Computer closing down

[JesseJ1935]

Since my computer has gone belly up I have been using my wife's, she only uses it to play games on for a couple of hours a day anyhow. As such I don't know how long it has had this problem, simply because she never has it on long enough.

After it has been runing for 2 to 3 hours it suddenly closes down. By that I mean the monitor goes off, so does the activity light, all that is left is the green light. All I can do is hold the power button in to switch off, wait a little while then switch back on again. Everything will be alright then for a while.

The only thing I can think of is that it is possibly overheating, but nothing seems hot, or even very warm so maybe not.

Any ideas/suggestions please? They will, as always, be greatly appreciated.

[-pops-]

Does it turn itself off when it's being used or when it's just sitting there? If the latter, it could be the power saving mode coming into operation.

If it is overheating, note that there doesn't need to be an overall high temperature in the computer, just a short term localised overheat on the CPU to cause it to shut down. This wouldn't necessarily be noticed in the "greater scheme of things" in the computer case.

Are there any messages in the Event Viewer that could indicate the problem?

[JesseJ1935]

Hi pops,

There is nothing in the Event Viewer to give any indication, except for two entries marked 'error' Win 32 Time, event 29. But I'm not sure if the time shown is the same time that it turned off, it was somewhere close but I can't be certain. Next time it does it then I'll note the time and have another look. It has always done it when I have been in the middle of doing something so I wouldn't think it has anything to do with the power saving mode, in any case I've got all them set to 'never'.

[-pops-]

You should be able to click on the error report in Event Viewer and get more details about it.

I don't think Win32 time would cause this, though.

[JesseJ1935]

Hi pops

Been through the event viewer and can't find anything in particular, one problem is that I can't remember the time exactly, and the way everything is listed I would need to know the exact time.

I'll just have to wait for it to happen again, make a note of the time then look it up.

[cozofdeath]

There are no screens or pop ups that show before the shutdown? Getting a motherboard monitor/diagnostic program may help especially to monitor heat. You may want to check your fans also to make sure there all working, remember the one in the power supply. And when you start the computer if you enter the bios and leave it there, say overnight, if you wake up and its still there its either Windows, malware or overheating do to processor intensive applications. That should will eliminate other hardware problems. Hope something here helps.

[JesseJ1935]

Many thanks cozofdeath, I'll have a look at what you suggest and see what turns up. There has been no warning at all, no pop ups; no error messages on screen, just shuts down. Since posting the problem it has been behaving itself, but then, I haven't been using it quite as much which could also explain why it has been behaving.