solman98

Having a wierd problem on my system at home. Started Sunday morning. I went to power it up and it just shut down. I usually hit the PC power, then do other things and then turn the monitor on, log in, and go. When I went back, I noticed it was not on. So I turned the monitor on and hit the power again. It went to a screen asking if I wanted to boot normally or go into repair mode. I went into repair mode and then restored to a previous point. It all started up except my antivirus was not running. So I reinstalled that. Everything went normal the rest of the day. Even rebooted a couple of times to see if it was fine, everything went ok.

Then Monday morning, the same thing happened. So I went through everything again. Later that day we took my daughter to see a movie. So I shut down the system. When we came back later, It all powered up as it should. Well, this morning, the wife calls me and says it did the same thing. I'm thinking tonight I will put the Win 7 disk back in and have it run the fix mode and see if that fixes what ever this is. I ran CClean and that looked good. I also ran SpyBot and that went good. I have noticed that the cooling fan seem's to run more with the antivirus running a complete system check. Not sure if that is a problem, don't see how it could be, it's been doing that for a while.

Looking for thoughts on what might be causing this. I'm thinking a file just got messed up in the boot directory.

BlackknighT

How old is the PC?
Is there a fan inside the power supply & is it working?
When was the last time you took the PC case apart and air sprayed out the dust. You would be suprised at what gets sucked in there. The computer could be overheating and shutting itself down. After everything is cleaned out smell the power supply-is it starting to fry?

Greybeard999

It could be several things going on there, messed up boot directory could be one of them. Have you ever had it cleaned? Dust causes overheating and the way you describe the fan running full speed has me wondering about that. Loose cables comes to mind too..... Checking all the cables and cleaning could bring it back to normal operation, I would do that before reinstalling Windows.

solman98

I've had the case opened several times, but can't remember when the last time was. ONly a few month's ago when I put in a new video card. I am starting to think maybe a power supply is failing. The machine is less than 3 years old, but been up graded some since then. But still the same power supply. It's an emachine (I know I know) and I remember hearing they had power supply issues. I wish I had the model number with me.

BlackknighT

You should check the rating sticker on the power supply. Could be that it is a 300w standard power supply and the new card you installed is making it push harder than it should. Check the mini fan mounted to the chipset. If the video card is throwing off too much heat it could be causing a problem with the chip-also check that there is no dust stuck between the cooling fins that are mounted to the chip.

solman98

I took that card back out. It didn't give the function I wanted to connect to my TV so I went with a USB type instead. But with the fan running hard at times, I'm thinking that is the problem and just having problems on cold starts, maybe I need to install a choke....

WHen the anitvirus is running, you can hear the fan running at random speeds. At least that is when I notice it the most.

Maybe I should just upgrade the power supply to something like this?
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Dynex%26...&skuId=8311052

Not a gamer or anything like that.

Greybeard999

Well, at least with a Emachines you can use standard replacement hardware...... such as the power supply. Which new video card did you install? One of the power hungry models?

Greybeard999

You can find a better PSU at newegg...... Don't scrimp on the power supply.

solman98

I don't remember which one, it did have it's own built in cooling fan though. But I took it out the same day since it didn't give the results I wanted when I ran the picture to my TV, resolution was off. I could get the same reults with the USB model and went that route to get back that card slot. I still have the card in the box at home.

Greybeard999

Okay...... that card was probably coincidence, or you could have jiggled a cable while you were in there.

I would still clean and check all the cables first....... then think about a PSU (power supply unit) If you do get a new PSU get a well known brand (Antec is my brand of choice, but Corsair, OCZ, Thermaltake, are also good brands) I never heard of the one you linked to, so wouldn't trust it myself. This would be a better choice...... http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817371029