I have a computer that I built awhile ago which now seems to randomly shut off. First it makes a noise trough the PC speaker which reminds me of when I was young and playing with hotwheels. It sounds like a siren noise we would make. Either that or something from the Atari days. After a second or two of the audible alarm the machine simply shuts down. It will boot right back up and in some cases be fine or some cases shut off as soon as it gets to loading xp. At first i thought heat but it has happened within the first minute or two of booting up after having been off all night so i honestly don't think its heat. A virus crossed my mind...anyone heard of a virus that does this?
Computer randomly shuts off
- Thread starter CraigLC
- Start date
Buck
Storage? I am Storage!
It's possible that the problem is related to viruses, but more than likely it is hardware. If you need to test with an anti-virus software, I would recommend removing your drive, installing it in another system for the scan, and using NOD32.
For the hardware side of things, check to see if you have any bulging and/or leaking capacitors. Run a memory test with Memtest86. When it comes to hardware, it could be a variety of things, so you will need to go through a process of elimination. Also, I've seen this issue with USB 2.0 devices hooked up to USB 1.1 ports, if possible, make sure you have the latest patches and updates. Check Device Manager and the Event Viewer for any errors.
For the hardware side of things, check to see if you have any bulging and/or leaking capacitors. Run a memory test with Memtest86. When it comes to hardware, it could be a variety of things, so you will need to go through a process of elimination. Also, I've seen this issue with USB 2.0 devices hooked up to USB 1.1 ports, if possible, make sure you have the latest patches and updates. Check Device Manager and the Event Viewer for any errors.
Thanks for your insight Buck. I checked the event viewer in XP to see if maybe something was hitting a brick wall and registerring before it died but I dont see anything out of the ordinary....any chance this rules out the USB idea? I do have two USB printers and at least one is a 2.0 and I think both might be.
A shutdown problem that is preceeded by a noise -- Sounds like a failed fan to me. There are only 4 fan's inside a machine that can cause this: CPU, chipset, power-supply, and video card. ID the one and replace it...
The other alternative is that you actually have an alarm going off (Fan, voltage, or temp). The difference between the above fan issue and this alarm issue is that this sound will actually come from the computers speaker. To solve intermittant alarms you should install a motherboard monitor program that logs events and wait for the computer to fail so you can easily identify the exact problem. Your BIOS may actually log such events in CMOS setup and if so then you can look there directly.
While theoreticly possible it is a virus, it would be extremely unlikely to cause such a problem. Much more likely that you have an intermittant hardware failure.
The other alternative is that you actually have an alarm going off (Fan, voltage, or temp). The difference between the above fan issue and this alarm issue is that this sound will actually come from the computers speaker. To solve intermittant alarms you should install a motherboard monitor program that logs events and wait for the computer to fail so you can easily identify the exact problem. Your BIOS may actually log such events in CMOS setup and if so then you can look there directly.
While theoreticly possible it is a virus, it would be extremely unlikely to cause such a problem. Much more likely that you have an intermittant hardware failure.
Buck
Storage? I am Storage!
Craig, hard drives can also make sounds like a "laser beam" or a siren. If you've never heard it or seen it, you would be surprised that such a noise came from a hard drive.
I'd recommend turning on the system and go into the BIOS. There might be a system monitor in there somewhere to watch fan speeds and temps. Watch to see if the temps climb fast, and let us know how hot it is running (and which CPU you have). Have you recently moved the system? Maybe the HSF dislodged somehow. Or as others have said, maybe a fan has died.
If those turn out fine, can you boot it into safe-mode? Does the system run OK in this mode for extended times?
If those turn out fine, can you boot it into safe-mode? Does the system run OK in this mode for extended times?
time
Storage? I am Storage!
If the CPU cooler has become slightly dislodged (or perhaps the thermal transfer compound has dried out?), the CPU can easily overheat within this time. However, I'm guessing you can still use the computer for extended periods?
I've never heard a BIOS alarm go off while Windows XP is running, but things should be clearer if you follow Handruin's advice and leave it in the BIOS setup.
It's always worth inspecting the capacitors when troubleshooting a reboot problem.
P5-133XL's explanation seems the most likely, although I guess it could be voltage related.
Okay...more info...
