>Had kind of a scare earlier today; I had started my computer and had
>been online just a few minutes when it suddenly shut itself down, just
>OFF. The only thing I had noticed was a slight harmonic waver from the
>fans that I'd heard before.
>
>I sprayed the case out back with canned air, but it was clean.
>Connections on the motherboard were secure, and the motherboard, memory,
>and video card were new two years ago.
>
>For now, things seem ok, but anybody know why the system would just shut
>itself off like that? I hope this motherboard doesn't have capacitor
>problems like the one it replaced.
>
>Thanks,
>JPM
>
>Here are some specs:
>MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum mobo
>512 MB Crucial 3200 RAM
>ATI Radeon 8500 Video
>Windows 98SE
>Spybot, AdAware, AVG, SBlaster
>

If you don't have a UPS supplying power to the computer, you might
consider picking one up.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uninter...e_power_supply


--

http://www.onahorse.com/

"GE" <> wrote ...

> You might want to swap in a new power supply...

Thanks, GE, I could test it with a spare I have. I forgot to mention
the PS is a new Antec 350W that I got after the old Abit mobo system
wouldn't boot.

JPM

"DemoDisk" <> wrote in message
news:...
> Had kind of a scare earlier today; I had started my computer and had
> been online just a few minutes when it suddenly shut itself down, just
> OFF. The only thing I had noticed was a slight harmonic waver from
> the
> fans that I'd heard before.
>
> I sprayed the case out back with canned air, but it was clean.

So how is moving the dust INTO the computer case a good thing? You WILL
have to remove the side panel to blow out the dust from inside the case
and out through the PSU and case fans.

> Connections on the motherboard were secure, and the motherboard,
> memory,
> and video card were new two years ago.
>
> For now, things seem ok, but anybody know why the system would just
> shut
> itself off like that?

So you want remote analysis of a one-time power loss? Okay, here goes:
- The heatsink fell off the CPU.
- The PSU is dying and can no longer handle the current amperage load.
- There was a brownout sufficiently low and long enough to trigger the
PSU to power off.
- A fan is getting worn and no longer spins at a minimal RPM so the BIOS
decided the component was at risk and powered off the system.
- A cockroach got snagged in the CPU fan which meant its RPM went to
zero so the BIOS powered off the system.
- You were petting the dry furry cat and then decided to go poking your
static charged fingers inside the case.
- You've blown the dust back INSIDE the case until there is now a
blanket of dust over various components which acts like a heat insulator
but keeps the heat in instead of out.
- You leave the system unit on the floor on the carpet and has the same
problem with lint as just mentioned regarding dust.
- You smoke and the system unit is just a foot away.
- Someone else in the family spilled a drink sitting atop the system
unit, wiped up the external mess, and never said a thing to you.
- The kids installed some covert software trying to steal your passwords
and that software is crap, or you or them installed some warez
crackedware (and got what you deserve).
- A gamma ray struck your memory which scrambled the state of more than
2 bits.
- A capacitor, rectifier, or diode blew.
- A solder flake or piece of snipped off part lead that has been resting
against a couple of pins on a chip finally broke through the oxide layer
and shorted out those pins. And blowing out the mobo and cards might've
gotten rid of it or just moved it elsewhere inside.
- The flash drive you were using for paging file space went bad so all
the pages saved there by the OS and apps was lost which caused corrupted
execution of code.
- The power switch on the case is flaky; i.e., it can short its contacts
because of a broken spring or metal loop, and you slammed down that cup
of coffee onto the desk that jarred the defective power switch.

Almost impossible to diagnose a one-time event that doesn't result in
catastrophic failure to provide a state that still exists to look at.

<> wrote in message
news:...

> If you don't have a UPS supplying power to the computer, you might
> consider picking one up.
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uninter...e_power_supply

Heh. Yeah, could've been a simple power blip. But after I posted here,
I attempted to restart Windows and got scare #2. It shut down instead
and would not complete the reboot. For now, it seems okay. Thanks,
Pennywise.

I had a computer on my workbench last week with this problem. It turned
out to be the old thermal grease was toast. "New thermal grease(Artic
Silver) on the heatsink & processor" was the Rx.

