Computer shuts off with a click sound then reboots

Today my computer shut off twice randomly. This is the first time it's happened. There was a click sound like when you push the power button on the case in to shut it off manually.

The first time it happened I was using my XP installation. The initial BIOS screen came up but nothing seemed to be happening. I unplugged the power and replugged and tried to boot it again a few times. After a few times it then booted into Win 7 on another disk (which I thought was dead, although it appears it restored somehow) and then shut off again after a few minutes.

I logged back in to the XP installation and am typing this up. I'm thinking something might be going bad, maybe the power supply or motherboard. I replaced the power supply once in this machine already. The motherboard is a Gigabyte with capacitors that are supposedly rated for 50,000 hours. I definitely don't think I have anywhere near that amount of usage with this machine although it usually is on 24/7. I thought maybe it could be the power strip, or cable or something too.

My first guess is that it could be the power supply. I've heard that's frequently the first thing to die in a computer.

I could try to take it down to best buy to see if I can get them to test it for free. If you have any thoughts let me know, thanks!

BreakAes said:

Today my computer shut off twice randomly. This is the first time it's happened. There was a click sound like when you push the power button on the case in to shut it off manually.

The first time it happened I was using my XP installation. The initial BIOS screen came up but nothing seemed to be happening. I unplugged the power and replugged and tried to boot it again a few times. After a few times it then booted into Win 7 on another disk (which I thought was dead, although it appears it restored somehow) and then shut off again after a few minutes.

I logged back in to the XP installation and am typing this up. I'm thinking something might be going bad, maybe the power supply or motherboard. I replaced the power supply once in this machine already. The motherboard is a Gigabyte with capacitors that are supposedly rated for 50,000 hours. I definitely don't think I have anywhere near that amount of usage with this machine although it usually is on 24/7. I thought maybe it could be the power strip, or cable or something too.

My first guess is that it could be the power supply. I've heard that's frequently the first thing to die in a computer.

I could try to take it down to best buy to see if I can get them to test it for free. If you have any thoughts let me know, thanks!

Power supply or Hard drive


Can we get you system specs.

Thanks for the reply. I think if it were one of those 2 it would be the PSU because each OS was on a different drive.

I looked this up and one article's #1 reason was overheating. I think it might be due to my wood burning stove, which I used for the first time. It made the room pretty damn toasty. The stove was off all night and the computer didn't shut down again. I'll have to keep an eye on things as they progress, but I'm thinking that's what happened. :P If it happens again I'll list all my system specs. Thanks again!