Computer turns off automatically

[lat]

I have a problem that I cannot figure out. My computer turns off for no reason. If I don't connect anything like keyboard and mouse to it, it stays on. As soon as i connect those items and start clicking on programs, the computer turns off. My fans are cool and I don't hear any strange noise from my power supply. Any ideals?

[geoscomp]

Are you connecting the keyboard and mouse while the computer is on? Are they usb or ps2?

[Gabriel]

Welcome to wd forums lat,
Try connecting the keyboard and mouse While in Bios - if the computer shuts down it might be the Mainboard or the perpherials are Short circuit something.
If not I would go on the obvious Windows hell.... than the Driver replacement should come in handy

[lat]

Are you connecting the keyboard and mouse while the computer is on? Are they usb or ps2?

No. I connect the keyboard and mouse while the computer is off. The keyboard is PS2 and the mouse is USB.

[lat]

Welcome to wd forums lat,
Try connecting the keyboard and mouse While in Bios - if the computer shuts down it might be the Mainboard or the perpherials are Short circuit something.
If not I would go on the obvious Windows hell.... than the Driver replacement should come in handy

The system still shut down. I will probably have to send it in to Dell.
Of course my warranty has run out so I will probably be paying dearly.
Thanks for our help.

[TripleRLtd]

Perhaps if you gave us more info on when it shuts down, we could help more. Don't give up yet.
Is this XP? Do you get any messages before it shuts down?

[lat]

Perhaps if you gave us more info on when it shuts down, we could help more. Don't give up yet.
Is this XP? Do you get any messages before it shuts down?

Thanks so much for your help.
I turned on my computer today with the monitor, mouse, keyboard, printer, and DSL modem connected. The system booted up to windows. I logged on. As soon as I clicked on Internet Explorer, the computer turned off. I turned the computer on again and it stayed on for 5 minutes and turned off. I didn't touch anything this time. I disconnected everything from the computer (keyboard, mouse, monitor etc..) and it stayed on. I left it like that for 3 hours. It never turned off.
I have a DELL Inspiron 2350 with XP installed. I don't get any type of messages. The computer simply turns off. Do you think it could be my memory? I have 256 MB memory.

[lat]

Welcome to wd forums lat,
Try connecting the keyboard and mouse While in Bios - if the computer shuts down it might be the Mainboard or the perpherials are Short circuit something.
If not I would go on the obvious Windows hell.... than the Driver replacement should come in handy


Gabriel,
I tried connecting the keyboard and mouse while in Bios and it stayed on a couple times and it turned off once.

[TripleRLtd]

Let's try to figure out the problem one step at a time there lat. Gabe mentions "windows" hell. And that is part of it. But first, try going into the os in safe mode. Don't just let it sit there either. Do a little cleaning up while there. You know: temp files, internet cache. Also do a chkdsk. Let us know if it ever turns off by itself in safe mode. Also, it might be worth it to remove all hardware other than one stick of ram and your video card as another "test". Let us know how it goes. Btw: this is only a first step, so keep us informed and we'll give you plenty of advice and possibilities.
Good luck.

[thundarr]

try using a ps2 mouse instead of usb, also check to see if u have a keyboard that has a lot of funky buttons .if so try a different keyboard.
look for shared irq dealing with usb,all you have to do is put an adapter on usb mouse to use ps2 ,if u have a sound blaster live sound card make sure driver says share irq.

[lat]

Let's try to figure out the problem one step at a time there lat. Gabe mentions "windows" hell. And that is part of it. But first, try going into the os in safe mode. Don't just let it sit there either. Do a little cleaning up while there. You know: temp files, internet cache. Also do a chkdsk. Let us know if it ever turns off by itself in safe mode. Also, it might be worth it to remove all hardware other than one stick of ram and your video card as another "test". Let us know how it goes. Btw: this is only a first step, so keep us informed and we'll give you plenty of advice and possibilities.
Good luck.


I booted the os in safe mode. I got to delete temp files and internet cache. I did a chkdsk, however as soon as it finished the cmd prompt window disappeared and the computer turned off after about 15 seconds. It will not stay on long enough for me to complete another chkdsk. I only have one stick of RAM (256mb). I removed the video card and it stayed on until i connected the keyboard and mouse.

