My tower turns itself off after lve turned it on, does anyone know why it would do this

kiwihonky - 2021-01-01 17:11:00

Straight after? 20 minutes after?
While you're doing something in particular ?

Also does it give any kind of message during the shutdown. Or during the next startup ?

More detail please.

nice_lady - 2021-01-01 17:29:00

What sort of tower is it, and what operating system?

tygertung - 2021-01-01 20:51:00

Turns off about 20 seconds after being turned on, sometimes straight away, it's a LG cooler master, it's a few years old. It even turns itself off and on after l switch it on

Edited by kiwihonky at 3:08 pm, Sat 2 Jan

kiwihonky - 2021-01-02 15:03:00

Bad Powersupply
Bad capacitors
Clogged with dust, (overheating - and yes this can happen seconds after starting).

nice_lady - 2021-01-02 15:29:00

Cooler master is only the brand of the case - the computer is inside that.

nice_lady - 2021-01-02 15:32:00

Yup, once I'm able to get it going, l can find out what it is

kiwihonky - 2021-01-02 15:40:00

This message was deleted.

kiwihonky - 2021-01-02 15:54:00

Can't hurt. What I would try is unplug everything (inc cpu) one at a time and plug them back in and out and back in a couple of times to ensure good contact. Basically do that to everything that can be unplugged. Try booting up after doing that. Is a simple thing to try and I have fixed our desktop by reseating the cpu, and once reseating the ram.

muppet_slayer - 2021-01-02 16:14:00

Re-seating all the connectors and components is certainly worth a try. Bad connections aren't obvious, but can create all sorts of random faults.

If not.
The fact that it turns off right away ,or 20 secs later kinda makes dust or a failed cooling fan unlikely. If it was that, you might get 5 mins or so. Of course clean out the dust, and check the fans are spinning anyway.

Power supply would be the next thing I'd try. I keep a bin of older but still useful parts for just the reason. Plugging in a "known good" power supply / Ram stick / GPU is a legit fault finding method.

Edited by ianab at 9:00 pm, Sat 2 Jan

ianab - 2021-01-02 20:59:00

A computer can overheat in seconds. Just try booting one up with a jammed fan that'll do it. CPUs get to operating temperature in seconds and can overheat very Fast.

Edited by nice_lady at 9:07 pm, Sat 2 Jan

nice_lady - 2021-01-02 21:05:00

Dusty inside and damp conditions? If it's running better after 40m possibly a reason. But the power supply could be the cause (maybe dusty inside).
Re-seat everything, as said. Power off before doing that LOL.

Also, certain components can be removed while the power is off to reduce the load on the power supply. For example the graphics card so long as there is an on board graphics connector. Another is a wireless card.

But try the easy things like dusting it out first.
If you will pull anything out internally make sure it is turned off at the wall or from the switch by the power cord, and discharge static from your body occasionally.

bit - 2021-01-03 07:16:00

I don't think a CPU is going to overheat in seconds if the heat sink is fitted, that will take a little while to get red hot.

Not many people running P4s any more.

tygertung - 2021-01-03 07:38:00

tygertung wrote:

I don't think a CPU is going to overheat in seconds if the heat sink is fitted, that will take a little while to get red hot.

Not many people running P4s any more.

Can if the manufacturer/builder was a little shy with the heat transfer paste and it's dried up and the fan doesn't go. You try it on a desktop yourself.

Personally especially if its an older desktop i'm gonna say the likelyhood of bad capacitors is gonna be fairly high - either on the board or in the psu. Also a jammed psu fan might result in quick shutdowns.

And then sometimes things like the heatsink can literally partially fall off - yes I've seen that also. On an OEM box which the mobo sat vertically and happily worked for a few years then it suddenly started shutting down. Seems the posts to which the heatsink clipped onto - well one of the two had failed and broken, (dunno how/why but I suspect during manufacture), and so the heatsink was half hanging off.

Never discount anything till you've actually checked. Strange things happen.

Edited by nice_lady at 7:59 am, Sun 3 Jan

nice_lady - 2021-01-03 07:55:00

I agree regarding the quick overheat. Definately. But unlikely it would start after further attempts?
Also agree re the bad caps.

bit - 2021-01-03 07:59:00

My old computer started this recently too.
Would start, then suddenly close down and display the BIOS screen.
Push the restart button and it fired up fine.
It was the rear cooling fan. The fan was not spinning up to speed on initial startup, so the computer panicked and shot me into the BIOS (sort of saying "look, look...I have a problem").
On the restart the fan had now got itself sorted and was spinning at correct speed so computer was now happy.
I lubed the fan bearings to stop the problem temporarily, but bunged in a new fan and all was sorted after that.
So maybe your problem is one of your cooling fans?

gettinggrey - 2021-01-03 09:09:00

Pulsing power on/off fans spinning up/down and no display is often a faulty RAM stick.

bitsnpieces2020 - 2021-01-03 22:46:00