For any personal computer user, the situation when the computer suddenly breaks down is always sad (although what is not an excuse to drink coffee or chat with a friend at work). Yesterday, the PC that was working properly today categorically refuses to carry out user commands or does not turn on at all. And sometimes such an unpleasant situation arises when the computer turns on, the user has tuned in and has already begun his work, but after a while the monitor goes out and the computer turns off. What to do in this case and what is the reason for this “behavior” of the PC?
There can be quite a few reasons for malfunctions. IT Pro specialists know that one of the main reasons for a sudden computer shutdown can be a completely or partially faulty power supply. Based on our experience, this particular malfunction comes first when faced with such a problem. It can be diagnosed by simply replacing the power supply with another known working PSU (power supply). In this case, it is better if the power of the new power supply is not lower than the power of the existing one. It is also necessary to pay attention to the fact that the number and type of connectors on the power supply used for diagnostics correspond to the connectors on the old one. Otherwise, you may have to additionally look for adapters. In order to replace the power supply, you need to open the system unit, in most cases, unscrew two screws on the back of one of the side covers and slide this cover back. On the back of the system unit, the power supply is held in place by four screws, unscrew them and carefully pull out the wires leading from the power supply to the devices. As a rule, one hour of uninterrupted operation will be enough to understand that the power supply is the real cause of problems in your computer.
Although problems with the power supply are the most common, diagnosing them at home (in organizations there are usually no problems with this) is often difficult due to the difficulties associated with finding a power supply for such diagnostics. So first, make sure you have a working electrical outlet, surge protector, or uninterruptible power supply. Check that you haven’t simply pulled out some wire, the circuit breaker has turned off, or you’ve accidentally pressed a button on the surge protector. More than once we have encountered the fact that there is simply no voltage on the wire that goes to the system unit. A malfunction is another common reason for a computer to shut down unexpectedly.
The computer turning off after some time of operation may also be due to overheating of the processor or video card. The cooler responsible for cooling the processor may not work at full capacity due to the same “overload” with dust, which prevents the normal flow of heat, or because it has exhausted its working life and requires replacement with a new one. In any case, it is recommended to keep the equipment clean and be sure to thoroughly vacuum the inside of the system unit.
But sanitary methods for removing dust are unlikely to help if the motherboard (capacitors, etc.) fails. Here, expenses cannot be avoided, since this technical problem can only be solved by replacing faulty parts or having them repaired in a service center. This malfunction occurs frequently, but you will not be able to determine it yourself at home. A trip to the service center is required.
Another common cause of problems is faulty RAM sticks. Moreover, if there are malfunctions of this equipment, even if the computer turns on, its resources will not be enough for stable operation. The reasons for the failure of RAM strips can be different. Most often, if this kind of problem occurs, it will not be possible to solve it without replacing the memory sticks with new ones. Therefore, for diagnostics, find a stick of a similar type DDR, DDR2, DDR3 and replace the stick in your computer with it.
Sometimes users do not consider it necessary to turn off the computer correctly (command: Start - Shutdown), but turn it off simply by unplugging the cord from the outlet. This leads to the operating system crashing and the PC stops working normally. Therefore, you don’t need to waste time to turn off your computer correctly.
In addition, viruses can cause such a failure. In this case, it is already necessary to perform anti-virus treatment of the computer or even completely reinstall the operating system.
Greetings once again, dear readers and guests of the blog! In today’s article, I decided to touch upon a topic that is relevant today: how to ensure normal, uninterrupted operation of a computer. It is worth noting that one of the most frequently asked questions that users type into the search engines Yandex or Google sounds something like this: “ ».
Users who are more or less versed in computer hardware are not always able to independently identify and eliminate the reason for the unauthorized shutdown of the computer. Because the reasons for such unsatisfactory computer performance can be very diverse. Here is a striking example: let’s say your . Moreover, if the computer is still brand new and not dusty, then in this case not everyone will be able to get to the bottom of the true reason. Therefore, in today’s article I suggest you consider the main common reasons why your computer may turn off at any time.