[lat]

try using a ps2 mouse instead of usb, also check to see if u have a keyboard that has a lot of funky buttons .if so try a different keyboard.
look for shared irq dealing with usb,all you have to do is put an adapter on usb mouse to use ps2 ,if u have a sound blaster live sound card make sure driver says share irq.


I will purchase an adapter tomorrow. I didn't get a chance to check the driver because the PC won't stay on long enough.

[GreenGrime]

Can you tell us the specs of the power supply in use?


Also, I would bet that the shutdown occurs when you plug in the USB device.

Try both keyboard and mouse independently and tell us what happens.

[Compass Computers]

Hi!

I am experiencing a similar problem on a customer's PC... they have ntl broadband, and have recently bought from ntl an Actiontec wireless networking kit comprising of one Wireless Cable/DSL router, and one USB Wireless adapter.

I inserted the CD, followed the instructions to the point where you are asked to connect the USB adapter to the computer, connected the adapter, and as soon as Windows had finished recognising the new device, the PC switched-off (not shut-down).

I have tried several times turning the PC back on, but just before the WinXP welcome screen would appear, the PC switches off again.

If I disconnect the Wireless USB adapter, the PC will boot and work as normal. If the adapter is connected after a successful boot, the computer will switch itself off again.

I tried booting in safe-mode with the adapter connected, but although Windows will boot this way, the pS/2 mouse will not move the cursor left-or right (but it will work up and down) while the adapter is connected. As soon as the adapter is unlugged, the mouse will work as normal.

I have downloaded updated drivers and software from Actiontec's site, and used safemode to update the drivers from device manager.

All this having failed, I have disabled USB2.0 support, onboard LAN, onboard Sound, and onboard Game port in the BIOS to attempt to prevent IRQ conflicts, but still the problem remains.

I have tested other USB devices in the machine, which work flawlessly, and have tried to find a similar problem with the product on forums, but have read nothing but good reviews about the device.

I have run out of ideas, and can only think that the Wireless USB adapter is faulty in some way... any ideas?

[NooNoo]

Welcome to Windrivers Compass Computers

Does the Wireless USB adapter cause shut down on another machine? How about putting a pci usb card in there - does that cause it to shut down?

[lat]

Can you tell us the specs of the power supply in use?


Also, I would bet that the shutdown occurs when you plug in the USB device.

Try both keyboard and mouse independently and tell us what happens.

I thought it was my USB, I connected a PS2 mouse and it still turns off.
I inserted new memory (256mb) thinking that was the problem (bad memory stick) and it still turns off. If I don't connect any devices, the PC will stay on. As soon as I start connecting devices it will turn off after a few minutes.

[daBull]

I am also having shut down problems with a new XP pro system. At first I thought that it was a USB conflict issue since one of the front two USB ports is usually in accessible. After updating the USB host controller and removing all USB devices, I still had problems and so decided to replace the ASUS motherboard (A7v8x-x) while it was still under warranty. Still a problem. Flashed the bios, still a problem.

Viewing the event log, the system always seems to crash just after a DHCP or TCP/IP call. I'm using a NETGEAR wireless USB adapter (WG121) but there are no newer XP supported drivers available for it. Thinking that that might be the problem, I tried to go through the XP wireless config utility instead of the NETGEAR utility but that just seemed to make the problem worse. (System shuts down everytime I click on the "apply" in the windows utility.) I have an onboard ethernet adapter that I've disabled but I can't help but wonder if the wireless adapter is either still conflicting with it somehow.

I don't honestly think that it will fix the problem but I need a new video card anyhow so I'm going to install that later on tonight.

Any ideas greatly appreciated.

[bookmarkmns]

Obvious question for all posting with the shutdown problem but have you got current virus protection and are the machines fully updated with patches? Service pack 1 is not enough to prevent some of the worms. Unless your machine is under 4 weeks old the XP machines will be SP1 and worm infection could be playing a part. As it seems possible that there are three problems it would be helpful to put down as much information as possible on your post.
OS, Service Pack
AV Upp to date
Motherboard (or make and model of computer)
memory etc.

Sorry to post what may be too obvious. Good Luck :)

[lat]

Obvious question for all posting with the shutdown problem but have you got current virus protection and are the machines fully updated with patches? Service pack 1 is not enough to prevent some of the worms. Unless your machine is under 4 weeks old the XP machines will be SP1 and worm infection could be playing a part. As it seems possible that there are three problems it would be hwlpful to put down as much information as possible on your post.
OS, Service Pack
AV Upp to date
Motherboard (or make and model of computer)
memory etc.

