Oh Snap!

[gamerguy99]

I wasnt sure where to put this thread so i put it here, ok, my moms computer was running fine while i was playing stepmania, and then it slowed down and just shut off,after that when i tried to boot it up, it would get to the boot screen and the loading bar would just crawl, then it shuts off. ive tried booting it in safe mode and scanning it with mcaffe, but it shut down when i tried that! now when i try to boot it, it wont get to the bootscreen. does anybody know whats wrong? any help will be GREATLY appreciated. thanks.

[Zuke]

Heat would be my first guess. Please post the specs of the system and the OS. Also, have you tried safe mode?

[gamerguy99]

her are the specs. (its my moms box, not mine
1.7 GHz Celeron,
onboard intel extreme graphics,
35GB HD
512 MB RAM

I hoppe that helps.

Oh i almost for got it has windows XP home edition
and yes i have tried safe mode and it worked once.

[Zuke]

Worked once? Can you get it back in? If so, goto Start>Run>msconfig
Go through the start up and clean up any programs or services that you don't need (you can check the box that says "Hide All Microsoft Services" to make sure you don't do something bad). Restart, see how it goes.

If you can't make it into Safe Mode, locate the WinXP installation CD and start the computer with it in the drive. Make sure you boot from the disc and enter the Recovery Console. Use the Fixboot and Fixmbr command and restart.

You probably also want to run a full Sandisk and defrag ASAP. In the event of the worse, find another drive to clone (as the system doesn't sound like it's too new, the drive may be failing).

[nil8]

Is this a continuing problem, or something that comes and goes?

If you got into safe mode once but couldn't another time, heat might be a big issue.
Is this a scratch built system or a professional one like HP or Dell?

If the heat is good(under 150f), then consider hard drive or memory.

If you reload windows and this keeps happening, check these other things.

[Hasbios]

that happened to me on my moms hp. its my belife that a heat sensor went bad and it shuts off automatically. u can fix the problem in bios by turning off the temp monitor

[bigbaddog]

Worked on a computer with a 2GHz P4 processor that did the same thing...the hold down for the heat sink broke and the processor was overheating. The customer tried restarting till she fried the processor. Take the cover off the side and check to make sure the heatsink/fan is still attached...before it's too late

[DaveW]

Is this a scratch built system or a professional one like HP or Dell?

Whoa, whoa, whoa...let's be careful here! I'm pretty sure the word 'professional' and the word 'dell' were not supposed to be in the same sentance there, right?

Or is it that skewed meaning of the word, something along the lines of "Well, we did a half-arsed job, give us your money quick before you realise" that the guys at Microsoft use?

-Dave

[Rankenphile]

First things first - turn the machine off, open up the case and check for dust. It sounds like it may be a heat issue, so get a can of compressed air and blast out the power supply, processor and exhaust fans with short, quick bursts - long ones can make condensation appear on delicate electronic parts. Get all those ugly dust bunnies out of the corners. Make sure that the fans all have room to spin. Look around and make sure everything is where it needs to be - the heatsink is still firmly in place, etc.

Then, before you close it up, power up the machine and make sure all the fans are turning. Check the processor fan, the GPU fan, the power supply fan and the exhaust fan and make sure they are all spinning and putting out air. Hold your hand near them to feel, if you have to, but don't stick your finger in there or touch any circuitboards while it is running, especially if you are not properly grounded - you don't want to accidentally zap it with static.


...then again, I just looked and realized you posted this in January, so if you haven't figured this out by now, the computer is probably having more serious problems.

[mszo]

Whoa, whoa, whoa...let's be careful here! I'm pretty sure the word 'professional' and the word 'dell' were not supposed to be in the same sentance there, right?

Or is it that skewed meaning of the word, something along the lines of "Well, we did a half-arsed job, give us your money quick before you realise" that the guys at Microsoft use?

-Dave

so true, so true