PC Power Problem

Factual Questions
1

My 3 year old desktop Wintel PC (running Windows XP) has suddenly started shutting itself off.

I thought it might be screensaver related (thinking that it was happening after several minutes of inactivity, when the screensaver would kick in)-- but it’s happening now in the middle of using it.

I’ve checked all the power options, and nothing has changed – it’s not set to go into hibernation spontaneously.

The vents appear to be clean & clear.

Power is fine, in that everything else connected to that outlet keeps running.

Any ideas? If I opened it up, is there anything I should look for?

2

Dust.

I experienced similar problems on one of my PCs. Dust had filled the space between the fins of the CPU heatsink, and it was shutting itself down due to overheating.

3

You may have been right – I opened it up, and it was *gross *in there.

Up & running for 5 hours now…thanks!