==>>==>> First, I would like to announce the name of the commentator who left the most comments on the blog in the month of June. The winner is Tatyana [email protected]. Congratulations Tatyana, send me your WMR wallet number to send you a cash prize. <<==<<==
You, dear reader, can become the next winner, so I recommend that you subscribe to blog updates to be aware of new articles. You can find out how to properly subscribe by reading the article:
So, before we start looking at the main reasons for random computer shutdowns, I would like to make a short introduction. Being at your computer at home or, say, at your workplace in the office, many of you sometimes have to deal with various types of malfunctions (system errors) of your computer. Moreover, you must agree that many such errors are not significant and will not in any way affect the safety of our information. And sometimes, on the contrary, errors in the system can affect the integrity of the data stored on the computer. It should be emphasized that the occurrence of such errors (malfunctions) in the computer and disruption of the generally normal uninterrupted operation of the computer in 95% of cases is caused by the users of their computers themselves.
And all because the factor that disrupts the stable operation of the computer as a whole is the lack of simple, I would even say basic, knowledge and rules when handling a computer. So it turns out that something that is not taken seriously by the user, even if it is a simple system error or some other trivial malfunction, will certainly affect the functioning of the operating system in the future.
In general, of course, it is generally accepted that even the simplest errors that appear in the form of dialog boxes are usually of an informational nature. More precisely, warning or simply notifying the user that this action cannot be performed for such and such a reason. Another interesting example, which, by the way, I discussed in one of the previous lessons. You can read more about this topic in the article:
But if such errors are informational, then this does not mean that they should simply be ignored: “Well, if the memory cannot be read, then OK, you closed the notification that appeared and forgot.” No, of course, this is not possible, you must first understand, understand, find and eliminate the cause of the error notification.
Well, now it’s time to consider the main reasons why a computer’s operation is accompanied by spontaneous shutdown. In general, of course, a sudden, spontaneous shutdown of a computer is associated, first of all, with a malfunction of a specific node in the system unit. Moreover, a computer shutdown can happen either instantly (that is, the operating system loaded and the computer immediately turned off), or after some time, for example after 15-25 minutes, or even more.
Therefore, your main task is not only to find and eliminate the malfunction, in addition, it is also important for you to identify the cause of this malfunction, namely, what was the cause. After all, if you simply replace an element, it is quite possible that this element will also fail after some time.
The computer booted successfully and immediately turned off
So, immediately after switching on. In order to find and eliminate a malfunction of this kind, I recommend that you proceed in the following way.
1. First of all, you should check the computer's power button, which in most cases is located on the front panel of the system unit case. After all, it is quite possible that the button is simply “stuck” and the computer instantly turns off when turned on. If the computer's power button is in good condition, then move on to the next point.
2. Next, you need to open the cover of the system unit, having previously disconnected all the wires and visually inspect the condition of the internal components of the system unit for the absence of swollen capacitors, signs of a short circuit, and perform preventive maintenance on your computer.
In general, you can find out a more complete list of preventive measures taken, as well as the correctness of their implementation, by reading my article:
3. If the problem continues to recur and preventive measures have not been able to eliminate the problem, then the next step is to check the network voltage using a simple multimeter. If the voltage of the electrical network is less than the standard value (220 V), then in this case your computer may not turn on at all, or turning on the computer will lead to a subsequent reboot.
4. If the above steps did not help resolve the problem of the computer turning off when turned on, then, apparently, the problem may be hidden in the motherboard itself. Since a computer shutdown can be caused by a short circuit in the printed circuit conductors themselves on the motherboard, I repeat that a visual visual inspection at the beginning of diagnosis is very important.
If the motherboard is outdated, then some components may fail. For example, the chipset itself on the motherboard may overheat. By the way, be sure to familiarize yourself with the main components that are located on the motherboard by reading the article:
You can check the voltage on the chipset with the same multimeter. If the real problem is hidden precisely in the motherboard, then in this case it would be more advisable to purchase a new board, or better, of course, to update the computer as a whole.
Why does the computer turn off on its own after a certain time?
