Computer shuts down by itself?

[ironone1]

I have a Dell XPS 200 that has been shutting down by itself lately. After that the power light blinks and I have to hold it for awhile to stop and then reboot the computer. I have one virus on the computer (Javascript file) that wouldn't clear when I ran my virus scan. I wonder if the problem is due to the virus or something else to my hardware or software? I have the hardware warranty til 2010 so I was hoping it was something hardware related. Anybody have a clue what might be causing my computer to shut down like this?

 

[mac_c_uk]

Sounds like an overheating problem, check your fans and make sure they are not clogged up with dust and give the inside of your pc a good blowing out. I would also remove the heat sink on your processor, clean the thermal paste off it and reapply some new paste so you know it's good to go.

 

[ironone1]

Sounds like an overheating problem, check your fans and make sure they are not clogged up with dust and give the inside of your pc a good blowing out. I would also remove the heat sink on your processor, clean the thermal paste off it and reapply some new paste so you know it's good to go.

Yeah, the guy from Dell said he didn't think it was from a virus. I will look into it bro, thanks for the tips.

 

[Designbuilt]

I agree with Mac, I doubt that it's a virus, it could be a power surge, get a good surge protector, sometimes it worth the few extra bucks to get a Monster protector, but try to get a good price on it.

I bought mine for about $180 when it was new about 6 years ago or so, you should be able to get the same one for under 50. Not only may the fans be dirty, also be sure that they are not obstructed in any way. Not near a wall or even the monitor. I've lost a ton of data and work before because of a power surge, and an expensive Sony Vaio Laptop a few years ago because of overheating. I learned my lesson.

If it doesn't resolve right away, have it service, because it could always be defective as well. BTW, my brother and a colleague always had similar problems with Dell just for the record.

The surge protector is not a loss, you can use it on your new machine.

Good luck,

 

[mooshue]

you say you have a dell warranty. You should have gotten a dell utilities disc that runs a complete diagnostic on your machine. All dell pc's i have come across in 7 years have lights on the back A B C D E etc... these lights indicate errors during post (loading of the bios and devices)
Basically what im saying, call dell support, or run the diagnostic cd and call dell support, let them worry about it. I would also guess either a motherboard issue or heat issue. Ive had several dell pc's for work that had blown capacitors on the motherboards, dell happily sent me new mainboards under warranty without much bother.

 

[parrajm]

could be loose hardware too. definitely sounds like hardware though.

 

[VanR__]

Did you check the power settings? Some computers ship with the setting to go into hibernate or shut down after a certain amount of time of unuse.

 

[ironone1]

Wow this sounds like it could be a number of things that may be the problem. I have a good APC surge protector, so I don't think that's the problem. I think I will call Dell since it sounds like it may be a hardware problem. They came over and changed the motherboard in my other Dimension with no problems. Their service is good.

 

[ironone1]

I called Dell up and they had me start it in the safe mode and disable automatic restart. We'll see if it resolves the issue. He thought it might be a specific program that may be causing it to shut down by itself.

 

[mooshue]

thats a good start iron, let dell worry about it, they know more about your system than any of us possibly could just based on your service tag number.
As far as programs causing things, it would be impossible for any of us to diagnose that as we have no idea what you could have installed on there.
I restored a pc for someone's home computer here at work last week, complete with virus and spyware scanner. i just got it back on my desk today, they removed the scanner, put their own bullshit on it, now its so fucked the admin account is locked, cant run any registry editor, control panel wont open on its own, its amazing how someone can fuck their machine into oblivion and not understand why it doesnt work

 

[ironone1]

thats a good start iron, let dell worry about it, they know more about your system than any of us possibly could just based on your service tag number.
As far as programs causing things, it would be impossible for any of us to diagnose that as we have no idea what you could have installed on there.
I restored a pc for someone's home computer here at work last week, complete with virus and spyware scanner. i just got it back on my desk today, they removed the scanner, put their own bullshit on it, now its so fucked the admin account is locked, cant run any registry editor, control panel wont open on its own, its amazing how someone can fuck their machine into oblivion and not understand why it doesnt work

Yeah I hear you bro, I leave it to the experts, especially if its under warranty. I'm gonna just leave it on and see if it shuts down when I'm away from it.

 

[thebrick]

I had a very similar problem, turned out the fan for the power supply unit was not working properly, allowing it to overheat and shut the system down.

 

[Kaiser]

I didn't read what everyone else stated, but Thebrick stated a possible reason with a power supply. As I skimmed over, someone mentioned overheating due to a fan problem, and that is also a possiblity. A third one could be that the box is just hybernating, standby or in sleep mode which can be set in both the operating system and in the BIOS.

 

[jimboslice]

I do DELL's warranty work and this is a common problem with that model. It's normally the power supply. It could also be a bad hard drive. I would suggest reboot hit f12 and boot to diagnostics. If it was an overheating issue check for dust bunnies in the heatsink. How long does it stay on before it shuts off? does the amount of time become shorter and shorter when it shuts off? there's alot of little stuff i could probly ask that would help, but just message me if you need more help.