PC keeps shutting off (confirmed it is NOT power supply)

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nintendokid

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#1 nintendokid
Member since 2003 • 909 Posts
PC died. Here are the conditions: -when it dies, it doesn't just BOOM, shut off. It actually gives you a "Windows now shutting down" as if you manually go to shut down -once it dies, turning it back on causes a on-off-on-off-on-off crazy cycle at the black boot up screen -if I leave it untouched and off, every few minutes it comes on by itself! What the!!???!! -eventually, it will refuse to turn on at all as if it is not plugged in -if I leave it alone for a day or so, it goes back to normal. It'll work for an hour or so and then randomly, "Windows now shutting down". -CPU fan still work. Everything works like normal. It seems like something is overheating. If I leave it alone to rest, it'll work again and once it gets a little hot, it does the dying cycle. This leads me to believe that it is not a virus because if it was a virus, I wouldn't be able to use it at all for any amount of time. It is not the power supply because I already tried a different one and same thing happened. What do you think it could be? CPU fan clogging up? Needs new thermal compound? If a CPU is overheating, would it know how to shutdown like what is happening to me? (by the way, it's a super cheap 2001-era PC so if it dies, I don't care. But it would be great to have it running again just to type and surf net)
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RayvinAzn

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#2 RayvinAzn
Member since 2004 • 12552 Posts
If it's 7 years old, it might just be dying a natural death. Components go bad over time, it might just be that computer's time to go.
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BobC

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#3 BobC
Member since 2003 • 6259 Posts
If it's not the PSU, then it's bad RAM or the motherboard's gone kaput (or a component of the mobo...like fan over the northbridge chip)
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teddyrob

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#4 teddyrob
Member since 2004 • 4557 Posts

Either you have got a dodgy power switch/button or your motherboard is on the way out.