Let's look at another situation. Let's assume that turning on the computer is successfully accompanied by a sound signal from the speaker and after a short time, say, after 15-25 minutes the computer turns off without any notification in the form of dialog boxes. For example, your in this case, it will be much easier to find and localize the fault. Why, you ask?
The whole point is that while the computer is running, it will be possible to test a specific computer component using special programs. Therefore, the overview of fault detection in this case is slightly increased. Of course, such instability of the computer associated with its periodic shutdown can be caused by many factors. This could be a software glitch as a result of the failure of your own devices. This, in turn, can affect individual applications, the launch of which leads to freezing, rebooting, or shutting down the computer.
Firstly, troubleshooting should begin with the simplest thing, namely: check the reliability of the connections of all connector cables, both inside the system unit and outside. If you have an uninterruptible power supply, then it is quite possible that the battery is discharged, which after some time leads to the computer turning off. Therefore, you should make sure that the battery is not discharged.
There are many cases when, as a result of a power surge in the network, the uninterruptible power supply, as a result of the failure of some elements, begins to work with periodic shutdowns, despite the fact that a new battery is installed in it. And in this case, the problem with periodic shutdowns of the computer is hidden not in the system unit itself, but in the uninterruptible power supply.
Secondly, You should definitely perform preventative maintenance on your computer, which I talked about a little earlier. It is precisely because of the large amount of dust that some components of the system overheat and fail. And due to overheating, as is known, of components such as the processor, the video card causes the computer to instantly shut down. In general, I will not tell you in detail now how and what you should pay attention to when carrying out preventive work. You can find out more details in the article:
Thirdly If your computer is completely new, perfectly clean, and the fans rotate freely, then the problem of overheating due to dust in this case is completely eliminated. Then you should pay attention to the computer's power supply.
From my own experience, I can tell you that the reason the computer turns off in most cases is hidden in the power supply. In order to find out whether the computer really turns off on its own due to the power supply, you need to change it to a known good one for testing.
Certain applications or the same games can put a heavy load on the video card, and if the power supply is weak and not designed for such a high load, then the power supply simply cannot withstand it and the system shuts down. Therefore, when buying a computer, you need to decide in advance about its purpose and, based on your needs, choose exactly the computer that will successfully cope with the tasks. You can find out the criteria or principles by which you should choose a computer when purchasing in a recently published article:
Fourth, another reason why the computer turns off by itself, may be hidden in the processor itself. Everything is simple here, the temperature of the central processor rises above the threshold value, the sensors record the whole thing, and then the protection is triggered, as a result of which the BIOS issues a command to turn off the computer. Such thermal sensors are installed in the processor and video card to control temperature. And the reasons for the increase in processor temperature can be varied, starting from the fact that the processor itself is not properly cooled (dust, a faulty cooler) and ending with an increase in the load on the processor (high load of computing operations).
The same can be said about a video card, which overheats due to increased load, and then the protection is triggered and the computer turns off. In such cases, it usually happens that the next time you turn on the computer, it will not turn on immediately, but only after some time has passed until the heated components have cooled down.
How can you find out the processor temperature?
You can check the processor temperature using various free system utilities and using the BIOS. If you do not know what BIOS is, how to enter it and what it is intended for, then I strongly recommend that you read the article:
Let's look at several options through which we can find out the temperature of our processor.
1. Find out the processor temperature using the BIOS. To do this, you will need to enter the BIOS of your computer and go to the appropriate section. The only thing that should be emphasized is that not every BIOS version supports this function. So, you have entered the BIOS of your computer, then you should go to the PC Health Status or Hardware Monitor section in the Advanced tab (depending on the BIOS version, the actions may vary).
The CPU Temperature parameter means the temperature of the central processor. This temperature should not exceed 70 °C.
If the temperature is more than 70 °C, the processor overheats and the computer shuts down. In this case, you just need to find out the reason for its overheating. The System Temperature parameter tells us what the temperature is inside the system unit, the temperature sensor of which is located in the chipset area. The most optimal values are considered to be from 25 to 50 °C.
