catesta Posted April 20, 2006 Report Share Posted April 20, 2006 One of the computers in the house keeps shutting itself off. This is the machine I let my girlfriend's son use. We've had problems before when he let a virus in, but to the best of my knowledge we got rid of it. At first it was every few days, now it happens multiple times throughout the day. He says he only visits myspace, does the instant message thing, and downloads for his ipod. Any ideas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim R Posted April 20, 2006 Report Share Posted April 20, 2006 Any ideas? Yeah- don't let him use the computer. But seriously, is it shutting off while it's being used, or only after periods of inactivity, or...? I don't know much about viruses (always been a Mac user), but maybe somebody messed with your system preferences? Some computers have settings for auto-shutdown... but maybe you already knew that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catesta Posted April 20, 2006 Author Report Share Posted April 20, 2006 Any ideas? Yeah- don't let him use the computer. But seriously, is it shutting off while it's being used, or only after periods of inactivity, or...? I don't know much about viruses (always been a Mac user), but maybe somebody messed with your system preferences? Some computers have settings for auto-shutdown... but maybe you already knew that. It shuts off while in use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim R Posted April 20, 2006 Report Share Posted April 20, 2006 Does it ever act like this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Gone Posted April 20, 2006 Report Share Posted April 20, 2006 (edited) One of the computers in the house keeps shutting itself off. This is the machine I let my girlfriend's son use. We've had problems before when he let a virus in, but to the best of my knowledge we got rid of it. At first it was every few days, now it happens multiple times throughout the day. He says he only visits myspace, does the instant message thing, and downloads for his ipod. Any ideas? One of the many possibilities: CPU fan is getting ready to give up. Edited April 20, 2006 by Mr. Gone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Claude Posted April 20, 2006 Report Share Posted April 20, 2006 (edited) Is it a hardware shutdown or a Windows shutdown? In the first case it looks like a hardware defect (excessive temperature due to defective fan) that makes the Bios shut down the PC. In the second case it could be a virus/worm (forgot it's name) that does this. Usually you'll get a warning message saying Windows will shut down. Edited April 20, 2006 by Claude Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Gone Posted April 20, 2006 Report Share Posted April 20, 2006 (edited) In the second case it could be a virus/worm (forgot it's name) that does this. Usually you'll get a warning message saying Windows will shut down. Blaster32? If that's the case shutdown -a (start/run) will stop the shutdown and you have time to get rid of this worm... assuming you're using Windows XP (SP1/2?). But catesta talks about shut-offs so... Any applications on this computer that use the CPU to its full capacity (an mp3 encoder for example)? You could try to encode large wav files and see if this affects the computer's shutting off (watch the performance tab in the task manager and make sure the CPU is busy). If you can affect the computer shutting down that way the problem is probably due to CPU overheat. Take a look at your BIOS settings - what's the max CPU temp set to? What CPU do you use (guess it's not being overclocked, is it?)? Good luck! Edited April 20, 2006 by Mr. Gone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Alfredson Posted April 20, 2006 Report Share Posted April 20, 2006 What are you using for virus software and what are you using for spyware removal? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catesta Posted April 20, 2006 Author Report Share Posted April 20, 2006 What are you using for virus software and what are you using for spyware removal? The spyware removal is Webroot, we also use Spybot from time to time The virus software we use is Norton. I"ve not seen it happen so I don't know if there is a warning message or not. He says it just shuts down while he is in the middle of something. The overheating may be the problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Alfredson Posted April 20, 2006 Report Share Posted April 20, 2006 If the computer is old(er), then it might have a lot of dust, hair, etc. in it that is either slowing the fans and/or not allowing air to flow through the case properly. Get one of those cans of compressed air, a screwdriver, unplug that sucker, open it up, and have at it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert J Posted April 20, 2006 Report Share Posted April 20, 2006 The spyware removal is Webroot, we also use Spybot from time to time The virus software we use is Norton. I'd also recommend a free program called "Hijack This". http://www.tomcoyote.org/hjt/ It displays a whole bunch of things that may be hidden on your computer. You have to be a bit careful about how you delete stuff with it, but I've often used it in my son's Kaaza days on our shared computer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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