The sound much to my dismay seems to in fact be coming from my hard drive. For reference it sounds a lot like the old dungeons and dragons PC games that you can now buy the whole collection of for .99 Think of the sound when your character died LOL
My cpu temp was at 60 degrees celcius and I have three fans on this machine. One at the front of the case pulling air in...one on the CPU heat sink and one large one on the back of the case pulling air out. Obviously the power supply has its own fan as well and all the fans are working.
My hard drive is a Maxtor 120 gig. It is a single drive being used on a RAID controller which is native to the mother board. I think that makes it Raid zero? So whats my first step? new hard drive? or new mother board? or new seperate raid controller?
The sound much to my dismay seems to in fact be coming from my hard drive. For reference it sounds a lot like the old dungeons and dragons PC games that you can now buy the whole collection of for .99 Think of the sound when your character died LOL
My cpu temp was at 60 degrees celcius and I have three fans on this machine. One at the front of the case pulling air in...one on the CPU heat sink and one large one on the back of the case pulling air out. Obviously the power supply has its own fan as well and all the fans are working.
My hard drive is a Maxtor 120 gig. It is a single drive being used on a RAID controller which is native to the mother board. I think that makes it Raid zero? So whats my first step? new hard drive? or new mother board? or new seperate raid controller?
time
Storage? I am Storage!
First, disconnect all your fans to make sure it's the hard drive (obviously, you don't want to run without the CPU fan for more than a minute or so, depending on what your CPU is).
I'd do what time suggests, but also, what CPU do you have? 60 C seems rather warm for your CPU.
A single drive connected to a RAID controller is known as JBOD (Just a bunch of Disks). You aren't runnung RAID 0. That requires at least 2 drives.
If you think it's the drive, you can scan it with utilities from maxtor. I'll post a link when I get home tonight.
That sound you hear could still be the tiny case speaker. They are sometimes located in front of the hard drives.
A single drive connected to a RAID controller is known as JBOD (Just a bunch of Disks). You aren't runnung RAID 0. That requires at least 2 drives.
If you think it's the drive, you can scan it with utilities from maxtor. I'll post a link when I get home tonight.
That sound you hear could still be the tiny case speaker. They are sometimes located in front of the hard drives.
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
Maxblast doesn't work with drives attached to RAID controllers. In fact, if you go read the thread in the Tools forum, there's a LOT of things that make Maxblast not work right. You'll have to move your drive to one of the native, motherboard-controlled IDE channels.
As a general rule, you should be putting boot drives on motherboard-native controllers anyway.
Most IDE RAID controllers do non-RAID operation (act like standard IDE controllers) unless you pop into the RAID BIOS and tell them not to.
As a general rule, you should be putting boot drives on motherboard-native controllers anyway.
Most IDE RAID controllers do non-RAID operation (act like standard IDE controllers) unless you pop into the RAID BIOS and tell them not to.
Thanks for the thoughts guys. I took the hard drive out of the offending machine and put it in as the second drive on my other machine. All my data is there and after about 9 straight hours of running its still doing fine and has not caused this machine to shut off. Granted it not the boot drive on this one but if it was a hardware failure I would expect it to still die. This makes me suspect something else is the problem. I guess my next move is to remove the processor, heat sink and processor fan to be sure they are re-seated. The machine is only about 8 months old....I know archaic by computer standards but I don't have the time or money these days to keep up with the gigabytes ( "Joneses" ). I'll get you guys the processor info this weekend once I tear it down.
I'm thinking.....since I now have both my drives in one machine and since they are both serial ATA drives How hard would it be to put them in a Raid configuration where one ghosts the other? I am using the machine for accounting as well as tons of other paperwork vital to my business. The added redundancy would be smart.
I'm thinking.....since I now have both my drives in one machine and since they are both serial ATA drives How hard would it be to put them in a Raid configuration where one ghosts the other? I am using the machine for accounting as well as tons of other paperwork vital to my business. The added redundancy would be smart.
A lot of new machines incorporate a thermal trip in the BIOS, if the CPU reports it is too hot, the machoine amy either throttle or shut down--sometimes accompanied by an alarm. In the BIOS, have a look at the Power Management/PC Health or similar menus. You can normally raise the temp at which this alarm/shutdown cuts in.
Speedfan is good for reading the CPU temp.
