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WinXP PC suddenly shuts down

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by jonathan.prater

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Twice this afternoon, my wife's computer has suddenly, without warning, shut itself off. My wife was not doing anything unusual on the computer, just searching something on the internet. After she turned it on right after getting home from work, it stayed on about 2 or 3 hrs, then shut off. After she rebooted, it stayed on 20 or 30 minutes then shut off again.
The computer is a Compaq running WinXP SP2.
We know it wasn't a brownout in either case because nothing else flickered in the house, and the second time it happened, my computer was on and didn't shut off. What else could cause this? My guess is the puter itself is too hot, but the air around it is no warmer than the rest of the room (which is about 85 deg F). Could it still be that, or does anyone have any other suggestions?

3 replies

by travler92

Could be the CPU fan or a lose heat sync. With the pc turned off remoce the case and locate the cpu fan, check to see if the heat sync is sitting correctly on the cpu, power on and see if the fan is working. If not check to see if the fans power supply is connected securily. If it is ou will need to replace the fan.
If the heat sync is not sitting correctly it will have to be refixed in place with the correct bonding agent, you can get this from your local computer store.
If the fan needs to be replaced them remove it and bring it to your loca PC store for replacement. Bothe are straight forward fixes and can be done by anyone.

Good Luck

by jmgarvin

You have a problem with over heating more than likely. Did any of your fans die? Is the CPU fan running? How's the power supply? Case fans?

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