PC turns itself off

TerryTibbs_3

My pc seems to have developed a strange problem - every evening it switches off automatically (without shutting down) and then the power/disk lights flash on/off continuously without booting up.

Any ideas?
Many thanks

espresso

Does it always switch off after a certain period of time? Sounds like it may be overheating. Depending on the time period, you may be able to monitor the temperature with an app like PCwizard and see it slowly rise before switch off. If it is due to overheating you would need to check for dust etc. inside and clean.

TerryTibbs_3

Thanks espresso.
It seems to be doing it around the same time every night (usually when I haven't used it). I'd be really surprised if it was overheating as it usually happens when its been idle for a couple of hours - where as e.g. I can play a game now (to get it nice and hot) and nothing happens.

espresso

Have you looked a the Power Options in Control Panel? Don't know why the power/disk lights flash on/off continuously though.

TerryTibbs_3

The power options are just the same as they have always been - I only switch monitor off after 10 mins, otherwise there is no powersaving.

Its some kind of hardware issue because it isn't a shutdown. The Pc just switches off instantly then hangs in a lights flashing on/off state. The only thing to do is switch it off then back on and then its fine.

espresso

Strange if it is hanging when idle, perhaps someone else may have some ideas for you.

spud17

Don't know if it's any help, but if I put my PC into hibernate the power/disk light blinks continuously until you awake by using the on/off button.

If this is occurring at the same time each evening, could there be something like a time switch be clicking "on" and somehow the interference/voltage drop be triggering a hibernation.

When you switch it back on, does it reboot fully or go to a screen with black/white bars and windows reloading message?

TerryTibbs_3

Its not hibernate - don't have hibernate activated. Its not exactly the same time every evening - just roughly. When I switch it back on windows reloads normally and any progs I had open at the time - e.g. firefox will have a "session crashed" message.

The blinking lights look like a motherboard-type issue which makes me suspect its hardware.

TerryTibbs_3

Happened again last night.
presumably its some kind of power issue - but I have no idea whats causing it.

Any ideas?

Cerro

That sounds exactly like hibernation/sleep mode - though I don't know of any option to set a timer for it go into hibernation and its definately not in the power options menu...

You can "wake" your computer by pressing spacebar usually - if that doesn't work then it could be a virus or some other nasty which has changed a setting somewhere.

PZH

TerryTibbs wrote: »

Its some kind of hardware issue because it isn't a shutdown. The Pc just switches off instantly then hangs in a lights flashing on/off state. The only thing to do is switch it off then back on and then its fine.

Turn off the automatic restart. ( Assuming its XP )

Right Click on "My Computer" on the desktop and select "Properties"

Select the "Advanced" tab.

Click "Settings" for "Startup and Recovery".

Deselect "Automatically Restart" in the "System Failure" box.

Hopefully this should generate a BSOD ( Blue screen of death ) and give you an error message with a "Stop Error" number next time it happens. This may give an indication as to the cause ( although they are difficult to pin down - good old microsoft )