Sorry to post what may be too obvious. Good Luck :)
==================================================
I have a Dell Dimension 2350, 256MB Ram, xp service pack1,
2 USB ports, DSL installed via ethernet, mouse is USB.
I have Norton Antivirus and a firewall; signature files were current prior to shutdown problem.
My PC won't stay on long enough to install service pack 2.

[daBull]

Obvious question for all posting with the shutdown problem but have you got current virus protection and are the machines fully updated with patches? Service pack 1 is not enough to prevent some of the worms. Unless your machine is under 4 weeks old the XP machines will be SP1 and worm infection could be playing a part. As it seems possible that there are three problems it would be hwlpful to put down as much information as possible on your post.
OS, Service Pack
AV Upp to date
Motherboard (or make and model of computer)
memory etc.

Sorry to post what may be too obvious. Good Luck :)

Sure thing, I have XP pro with SP2 and when this first started did an immediate scan for worms, viruses, and spyware. Nothing was found then or since and yes my AV is all up to date. I have an ASUS a7v8x-x mb with an AMD Athlon XP 2500+ 1.4 GHz chip, and 256mb RAM. I have a standard PS2 mouse and keyboard and a netgear wireless USB adapter. Nothing is overclocked and all software indicate that there isn't an overheating problem.

I just replaced my video card with an ATI Radeon 9200 and as I suspected, the problem is still present. I'm going to continue to check various settings but for now, I'm temporarily stumped.

db

[theonetruely]

Welcome to wd forums lat,
Try connecting the keyboard and mouse While in Bios - if the computer shuts down it might be the Mainboard or the perpherials are Short circuit something.
If not I would go on the obvious Windows hell.... than the Driver replacement should come in handy
hi gabriel
you need to plug in the keyoard to get into the bios!

[daBull]

After doing some further research, my suspicion of the problem having something to do with my wireless USB adapter may have some merit. Postings on another newsgroup at http://www.broadbandreports.com indicated that there is likely a chipset conflict between certain wireless adapters using the PrismGT chipset and the VIA chipset.

I emailed Netgear about the problem since it seems to be a well known conflict that they have known about since the summer of 2003 but I'm not very hopeful that they will be of much help as they still don't officially admit that there is a problem. I'm going to remove my wg121 completely and then try a direct cable connect and possibly a different USB adapter that uses the Broadcom chipset instead. Two listed include the US Robotics USR5420 and the Buffalo WLI-USB-G54.

Wish me luck and I hope that this helps someone else.

db

[Beretta9001]

After doing some further research, my suspicion of the problem having something to do with my wireless USB adapter may have some merit. Postings on another newsgroup at http://www.broadbandreports.com indicated that there is likely a chipset conflict between certain wireless adapters using the PrismGT chipset and the VIA chipset.

I emailed Netgear about the problem since it seems to be a well known conflict that they have known about since the summer of 2003 but I'm not very hopeful that they will be of much help as they still don't officially admit that there is a problem. I'm going to remove my wg121 completely and then try a direct cable connect and possibly a different USB adapter that uses the Broadcom chipset instead. Two listed include the US Robotics USR5420 and the Buffalo WLI-USB-G54.

Wish me luck and I hope that this helps someone else.

db

I had the same problem after a complete reformat, and rebuild of my Dell Laptop. I have a linksys wireless card, and after all Windows XP updates were installed, my internet was experience difficulties and my computer was turning off. There is a channel setting for all wireless devices, similar to that of a cordless house phone. You can change the channel to stop these interruptions, as I did, which fixed my problem as of two weeks. Under Hardware Devices in the System Icon of your control panel, there will be an option for the channel that the wireless card is running on. It will be something like 1, 2, 3, up to 10 or so depending on your card. Change it to default setting, mine was 6, others may be different. Hope this helps. If not you may have another problem that most likely would be linked to you power supply. If the computer gets too hot, or the power supply loses enough energy, there is a safety switch to turn the computer off to reduce risk of electrical damage or shock to the user. Buy a new power supply or upgrade it to a larger capacity. I.E. 120 to 240.