Computer shutting off then rebooting

[johnnie]

I have a computer here that I am working on for someone. When I got it the thing wouldn't start up due to a corrupt system file. I restored the system with the system disks and thought it would be ok. The person I got it from said it was shutting off and booting back up. I thought it might have been ad-ware or some virus, but after restoring it, it is doing it again.
The system ran fine through the whole setup process, but now it isn't. I am thinking bad power supply, but I thought I would ask here.

[tkmorris]

1. I think you have it

Bad power supply is the first thing I'd look for given those symptoms. You can also get that sort of problem when the power supply itself is fine but hardware has been added to the box that is requiring more power than the power supply can readily put out. Adding a newer video card to an underpowered box for example often causes this. Monitor the temperatures if you can, the CPU core most especially. If that gets too hot it'll shut down.

Good luck!

[johnnie]

2. Thanks

I disconnected the two CD-drives and took out the one card it had in it (modem) and it still did shut down. I have a drive here and I will try it before I have the person who's computer it is spend the money on a new supply.

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

3. Could be overheating due to excess dust on the CPU

Get some canned air and thoroughly clean out the computer. If your machine is in a dusty environment it can build up quickly on and in the CPU heat sink, rendering the fan ineffective. If it's a fairly new computer there will be an overheating cutoff setting in the BIOS. Boot into it and see if the temperature holds steady or keeps rising beyond the safe point.

Make sure you also shoot some air through the power supply (while the machine is off and unplugged). The fan could be clogged, causing it to overheat and reboot.

Either that or it's a bad power supply. :evilgrin:

[Crazy Guggenheim]

4. Whenever *I've* seen that issue it has been viruses or the RAM

or both. When you say restore, does that mean you backed up the system, formated the disk then reload it back on?

[johnnie]

5. At first I did the restore of files

Without formatting. Then I did a complete format and restore. I thought of the ram and will check that if the power supply isn't the problem.

[Crazy Guggenheim]

6. Also, when you back up the data run a scan on that too.