If your BIOS version does not allow you to find out the processor temperature, then you can use utilities. Let's look at one of these utilities.
2. The Everest utility contains a rich set of tools in its arsenal that allow you to find out many important characteristics and parameters of individual components of your computer. Now I will not tell you in detail how to download and install this utility, since this is a separate issue.
But I’ll just say that you will need to go to the “Computer” section and select the “Sensor” option, then on the right side of the window, as shown in the figure below, you will see the temperature of the central processor.
In order to fully ensure that the computer shuts down due to overheating, you will need to perform the following procedure.
Click "Test" and select the test marked 2 in the picture. Then click the update button (number 3). Do the same thing several times and monitor the processor temperature.
Ideally, the processor temperature increases during the test and drops sharply to 40-65 °C at the end of testing. If the temperature of the central processor rises sharply to 90-100 °C and does not fall, then in this case the cause of the computer shutdown is overheating of the processor. In my practice, there was a situation when the processor temperature was 95 °C, although in fact the processor was cold. Later it turned out that the power supply damaged the processor temperature sensor itself. As a result, the sensor showed the wrong temperature, as a result of which the protection was triggered and the computer turned off.
Fifthly, the reason for the computer turning off may be the activated “Parental Control”. That is, after a set period of time, all programs are completed, as a result of which the computer turns off itself.
Therefore, do not be surprised if parental controls turn on spontaneously. After all, the culprit for its inclusion could be a virus. Here's another answer to your question: Why does the computer turn off on its own?? Therefore, you should check your computer for viruses in the system, and also do not forget to check your parental control settings. The following articles will help you.
Sixth, diagnostics of RAM. Be sure to test your RAM for errors. Since situations are known when one chip on a memory stick fails, for this reason the data that ends up in the faulty area can cause the computer to shut down. You can again test your RAM using various programs. In one of my articles I already talked about memory testing. You can find out more details from the article:
I can also advise you to roll back the system to a previous state, when the computer’s operation was not accompanied by its shutdown. From the article below you will learn the main nuances of system recovery.
At the end of today’s article, I would like to add that by taking into account all the errors that occur on your computer, you will thereby increase the reliability and safety of information that is important to you and the entire system as a whole.
I hope that today’s article “Why does the computer turn off by itself” was useful, interesting for you, and that you learned a lot from it. I would like to know if anyone has solved similar computer shutdown problems using other methods that I did not mention in this article.
I can only wish you not to encounter such incidents related to turning off or rebooting your computer, and if suddenly you did encounter a similar problem, then fix it with minimal expenditure of time and money.
See you all read in the article where I will tell you =>
Dear users, if after reading this article you have any questions or would like to add something regarding the subject of this article or the entire Internet resource as a whole, then you can use the comment form. Also ask your questions, suggestions, wishes..
So, for today, that’s actually all I wanted to tell you about in today’s episode. I can only hope that you found interesting and useful information in this article. Well, I, in turn, am waiting for your questions, wishes or suggestions regarding this article or the entire site as a whole
This is one of the most popular reasons why. To be more precise, the radiator sieves are covered with dust. Dust greatly interferes with the proper exchange of heat, resulting in overheating of the processor, which ultimately signals the computer to shut down. Very often this happens during a game, because at this time all components operate at maximum levels and, as a result, require cooling. It is necessary to remove the cooler, clean it and remove dust from the radiator grille.
The thermal paste between the heatsink and the processor has stopped functioning
Sometimes this reason lies in “outdated” thermal paste, which is located between the heatsink and the processor. Thermal paste is needed as a conductor of cold temperature and heat. This is easy to fix - you need to remove the cooler and radiator grille, and then apply a thin layer of paste to the processor.
Poor circulation inside the system unit
Air circulation will help avoid such overheating and shutdown. It is necessary to install several more coolers, and also change the coolers on the power supply and processor. You should also avoid keeping your computer in confined spaces, such as propping it up against a table, wall, or printer.
A large number of programs
This is another interesting reason why your computer may shut down - there are too many programs running. This especially affects older computers. You should qualitatively reduce the number of processes using the task manager, but you need to do this very carefully.
