flycatchers Posted May 12, 2011 Report Share Posted May 12, 2011 Hi, I have a 5 year old Dell with XP installed. It was fine till Monday when it powered down on bootup twice! Third time it booted ok and ran without issue the rest of the day. Tuesday & Wednesday fine. Today it booted up and them shut down and rebooted again. I went into safe mode and them back into windows and ran scan disc. No major issues shown. But them I got a blue windows stop screen where it closes windows. The screen mentioned possible issues with new hardware or software/drivers. I have not added any new hardware or software for a couple of years now. Any areas I should look at? Or is it just telling me time to buy a new computer!! cheers bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BenScoobert Posted May 12, 2011 Report Share Posted May 12, 2011 Initially I'd say overheating, but as it ran well the rest of the day, it may be the power supply on the way out, after a couple of reboots they seem to work better when they are on the way out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flycatchers Posted May 13, 2011 Author Report Share Posted May 13, 2011 Hi, The PSU sounds like a strong possible reason. Today it took far longer to boot up. It kept on either switching off or rebooting before or as it loaded windows. It also shut down while in safe mode. Plus the fan (main one at the front I think) started to make really loud whossing sounds just before it shut off. And I mean load sounds!! I thought the computer was about to take off!! Currently after many more attempts I am back in windows and fan noise normal. I would imagine if the problem lay with the MB/CPU/memory or harddrive it would not settle down until switched off and left? The PSU might as you say be the source.. bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BenScoobert Posted May 13, 2011 Report Share Posted May 13, 2011 Hi, The PSU sounds like a strong possible reason. Today it took far longer to boot up. It kept on either switching off or rebooting before or as it loaded windows. It also shut down while in safe mode. Plus the fan (main one at the front I think) started to make really loud whossing sounds just before it shut off. And I mean load sounds!! I thought the computer was about to take off!! Currently after many more attempts I am back in windows and fan noise normal. I would imagine if the problem lay with the MB/CPU/memory or harddrive it would not settle down until switched off and left? The PSU might as you say be the source.. bill I'd put money on it, you'll probably find as a temporary measure just putting your PC to sleep rather than off will help. In my opinion the PSU is the most overlooked component, it powers everything and can take everything with it when it pops. Quite easy to replace too, you can't plug the wrong things in the wrong holes as they are all different sizes. Just amke sure you get one with higher or same wattage and a good branded one. A cheap one may be warranted but the warranty doesn't cover what it fries as it says goodbye. I use this http://www.cclonline.com/product/35846/TP-650-GB/Power-Supplies/650W-Antec-TruePower-TP-650-Power-Supply/PSU4015/ been very reliable for me but not cheap this one http://www.cclonline.com/product/18268/0761345-06501-6/Power-Supplies/500W-Antec-BP500U-Basiq-Power-Supply/PSU1030/ has a decent review here http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/Antec-Basiq-BP500U-Power-Supply-Review/792/10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul73 Posted May 13, 2011 Report Share Posted May 13, 2011 I had a similar problem last year. It was the psu but I left it too late. It popped and took the hard drive with it. I lost a lot of irreplacable photos So I'd start backing if I was you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dianne Salter Posted May 13, 2011 Report Share Posted May 13, 2011 Our daughters Dell did the same sort of thing earlier this year. One minute it was working fine, the next it would not load up and kept shutting itself back down. Now the laptop will not boot up at all. Now she keeps kicking me off my laptop to play on games on facebook!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantom Posted May 13, 2011 Report Share Posted May 13, 2011 I was brought a 3 year old DELL computer to look at 2 days ago, with exactly the same problems. Had already thought it was going to be the power pack......but was really surprised when I pulled the side off to see it only had a 165 watt power supply. For a computer of that spec it should have had at least 350 watts minimum inside !!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BenScoobert Posted May 13, 2011 Report Share Posted May 13, 2011 (edited) Our daughters Dell did the same sort of thing earlier this year. One minute it was working fine, the next it would not load up and kept shutting itself back down. Now the laptop will not boot up at all. Now she keeps kicking me off my laptop to play on games on facebook!!! Laptops are prone to overheating, usually only need a good clean, just undo a few screws on the bottom and look for something that look like a mini radiator, probably all gunked up with fluff Edited May 13, 2011 by BenScoobert Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel G Posted May 14, 2011 Report Share Posted May 14, 2011 Our laptops over heated, and started smoking, nearly burst into flames! So get dusting up! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel G Posted May 14, 2011 Report Share Posted May 14, 2011 (edited) Our laptop over heated, and started smoking, nearly burst into flames! So get dusting up! Edited May 14, 2011 by Daniel G Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardenofeden Posted May 14, 2011 Report Share Posted May 14, 2011 Our daughters Dell did the same sort of thing earlier this year. One minute it was working fine, the next it would not load up and kept shutting itself back down. Now the laptop will not boot up at all. ours did that recently, turned out one of the usb sockets had been damaged with the contacts shorting out, bent them back and it was fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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