# My newest computer woe...
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-newest-computer-woe/669960
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [September 29, 2013, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-newest-computer-woe/669960 "2013-09-29T22:50:25Z")
**Posts on this page:** 17
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)
#### Post date: [September 29, 2013, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-newest-computer-woe/669960/1 "2013-09-29T22:50:25Z")
Lately, my computer would abruptly turn itself off at irregular intervals; lately, the computer would turn off at startup.
I can’t even reinstall the OS off of the DVD-Rom.
FWIW…emachine T5246
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### Author:  [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)
#### Post date: [September 29, 2013, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-newest-computer-woe/669960/2 "2013-09-29T22:55:51Z")
Do you have a spare power supply to test it with? Nine times out of ten it’s the power supply.
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### Author:  [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)
#### Post date: [September 29, 2013, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-newest-computer-woe/669960/3 "2013-09-29T22:57:41Z")
In order of probability
Bad power supply (indicated that it was intermittent to begin with)
Bad motherboard
Bad CPU chip
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### Author:  [@excavating\_for\_a\_mind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/excavating_for_a_mind)
#### Post date: [September 29, 2013, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-newest-computer-woe/669960/4 "2013-09-29T23:00:23Z")
Wouldn’t a bad cooling fan do this? If the CPU gets too hot, doesn’t it shut down to prevent it from burning itself up?
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### Author:  [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)
#### Post date: [September 29, 2013, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-newest-computer-woe/669960/5 "2013-09-29T23:08:19Z")
Yeah, my first thought was a heat problem, followed by a power supply problem as the two most likely culprits.
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### Author:  [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)
#### Post date: [September 29, 2013, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-newest-computer-woe/669960/6 "2013-09-29T23:09:55Z")
I’ve had fans go bad before, but none ended up with shutdowns at startup (per the OP). Have I just been lucky?
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### Author:  [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)
#### Post date: [September 30, 2013, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-newest-computer-woe/669960/7 "2013-09-30T00:06:04Z")
I’ve had one lock on POST on a reboot. I’ve also had one lock during the windows load screen. Depends on what you mean by “on startup” I suppose.
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### Author:  [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)
#### Post date: [September 30, 2013, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-newest-computer-woe/669960/8 "2013-09-30T04:01:16Z")
As described…
first thought is thermal
next: power supply
third: hard drive
if it stays on longer if you leave it off for a while, I lean thermal
psu or hdd are more random.
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### Author:  [@Myglaren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myglaren)
#### Post date: [September 30, 2013, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-newest-computer-woe/669960/9 "2013-09-30T05:22:41Z")
My daughter’s was the same. CPU heatsink clogged solid with dust and fluff.
Rescue came too late unfortunately - fried chip.
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### Author:  [@Imasquare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Imasquare)
#### Post date: [September 30, 2013, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-newest-computer-woe/669960/10 "2013-09-30T08:34:46Z")
That’s probably it. Every time I have come accross a PC with this behaviour it has been the power supply.
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### Author:  [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)
#### Post date: [September 30, 2013, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-newest-computer-woe/669960/11 "2013-09-30T13:45:55Z")
it just might be a bad power supply.
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### Author:  [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)
#### Post date: [September 30, 2013, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-newest-computer-woe/669960/12 "2013-09-30T14:19:02Z")
> [@Myglaren](#):
>
> My daughter’s was the same. CPU heatsink clogged solid with dust and fluff.
> Rescue came too late unfortunately - fried chip.
See this more often than not, especially if the PC is on the floor under the desk. If not, see if the CPU fan (if it has one) is running.
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### Author:  [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)
#### Post date: [September 30, 2013, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-newest-computer-woe/669960/13 "2013-09-30T16:59:47Z")
Maybe I misread the OP but I dismissed thermal as it sounds like it won’t boot even when cold.
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### Author:  [@Unpronounceable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unpronounceable)
#### Post date: [September 30, 2013, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-newest-computer-woe/669960/14 "2013-09-30T17:02:56Z")
I’ve had a fried memory chip that gave similar symptoms.
That, at least, should be testable from the boot menu.
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### Author:  [@Blakeyrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blakeyrat)
#### Post date: [October 1, 2013, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-newest-computer-woe/669960/15 "2013-10-01T17:53:39Z")
> [@Rhythmdvl](#):
>
> I’ve had fans go bad before, but none ended up with shutdowns at startup (per the OP). Have I just been lucky?
The shutoff is due to heat buildup. Depending on the size of the case, the power/generation of the CPU, and the other components in the computer, your motherboard could hit the overheat threshold in 5 seconds, or it could run for years without ever reaching it.
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### Author:  [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)
#### Post date: [October 2, 2013, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-newest-computer-woe/669960/16 "2013-10-02T00:59:22Z")
Update:
Opened up the tower (with the power off and everything unplugged ;)) cleaned dust off every fan and vent I saw, swapped in a spare power supply I had lying around, and…so far so good:D.
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### Author:  [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2013, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-newest-computer-woe/669960/17 "2013-10-03T20:27:01Z")
We bought a bunch of eMachines about 10 years ago, couldn’t beat the price. One lost a CPU and 2 or 3 lost the power supply years later. That was it as far as problems.