My PC randomly turns off

James Martin · Sun 20 Jun, 2004 23.08

My laptop PC is randomly turning itself off with no warning or anything. Any ideas why?

Martin · Mon 21 Jun, 2004 00.04

You don't have any modems connected as a Local Area Network?

James Martin · Mon 21 Jun, 2004 01.55

Hmm... was doing it whilst connected to the Cov Uni LAN then stopped. Until I connected it up to the home broadband tonight!

Did it each time I ran Spybot, mid-search.

Also did it while playing Eradicator (don't laugh, was feeling nostalgic!) earlier too.

Dr Lobster* · Mon 21 Jun, 2004 14.48

Is it a hard or soft turn off? in other words, is it Windows shutting inself down, or does it appear like the power source or battery has been ripped out?

My laptop does this sometimes and it is the battery. Does it do it when it's plugged into the mains?

Neil Jones · Mon 21 Jun, 2004 17.45

Any error messages (STOP errors or such like) assuming a Windows problem?

If it reboots suddenly for no apparent reason then turn off auto restart - My Computer --> Properties -->Advanced --> Startup and Recovery (settings button) --> untick "Automatically restart". Should allow you to see any STOP errors that may be occuring.

James Martin · Mon 21 Jun, 2004 23.47

It's a hard turnoff. It's like running a mains source when a power cut happens. No warning whatsoever.

Siggy - yes it does it when plugged into the mains, which it is most of the time. Rarely do I not have the PC plugged in to mains.

DAS · Tue 22 Jun, 2004 01.34

It's not that wonderful virus that was going round a few months back is it? The one that makes your PC reset when it feels like it?

Chris · Tue 22 Jun, 2004 01.44

DAS wrote:It's not that wonderful virus that was going round a few months back is it? The one that makes your PC reset when it feels like it?

That one just reboots your machine IIRC but does not shut it down.

@JM - have you checked that your laptop isn't getting too hot? Or if you have a dodgy transformer?

James Martin · Tue 22 Jun, 2004 10.33

DAS wrote:It's not that wonderful virus that was going round a few months back is it? The one that makes your PC reset when it feels like it?

No that ain't it... I did have that though - it rebooted just as it got into Windows IIRC.

SteveL · Fri 25 Jun, 2004 00.46

I've heard getting cake mix worked into the keyboard doesn't do computers too much good. Perhaps you'd like to consider that next time you're stumbling about at 4am making a Jane Asher fudge cake, after cottaging with the Cov Klub for 12 hours solid.

Square Eyes · Fri 25 Jun, 2004 00.49

Flava wrote:My laptop PC is randomly turning itself off with no warning or anything. Any ideas why?

Shame it doesn't appear to be having this problem this evening.