The power supply is malfunctioning
A faulty power supply is one of the most common reasons why a computer turns off inadvertently. Often power supplies become unusable due to poor quality, voltage fluctuations or sudden shutdown of the PC. Power supplies require replacement every 3 years of operation. Among other things, dust can be the main cause of breakdown.
Problem with motherboard or RAM
Turning off the computer while using software or computer games may indicate that the RAM or motherboard has failed. In this case, it is unlikely that you will be able to solve the problem yourself; it is better to turn to specialists.
Poor network connection
The computer may turn off due to a breakdown in the cable that connects the electrical network and the computer. There may also be a problem with the surge protector. It is important to check all wires using a special tool or with a simple replacement. It would also be a good idea to check the outlet just in case.
Virus
This is the last possible reason for your computer to shut down. Indeed, there are viruses that can spontaneously shut down a computer. Viruses should be removed using special programs - antiviruses.
Often, diagnosing computer malfunctions consists of searching for answers to one seemingly simple question - why does the computer turn off by itself? This problem is quite widespread among modern PCs.
In our article, we will look at the most typical cases of spontaneous PC shutdown and try to describe the method for solving each individual problem.
The computer turns off automatically during the game
Often, users immediately begin to look for the source of the problem in the video card, but note that a faulty video card should be considered as a probable cause of shutdown only after checking 2 other computer components. Usually, when the video card is to blame, the symptoms look different, and the computer does not turn off itself, but simply freezes , or artifacts appear on his monitor.
The symptoms described above apply not only to computer games. Any running “heavy” application or voluminous video causes a strong increase in the load on both the processor and the power supply.
The computer turns on and immediately turns off
This is where things can get a little more complicated. Along with the reasons described above, malfunctions of other computer components may also manifest themselves. So, if your computer immediately turns off when you turn it on, the first thing you should pay attention to is the RAM or motherboard. Here it is recommended to carry out diagnostics from simple to complex, and it’s worth starting with RAM.
PC turns off for other reasons
In addition to the reasons described above, there are many other problems that can lead to spontaneous shutdown of the PC. And if you do not have sufficient experience and skills in testing computer equipment, then it is better not to risk it and call a specialist, or use the help of friends who are more competent in such matters.
Here we present a number of probable reasons that can lead to the computer turning off on its own:
- dust accumulated in the system unit;
- faulty extension cord, uninterruptible power supply or wiring;
- voltage surges or low voltage in the electrical network.
All these factors should also not be ignored - especially since checking them will not take much of your time. It is worth noting that in addition to these reasons, there may be software reasons. For example, if your PC turns off periodically, then it is likely that it is infected with viruses and requires a full scan using anti-virus programs.
Methods for checking a computer that turns off spontaneously for malfunctions
So, now having a certain list of “suspicions,” let’s take a more detailed look at checking each of the probable reasons for the spontaneous shutdown of the PC. Of course, you can check what exactly failed by simply replacing the component that is most suspected. But first, we still recommend cleaning the computer system unit from dust, of which a lot can accumulate there.
In order to exclude the processor from the list of suspicions, you will need to replace the thermal paste and test it using testing programs. For example, it is better to check the processor temperature through the BIOS system.
RAM can be checked for faults in the MemTest86 program. If critical errors are detected as a result of the check, then most likely there is a malfunction.
The easiest way to diagnose a power supply is with a multimeter, but this procedure should only be carried out by a trained person. Never climb into live equipment without proper training!
It is usually not difficult to check the motherboard - all faulty capacitors look slightly swollen. If the problem is microcracks, then it will not be as easy to detect it. Then you can either try to thoroughly vacuum the board, or throw it away with a clear conscience and buy a new one.
Thus, by checking or replacing each “suspicious” component one by one, we will most likely come to a solution to the problem of spontaneous shutdown of the computer. This method, on the one hand, is highly effective, but on the other hand, it is not accessible to everyone due to the lack of appropriate skills. However, we hope that the tips given here will be useful and help solve your problem.