That stopped the weirdness. Heat makes the computer do weird things.
YNNV.....;o)

"DemoDisk" <> wrote
news::

> Had kind of a scare earlier today; I had started my computer and had
> been online just a few minutes when it suddenly shut itself down, just
> OFF. The only thing I had noticed was a slight harmonic waver from the
> fans that I'd heard before.
>
> I sprayed the case out back with canned air, but it was clean.
> Connections on the motherboard were secure, and the motherboard, memory,
> and video card were new two years ago.
>
> For now, things seem ok, but anybody know why the system would just shut
> itself off like that? I hope this motherboard doesn't have capacitor
> problems like the one it replaced.
>
> Thanks,
> JPM
>
> Here are some specs:
> MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum mobo
> 512 MB Crucial 3200 RAM
> ATI Radeon 8500 Video
> Windows 98SE
> Spybot, AdAware, AVG, SBlaster

--
@}-}--}------Rosee http://www.cangogh.net/pix.html
www.givemeals.com www.freedonation.com www.hungersite.com
"This (TINT) is whatever I want it to be you bigfooted
belligerent bowlegged babblative babuina."~Zigi~

"@}-}-------Rosee" <!!GigAntiCBoSomS!!@Nip..com> wrote in message
news:Xns9916A5C225DEroseeneener@216.196.97.140...
> I had a computer on my workbench last week with this problem. It
turned
> out to be the old thermal grease was toast. "New thermal grease(Artic
> Silver) on the heatsink & processor" was the Rx.
>
> That stopped the weirdness. Heat makes the computer do weird things.
> YNNV.....;o)

Hi, Rosee; thanks. My apologies for the late response, but the damn
thing refused to power up after I last shut down Tuesday.

When I upgraded the motherboard (the capacitors on the Abit BM6 mobo
went bad) I made sure the new processor had Arctic Silver.

Why the system's working now is anyone's guess. It seems okay this
afternoon (Uptime: 0:02:29:29), but all I did was unplug a small TV from
the Curtis power strip and re-re-seat the power cord in the PSU. I don't
think that qualifies as expert service.

When the PSU didn't immediately power off, I scanned for errors in safe
mode and restarted. Coming out of Safe Mode, all I got was a small,
squashed Windows logo followed by a blank screen. I've seen that beforfe
recently and suspect vid trouble. Windows never loaded and Ctrl, Alt,
Del did nothing.

Then I hit reset and it booted normally, like nothing was wrong. Just in
case it craps out again and I can't get back here soon, thanks for your
help.

JPM

"DemoDisk" <> wrote
news::

> "@}-}-------Rosee" wrote...
>> I had a computer on my workbench last week with this problem. It
>> turned out to be the old thermal grease was toast. "New thermal
>> grease(Artic Silver) on the heatsink & processor" was the Rx.
>>
>> That stopped the weirdness. Heat makes the computer do weird things.
>> YNNV.....;o)

> Hi, Rosee; thanks. My apologies for the late response, but the damn
> thing refused to power up after I last shut down Tuesday.

Bad switch, bad powersupply, failing component like a bad CD-Rom/RW/DVD,
or a cooling fan with a bad connecion, that would interrupt stable,
continuous voltage to all peripheals.

> When I upgraded the motherboard (the capacitors on the Abit BM6 mobo
> went bad) I made sure the new processor had Arctic Silver.
>
> Why the system's working now is anyone's guess. It seems okay this
> afternoon (Uptime: 0:02:29:29), but all I did was unplug a small TV
> from the Curtis power strip and re-re-seat the power cord in the PSU.
> I don't think that qualifies as expert service.
>
> When the PSU didn't immediately power off, I scanned for errors in
> safe mode and restarted. Coming out of Safe Mode, all I got was a
> small, squashed Windows logo followed by a blank screen. I've seen
> that beforfe recently and suspect vid trouble. Windows never loaded
> and Ctrl, Alt, Del did nothing.

I ass-u-me you have an extra fan on the video card for cooling....;o/

Have you looked at a logged boot record to maybe distinguish what is
failing to boot, and then start with that?

Or...maybe one of your hard drives is failing to spin up on the first
pass and needs the extra time to finally engage and start spinning. Do
you have S.M.A.R.T. enabled? 0000OOOOoooooo....I think I would back up
that drive....;o\

> Then I hit reset and it booted normally, like nothing was wrong. Just
> in case it craps out again and I can't get back here soon, thanks for
> your help.
>
> JPM

--
@}-}--}------Rosee http://www.cangogh.net/pix.html
www.givemeals.com www.freedonation.com www.hungersite.com
"This (TINT) is whatever I want it to be you bigfooted
belligerent bowlegged babblative babuina."~Zigi~