Help - PC overheating causing power off?

erb

My PC has started to suddenly go off as if the power has been switched off.

I think this may be due to it overheating as the top of the cabinet feels quite hot.

Can anyone confirm that overheating can cause the PC to switch off and if so what to do about it?

I have had the side off and checked the fan is working ok.

Thanks.

victor2

Could be caused by overheating, but equally could be totally unrelated.
Since you've had the side cover off, did you clean out any dust collected inside? A soft paintbrush will help remove any.
You could run it with the cover off and see if the problem goes away. If it does, there's a good chance it was heat related.

erb

Yes gave it a good clean out while the cover was off and I did get a lot of dust and fluff out but problem remains.

erb

Just to add, it happens more when the computer is working harder such as when playing games.

JJ_Egan

erb wrote: »

Just to add, it happens more when the computer is working harder such as when playing games.

Then thats a pointer to overheating .

Dust poor fans poor airflow > poor cpu fan or thermal paste on cpu .

Memory possible but you usually get a Blue Screen Of Death .

PSU failing is another possible .

Download and run Speedfan and monitor temps .

jje

Enterprise_1701C

Has it started since the warm weather arrived? My old laptop certainly used to shut down due to overheating, but at least I managed to keep it limping along with a cooling fan tray.

Any chance of installing a better fan, or perhaps moving it into a case with better cooling facilities?

spenderdave

Failure of the processor fan , NOT the PSU one, is a common cause of this problem.

asbokid

The CPU heatsink and fan may need re-seating. Don't leave it too long. I've burnt out a CPU by ignoring its dicky fan.

erb

victor2 wrote: »

You could run it with the cover off and see if the problem goes away. If it does, there's a good chance it was heat related.

Good call.

I ran it with the cover off last night and it ran ok.

So overheating appears to be the problem, now what to do to fix it.

Suggestions above are to get better fans. Is that the way to go now?

GunJack

first thing is to clean out properly (air duster, soft brush and hoover, pay attention to all nooks, crannies, and vents), and apply new heatsink compound (thermal paste) to the cpu. To do this you need to remove the cpu fan, apply a good dollop of paste, and reseat the fan onto the cpu.

Once you've done this, then run without side panel, and if ok, refit side and try again. SIW or speedfan will help monitor temperature.

erb

GunJack wrote: »

first thing is to clean out properly (air duster, soft brush and hoover, pay attention to all nooks, crannies, and vents), and apply new heatsink compound (thermal paste) to the cpu. To do this you need to remove the cpu fan, apply a good dollop of paste, and reseat the fan onto the cpu.

Once you've done this, then run without side panel, and if ok, refit side and try again. SIW or speedfan will help monitor temperature.

OK done the easy bit and given it a good clean out. However, I can only find one fan. The PC is an Acer Aspire X3810 and the fan I can see is a big one opposite the motherboard.

Will there be another fan as well or do some PCs just have one fan?