Hot on the heels of my other computer problem, my trusty old desktop of 13 years has encountered the problem where it shuts off , leaving the power on light blinking, and after restart it shuts off again. In BIOS mode it works fine, but when I try to boot up Windows it will make it into startup, then quit, or it won't even make it past the Windows loading screen.
Tried blowing the dust out of the CPU heatsink and power supply and it still does it.
I left the case open and when it shut off I felt the heatsink and it was barely warm. The furthest it got was about 8 mins in, but once the CPU got into the 60-70% use range it quit.
To verify that the basic computer hardware is stable boot into the BIOS. Can you check basic things like voltages and temperatures there? If it stays running then leave it on for 30 minutes to see how it does.
If it survived that the easiest thing to do next is to reinstall Windows, hardware drivers, and other software on it. I know this will take time but it will save a lot of grief trying to figure out what may be wrong.
If you can get it running and into Windows you can try some stress tests to see if it is stable under load.
Important, make sure you back up any personal data on the computer if you decide to reinstall or you will lose them.
BTW, I have this really old desktop computer I build in in 2002. It has been upgraded a few times. I originally had Windows XP Pro on it but upgraded it to Windows 7 Home because Windows XP is not a viable option to run on the Internet now days.
Original Configuration:
MBD: ASUS A7N8X Deluxe
CPU: AMD Athlon XP 2800+
CPU Cooler: TaiSol CGK760172
RAM: Corsair CMX512-2700C2 (2x512MB) RAM
GPU: PNY Verto GeForce ti4600
FDD: 3-1/2: Floppy
HDD: Maxtor 80GB (IDE)
CDW: Lite On LTR48246S
DVD: Memorex Dual-X DVD/RW (4X)
PWR: Antec SL400
Cards: USR 3CP5610A modem
Case: CompUSA #293598 PC Case (SuperFlower SF201BK)
O/S: Windows XP Professional
Current Configuration:
MBD: ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe
CPU: AMD Athlon XP 2800+
CPU Cooler: Zalman CNPS7000A-Cu
RAM: Corsair CMC2GX1M2A400C3 (2x1GB)
GPU: PNY Verto GeForce FX5900
FDD: 3-1/2: Floppy
HDD: Maxtor 80GB (IDE)
HDD: WDC 40GB (IDE)
DVD: Memorex 16X-DDL-IN DVD/RW (16X)
PWR: Antec SL400
Cards: Linksys WMP54G Wireless-G PCI Adapter
Case: SystemMax Mid-Tower Case
O/S: Windows 7 Home Premium
To verify that the basic computer hardware is stable boot into the BIOS. Can you check basic things like voltages and temperatures there? If it stays running then leave it on for 30 minutes to see how it does.
If it survived that the easiest thing to do next is to reinstall Windows, hardware drivers, and other software on it. I know this will take time but it will save a lot of grief trying to figure out what may be wrong.
If you can get it running and into Windows you can try some stress tests to see if it is stable under load.
Important, make sure you back up any personal data on the computer if you decide to reinstall or you will lose them.
BTW, I have this really old desktop computer I build in in 2002. It has been upgraded a few times. I originally had Windows XP Pro on it but upgraded it to Windows 7 Home because Windows XP is not a viable option to run on the Internet now days.
I had it running in BIOS for maybe 20 mins looking at stuff and there was no problem. Windows starts fine now. It doesn't quit until the CPU gets above 70% usage during the loading of programs (I have a monitor that shows CPU and memory usage). Again the CPU's heatsink was barely warm when I felt it after it happened. I no longer use the computer for browsing (except for a couple of brief instances. Though I hadn't used it in over 2 weeks. It's just been running at idle).
Will not upgrade it to 7 (I doubt I could even reinstall it because Microsoft no longer has the service packs and that one security update they released for it after XP support ended).
I think it's the CPU because one peeve it had was when Avast behavior shield was on, the CPU would run at 50-70% consistently even at idle. With the shield off there was hardly any usage at idle, so I'm thinking it's damaged from running that high for so long.
The Cpu heatsink being cool could actually mean it's not working well because the heat is not going into it. I would remove it and renew the thermal paste (it probably needs renewing anyway if it's original).
Some other things you could try is to use programs to show CPU usage and test RAM.
I use Core temp to show CPU usage and temperature.
It does work in Windows XP and supports all Athlon 64 X2 CPUs.
It will show what speed the CPU is running at and the temperature. The speed will vary with the load.
Well I took the heatsink off, and the old paste was powder, so I cleaned it and put new on and tried it. During the boot processes the CPU hit 100% a couple times, but the computer didn't shut off. That may have been the problem.
Well I guess not. It worked for a bit, but just now I tried opening a program and down it went, which is strange because another one I opened had no problems. Could the CPU itself be on the way out?
Well the local computer guy suggested trying a new power supply, so I installed the one I got for my new desktop build (but wasn't enough watts for it), and it seems to have fixed the problem. We'll see what happens.
How do you know the power supply doesn't have enough watts? A good 400 watt power supply should be enough. Of course, if you get a cheap noname or poorly made power supply then its a gamble.
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