The PC has a mind of its own...

purplestar87

hi guys, hopefully some nice person on here can help me out

my little brother has a pc (esystems something) which is about 3 years old. last week it was running very very slow, then the other day it turned itself off while he was using it.

now when we turn it on it letS him log on with his password but as the screen is loading icons and stuff it just switches off and back on again :mad:

his mate suggested that we do a factory reset but apparantly that means we will lose all the saved stuff?? i dont use it anymore as i have a laptop but just remembered i have lots of photos stored on it that i really dont want to lose.

any suggestions as to what is causing this and how i could maybe fix it? sorry if i havent gave enough info to fully explain but just ask away and i'll answer.

thanks in advance

LeeSouthEast

Simple things first. Grab a cross-head screwdriver and take the case off. Give it a bloody good clean. It's possible the motherboard has detected a fan is running slower than instructed to, or not at all, and shuts itself off to prevent thermal shock. This then conflicts perhaps with a bios setting and it comes to life again, ad naseum.

Helpful link: Clean your PC.

AirCooledHeaven

Sounds like a faulty power supply or else its shutting itself down due to the cpu overheating. If you feel confident open the case, then switch it on and see if the fans are rotating, one over the cpu and one at the back of the power supply. Then post back. Cleaning is certainly a good idea once every six months but its unlikely to be the sole cause of your problem

andy2004

after cleaning the internals, dust build up is a killer, be careful when cleaning inside the case, best to use a makeup brush and a hoover,
use the brush to loosen the dust, with the head near to the brush head to suck up the dust. usually 2 screws to remove the side panel and then it should slide off.
Better yet, get your dad or uncle to clean it.
As with other people, you never put your Operating System and whether you have a service pack installed.
does it come up with a window saying anything about 60secs, if so that would be the blaster virus.
download Malwarebytes Antispyware, install, update and run a quick scan and post the log back here
it may have a vundo infection, but we wont be able to tell until you post the log.
If the computer still shuts down and reboots, try rebooting in safe mode, and if it doesn't turn off again, then something is running causing it to shutdown.

purplestar87

okay doaky, im gonna get my uncle to clean it as i dont feel to confident doing that myself lol.

the operating system?? xp if that what you mean?? and i dont know about service pack. nope it doesnt say anythin about 60secs, the start up is exactly the same as it always has been.

it already has malwarebytes on it im sure and avg, i asked my brother and he said that before this happened there was nothing about any virus on anythin that came up.

i'll report back tomoro once its been cleaned, but thanks for ur advice so far...hopefully that helps

DCFC79

purple star yes thats right, looks like xp is the OS, to find what service pack it is left click start > right click my computer > left click properties and what service is installed should be listed,

doing a factory reset is a very last resort imo,

purplestar87

hey, just bumping this thread back up lol

i got my uncle to open it and clean it out - jeez oh didnt realise how much dust gets in there :O

but its still doing the same thing - ive tried it lots of times, and realising that when i turn it on it stays on until the second i click on any of the personal icons (like each persons sign on bit for the passwords) and thats when it goes off

if i dont click anything it stays on for ages, so i dont understand if it was just overheating surely it would still cut off??

im not sure how to start in in safe mode or a factory reset so any guidance would be great ( bearing in mind im a bit pc illiterate lol)

tia

andy2004

boot into safe mode by pressing F8 and selecting SAFE MODE.
after its loaded, start / run / command.com then type in the command prompt window CHKDSK c: /F to run a check disk you will be asked if you want to do this at reboot select Y for yes. then wait. if it turns off again i would say there is some corruption on some of the files.