Automatic shutdown while starting up

Hey guys,

I've read some posts on various forms from people with a similar problem to mine, and have gotten several different possible solutions, many of which I have tried to no avail.

I've had this comp for about a month now, and never had a single problem with it, until today. I was playing Half-life 2, and in the middle of playing, the entire system automatically shut down. I started it back up, got the usual beep confirming it's starting up, and got to the initial screen where you can go to change your BIOS, setup, etc.

Right after getting to this screen, the computer automatically shuts down again. The more often I try it, the quicker it shuts down. For example, if I let it sit for about 10-15 mins shut off, unplugged, etc, it will make it to the screen saying "Windows was shut down improperly, would you like to boot in safe mode?". This is the farthest I have yet to get in about 2 hours of trying various solutions.

So far, I've tried switching out the RAM, trying different outlets, trying different power cords, and unplugging/replugging in different things from the motherboard. In case anyone asks, the specs are as follows:

OS: Windows XP 64-bit
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo 3.16 GHz
GPU: HIS Radeon HD 4850 512 MB
RAM: 2x 2 GB DDR2 sticks
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-G31M-ES2L

If any other info is needed, let me know, but that's all I can think of off the top of my head.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Do you OC your CPU?
If yes,turn to default in bios and see what is happen.

 

no, dont overclock anything

 

uninstall halflife in safe mode and see if the restart repeat again.

 

The problem is I can't even get it to start up long enough to even see a windows loading screen. Without fail, it shuts down by the time it asks for me to start windows in safe mode.

 

double check your cpu and fan/heatsink....you may need to remove it and re-apply thermal paste, as it sounds like you are overheating....and resetting your bios is probably still a good idea either way. also , make sure all the fans are spinning, cpu and gpu especially.

 

I agree with you!!!

 

Just checked all fans and heatsink, and all are fully attached and working. Also, BIOs was never modified to begin with.

I talked with a few friends, and they are all leaning towards a power supply problem of some kind. Can anyone else confirm that this is a high possibility?

By the way, I just disconnected everything but the vid card, hard drive, and cpu, and was able to get the computer to run until windows fully started up. About 5 seconds after this, though, the same thing occured where the entire system shuts off.

 

Well, I just recently got everything working again, and haven't run into any problems since, but I'm crossing my fingers.

Turns out, there must have been some connector for power that isn't being used - as this case/psu came with enough power connectors for 4 HDDs and 3 CD drives (lots of unused cables >_<) - which must have come into contact with some metal on the motherboard at some point, sucking all the power out of the psu until they leave contact with the metal. Obviously, without power the comp isn't going to run, which explains why it wouldn't stay on for very long - there wasn't enough power to supply the comp for all of startup let alone running the computer itself afterwards.

Anyways, I have all the excess cords taped down to the bottom of the case so nothing is coming into contact anymore with things they shouldn't be.

Just wanted to say thanks to you guys that offered suggestions, and hope this might help someone else who runs into a similar problem if my theory on why it happened makes sense.

The moral of this story: don't be messy with your power cords like I was =P

 

Hi Flames,

PSU has protective circuits. Over voltage, under current or over current will shut it down. A dead short to the chassis will prevent it from starting at all. Auto shutdown can only be reset by removing the AC power source from the PSU. Hope this helps a bit.

Good Luck, Jim