The temperature reported to the BIOS and temp monitoring programs is affected by the BIOS revision sometimes, as there is usually a fudge factor table built in, different versions of a boards BIOS may report different temps. Worth getting the latest BIOS for your mobo.
Also, if you are going to reseat the heatsink, only the thinnest smear of thermal goop is needed--a tiny amount in the middle of the CPU and then spread it around with single-sided razor blade or credit/auto teller card.
Speedfan is good for reading the CPU temp.
The temperature reported to the BIOS and temp monitoring programs is affected by the BIOS revision sometimes, as there is usually a fudge factor table built in, different versions of a boards BIOS may report different temps. Worth getting the latest BIOS for your mobo.
Also, if you are going to reseat the heatsink, only the thinnest smear of thermal goop is needed--a tiny amount in the middle of the CPU and then spread it around with single-sided razor blade or credit/auto teller card.
Okay so here it goes....
As I said I took the hard drive out ( a SATA unit) and put it into my other machine it has worked flawlessly to this point.
My broken machin was one I built off of the reccomendations of folks on this sight as a workhorse machine.
Processor:
AMD Athalon AXDA2500DKV4D
Motherboard:
7VT600P-RZ
Symptoms,
Computer will make a loud alarm type noise which sounds like it comes from the PC speaker. the the best of my knowledge there is NO PC Speaker. It is a simple black antec case.
After a second or two of alarms the machine just shuts down. It will boot up again almost immidiately but in most cases shuts back down.
After seeing the hard drive working fine in another machine as a back up drive I decided to remove the heat sink, fan and processor for a look. I noticed that while the white patch of material was still tacky to the touch ( machine is less then a year old) the contact patch on the processor was obviously never centered in the heat sink. It is also possible from my having to muscle on the clamp to hold the heat sink unit on that I disturbed it creating a not so good connection for heat transfer.
Before pulling it apart I was able to do a full virus scan which found no viruses. I was also able to watch from my CMOS that the CPU temp seemed to be about 60 degrees celcius which is hotter the the temp I get from my other machine. All the fans in the case and power supply and heatsink fans were working. The only thing that makes me wonder wbout the temp thing is that sometimes after a 12 hour shut off period and starting it up in the morning ( I use it for my business ) It would do this almost immidiately...seemingly before and temerature barrier could be hit.
So how about it guys? Thoughts? I suppose at the very least I need new white goop for heat transfer. I've never seen it for sale but I have never looked either. I cleaned both the heat sink and processor off the stuff in prep for a new coating. Anything else I should look at before putting it back together with a new hard drive?
Any reccomendations on a new SATA drive? Perhaps two smaller ones which I could do in a RAID configuration?
As I said I took the hard drive out ( a SATA unit) and put it into my other machine it has worked flawlessly to this point.
My broken machin was one I built off of the reccomendations of folks on this sight as a workhorse machine.
Processor:
AMD Athalon AXDA2500DKV4D
Motherboard:
7VT600P-RZ
Symptoms,
Computer will make a loud alarm type noise which sounds like it comes from the PC speaker. the the best of my knowledge there is NO PC Speaker. It is a simple black antec case.
After a second or two of alarms the machine just shuts down. It will boot up again almost immidiately but in most cases shuts back down.
After seeing the hard drive working fine in another machine as a back up drive I decided to remove the heat sink, fan and processor for a look. I noticed that while the white patch of material was still tacky to the touch ( machine is less then a year old) the contact patch on the processor was obviously never centered in the heat sink. It is also possible from my having to muscle on the clamp to hold the heat sink unit on that I disturbed it creating a not so good connection for heat transfer.
Before pulling it apart I was able to do a full virus scan which found no viruses. I was also able to watch from my CMOS that the CPU temp seemed to be about 60 degrees celcius which is hotter the the temp I get from my other machine. All the fans in the case and power supply and heatsink fans were working. The only thing that makes me wonder wbout the temp thing is that sometimes after a 12 hour shut off period and starting it up in the morning ( I use it for my business ) It would do this almost immidiately...seemingly before and temerature barrier could be hit.
So how about it guys? Thoughts? I suppose at the very least I need new white goop for heat transfer. I've never seen it for sale but I have never looked either. I cleaned both the heat sink and processor off the stuff in prep for a new coating. Anything else I should look at before putting it back together with a new hard drive?
