Random shut down

[mikemmb]

Hi,
My PC suddenly shuts down, usually when opening up a new process (can be any process). It then auto restarts, sometimes taking more than one go as it shuts down again towards the end of the startup process.

When it shuts down a soft Clunk can be heard, I assume this is the HD suddenly stopping, but is this the cause or effect?

The event log under Event Viewer - System, shows "the device, \Device\Ide\idePort0, did not respond within the timeout period".

Running Windows XP Service Pack 2, AMD Athlon XP1700+ 1.47Ghz, 1.25Mb RAM, Maxtor 6L040J2 HD 37.2Gb with 13.2Gb free.

Any help greatly appreciated as the problem does seem to be getting worse.

Thanks, Mike.

[mikemmb]

Hi, it is getting worse and the soft "clunk" happens quite often but the PC does not always shut down. It just sort of pauses then carries on as normal.
Do you think it is a hard disk issue or is the clunk (that I think is from the hard disk) just a result of something else.
Does anyone know what "the device, \Device\Ide\idePort0, did not respond within the timeout period" means?
Mike.

[sl00py99]

: Hi. This is terribly over-simplistic, but it is hard to say whether you have a hardware problem, or a software one. Reformatting and reloading Windows might help to determine if a critical system file went south on you. If you do so, and see no change, there is a pretty good chance you have a hardware problem. Also, you might power down, wait a few minutes, then clean any dust out of the pc, reseat all drive cable connectors one at a time, then try again. These are things you can try which won't cost you anything. Good night and good luck.