Pink Poogle Toy Forum

Lately my computer has randomly shut down on its own... Its not completly shut down, just the disk drive and the screen are off. So far the only way i can get it to live again is to turn off the main power for about 5 seconds or so then turning it back on. I havnt downloaded anything too recently, and that was the iPod thing from a month or two back. I "timed" it and they seem to go out within 15-20 minutes of each turn on session, and im pretty sure its not a virus..... what could it be?

Maybe you have some strange power management which doesn't work quite right so it's stopping the monitor and disk after a certain time (like it should) but then not starting them up again when you press a key or move the mouse (like it shouldn't). First step might be to disable any power management settings in Windows (assuming you're using Windows) and your computer's BIOS (It'll be under something like 'Power Management' or 'APM') If it still does it then I have no idea!

Hm... my computer was doing a similar random-turning-off thing when one of my USB ports was broken. Someone had jammed something into it and bent some of the pins/wires so they were touching... this caused it to short circuit, and made my computer lose power and turn off randomly.

I don't know if you'd have exactly the same problem ... but it does sound like it could be something to do with the hardware (and related to power).

i just checked it and its not one of those... its happened like 5 times in a day before, but today it only did it 2 times or so...

Ah, that's a pity, it could've been a quick fix. I managed to pinpoint it to the USB port because it was overloading the USB internal hub... thing, which meant the other ports were acting funny too. Has your computer been doing anything else strange recently?

If you're a taking-apart-the-computer type of person (and have some spare time), I might suggest to try disconnecting one non-essential part at a time (eg. cd-rom/floppy drive) to see if it makes a difference. It's a pity that it happens randomly, though, since you won't really know if it's helped straight away!

I had this same problem with my old computer and it ended up being the motherboard, hope it's not the same for you .

Mazil has got the right idea, process of elimination, take 'er apart! Aiieeeeee! (great commerical )