Any reccomendations on a new SATA drive? Perhaps two smaller ones which I could do in a RAID configuration?
See my post above--your machine still sounds like it is asserting #THERMTRIP.
Raise this setting in your BIOS and monitor temps. If your machine does not shut down, there's your answer.
Goop--RadioShack, Tandy, electronics hobby store should have it. Apply a thin layer--more is not good
A Barton does not idle at 60. The CPU should require a little pressure to seat correctly, but if you are having to force things, or you are applying no pressure at all, then something is up.
Early EPoX BIOS's had a quirk where the CPU would shut down very quickly because it would not detect a CPU fan correctly, assume that one wasn't present and shut down. Update your BIOS.
Raise this setting in your BIOS and monitor temps. If your machine does not shut down, there's your answer.
Goop--RadioShack, Tandy, electronics hobby store should have it. Apply a thin layer--more is not good
A Barton does not idle at 60. The CPU should require a little pressure to seat correctly, but if you are having to force things, or you are applying no pressure at all, then something is up.
Early EPoX BIOS's had a quirk where the CPU would shut down very quickly because it would not detect a CPU fan correctly, assume that one wasn't present and shut down. Update your BIOS.
CraigLC said:
Oh sure, I believe you when you say there is no case speaker, but are you sure there isn't a tiny piezo-buzzer mounted on the motherboard itself?
On the boards I own that have one of those, it's disabled automatically should you connect a real case speaker to the motherboard at the correct pins. But if you don't have a speaker connected, the motherboard just uses the little piezo.
Your AMD 2500+ barton core CPU that you have is definitely running too hot IMHO @ 60C. My guess is that could be the issue. That chip should run fine up to 50C. Anything over that and you may run into these types of problems. I don't personally own a Barton core athlon (I have the thoroughbred), but maybe someone else can give some feedback on temperatures for that core. I still think it's too high at 60C.
Are you over-clocking the CPU at all, be it unintentionally? Make note of the GHz speed in the BIOS and report back the frequency so we know if it's overclocked.
==========
In regards to the white goop, that thermal grease is a key component to maximizing the heat transfer between the core and the heatsink. PM me your address and I can send you an extra tube of it. If you would rather buy some from the store, it is readly available from most stores like compusa, or online from a place like newegg.com.
If you've never applied thermal grease, keep in mind you only need a very thin layer to make this stuff work. Don't put so much that it gushes out the sides when the heatsink is pressed against it.
I can also give you a heatsink & fan for that series chip if you need a new one. It's probably better than the stock unit, and a bit quieter.
==========
In regards to SATA drives and RAID, what is your budget? The drive most people praise for reliability around here (self included) is Samsung. I've personally bought 3 drives so far, and recommended several to others, all of which are still running fine. Tannin sells tons of them to his customers with very low return rates. he can tell you more about it if you want.
I don't know what size you need, but samsung has just updated their SATA line to SATA 3.0Gb (which is backward compatible). you could buy two Samsung SpinPoint P Series HD160JJ 160GB for roughly $80 each.
Are you over-clocking the CPU at all, be it unintentionally? Make note of the GHz speed in the BIOS and report back the frequency so we know if it's overclocked.
==========
In regards to the white goop, that thermal grease is a key component to maximizing the heat transfer between the core and the heatsink. PM me your address and I can send you an extra tube of it. If you would rather buy some from the store, it is readly available from most stores like compusa, or online from a place like newegg.com.
If you've never applied thermal grease, keep in mind you only need a very thin layer to make this stuff work. Don't put so much that it gushes out the sides when the heatsink is pressed against it.
I can also give you a heatsink & fan for that series chip if you need a new one. It's probably better than the stock unit, and a bit quieter.
==========
In regards to SATA drives and RAID, what is your budget? The drive most people praise for reliability around here (self included) is Samsung. I've personally bought 3 drives so far, and recommended several to others, all of which are still running fine. Tannin sells tons of them to his customers with very low return rates. he can tell you more about it if you want.
I don't know what size you need, but samsung has just updated their SATA line to SATA 3.0Gb (which is backward compatible). you could buy two Samsung SpinPoint P Series HD160JJ 160GB for roughly $80 each.