Desktop shuts itself down....?
Discussion
Hi - my 3 yr old media centre desktop PC shuts itself down. Seems to be that it makes a different noise these days, I am guessing a fan isnt working and it is getting too hot and then turning itself off!!?? Any ideas what might cause this?
I cant decide whether to get it fixed or to splash out on a new machine (maybe the Dell XPS One).
I cant decide whether to get it fixed or to splash out on a new machine (maybe the Dell XPS One).
It could simply be a case of a fan needing a clean and an oil!
Unplug it and take the side off for a look - try to earth yourself first. If the fan is dirty you should be able to blow the dust away, and then try moving the fans with your hand. The fans should rotate very easily by hand. You could always run the Pc with the case off if you're careful to see if the fans are sticking. Anyway, if you suspect a sticking fan, either buy another one, or you can take off the sticker on top of the fan and add a very small amount of machine oil (no not Mobil One!!)
Otherwise just get a recommendation for a reputable PC engineer, NOT PCWorld!!!, and get them to sort it - why buy another PC unless your old one is slow, or you just want an excuse to convince the missus you need a new shiny one!
Disclaimer: As a time served Systems Engineer, I am especially experienced to do silly or risky things with a PC - take my advice and if it goes Pete Tong - tough...
Unplug it and take the side off for a look - try to earth yourself first. If the fan is dirty you should be able to blow the dust away, and then try moving the fans with your hand. The fans should rotate very easily by hand. You could always run the Pc with the case off if you're careful to see if the fans are sticking. Anyway, if you suspect a sticking fan, either buy another one, or you can take off the sticker on top of the fan and add a very small amount of machine oil (no not Mobil One!!)
Otherwise just get a recommendation for a reputable PC engineer, NOT PCWorld!!!, and get them to sort it - why buy another PC unless your old one is slow, or you just want an excuse to convince the missus you need a new shiny one!
Disclaimer: As a time served Systems Engineer, I am especially experienced to do silly or risky things with a PC - take my advice and if it goes Pete Tong - tough...
Edited by Volte on Tuesday 8th April 23:16
Volte said:
It could simply be a case of a fan needing a clean and an oil!
Unplug it and take the side off for a look - try to earth yourself first. If the fan is dirty you should be able to blow the dust away, and then try moving the fans with your hand. The fans should rotate very easily by hand. You could always run the Pc with the case off if you're careful to see if the fans are sticking. Anyway, if you suspect a sticking fan, either buy another one, or you can take off the sticker on top of the fan and add a very small amount of machine oil (no not Mobil One!!)
Otherwise just get a recommendation for a reputable PC engineer, NOT PCWorld!!!, and get them to sort it - why buy another PC unless your old one is slow, or you just want an excuse to convince the missus you need a new shiny one!
Disclaimer: As a time served Systems Engineer, I am especially experienced to do silly or risky things with a PC - take my advice and if it goes Pete Tong - tough...
Unplug it and take the side off for a look - try to earth yourself first. If the fan is dirty you should be able to blow the dust away, and then try moving the fans with your hand. The fans should rotate very easily by hand. You could always run the Pc with the case off if you're careful to see if the fans are sticking. Anyway, if you suspect a sticking fan, either buy another one, or you can take off the sticker on top of the fan and add a very small amount of machine oil (no not Mobil One!!)
Otherwise just get a recommendation for a reputable PC engineer, NOT PCWorld!!!, and get them to sort it - why buy another PC unless your old one is slow, or you just want an excuse to convince the missus you need a new shiny one!
Disclaimer: As a time served Systems Engineer, I am especially experienced to do silly or risky things with a PC - take my advice and if it goes Pete Tong - tough...
Edited by Volte on Tuesday 8th April 23:16
- I find vaseline under the fan sticker works very well. Take the side off and make sure the cpu fan is running.
Edited by Tunku on Wednesday 9th April 02:39
Technically you should be able to tell if a fan is gone without even opening the case by putting your hand over the fan on the power supply at the back and seeing if there is anything coming out and if so how warm it is. If you could describe it as hot then theres a problem. And if its the cpu overheating putting your hand on the centre of the case top or bottom it should be room temp metal rather than physically hot which if it is then means theres a problem.
But as has been said the taking the covers off and checking things is generally a lot more fun.
But as has been said the taking the covers off and checking things is generally a lot more fun.
I have just blown myself up !
Not really - thanks guys, I will take the back off tonight and check out the fan, I assume it should run all the time. I will try dusting it, oiling it or possibly replacing it. I should really resist spending money on a new PC as I am starting to look north of £1K. I should really put that towards the 100K house improvement budget and my need for a new car.
Not really - thanks guys, I will take the back off tonight and check out the fan, I assume it should run all the time. I will try dusting it, oiling it or possibly replacing it. I should really resist spending money on a new PC as I am starting to look north of £1K. I should really put that towards the 100K house improvement budget and my need for a new car.
jimmyb said:
The fans are generally pretty cheap (couple of quid 5-10 iirc) and can be picked up at most pc shops as can the power supplies and yes the fan should be on all the time.
Not sure that last bit is true. My (last years) Dell has a whizzy case with lots of air holes; it certainly turns the fans on and off, you can hear it doing so. Normally it is bloody quiet, at most a single slow power supply fan.But, otherwise I still suspect this is the issue. CPU heatsink fan buggered, BIOS tripped, and off.
I presume you mean that you are putting your hand at the back of the PC, somewhere near where the mains cable (kettle connector, normally) connects? That would be the power supply fan. If the breeze is there and cool, it sounds like the power supply fan is ok.
So, we need to find the CPU and motherboard. Is this a vertical or horizontal box ?
Incidentally, don't spend a lot of your time with your head near the open side when the PC is on, a 2GHz+ CPU will be emitting some microwaves. Move the PC around to point the open side at people you don't like!
So, we need to find the CPU and motherboard. Is this a vertical or horizontal box ?
Incidentally, don't spend a lot of your time with your head near the open side when the PC is on, a 2GHz+ CPU will be emitting some microwaves. Move the PC around to point the open side at people you don't like!
When it switches on after switching off like this, can you enter the BIOS settings (it'll flash up 'Press F2 to enter setup' or something similar, press it) and go into the safety menu and check what the temperatures are at. If the CPU temperature is above 60 degress C then that's the sign that it's too hot and the CPU fan may need replacing. There's also a setting in there about the auto shutdown temperature, but I'd leave that well alone! Press 'Exit with saving' a lot to get out of all those settings.
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