My System Keeps Shutting Down Randomly!

ok so i tried removing the apple things n yeahhh it dident work i keept trying for like for hours untill i got sleepy. I dont understand what could have happend tho. it was working the day before, but i know my brother dosent have internet so he couldent have been downloading a virus or a worm. or maybe the virus was already there but since it hasent been used in so long.. it grew? lol. I had this same problem when i bearly bought my computer. and it was my brother again. but there was internet. and my friend fixed it by restoring it but now it just restarts when im in restore mode so idk what to do!!!. im gonna try again today after school. if someone finds a solution, please tell me!!!

Random shutdowns, in General, regardless of the OS, can often be traced back to a marginal power supply. The more CPU time and the more RAM you use, the greater the power drain is, on the PSU. It will be less in SAFE Mode, because you're using less ram and less cpu time.
It can reach a point where the PSU just gives up sees an over current condition and the system crashes. I've seen that more times than I can even mention and it doesn't have to be an el'cheapo PSU like the Bestec. It can even be a top-O-the-line brand.

A while back, I scrapped out 14 bad PSU's to recover the fans, fuses and whatever else I could salvage. In every PSU I found bulging filter capacitors.
Some of those PSU's were less than a month old when they failed.

As for running multiple OS's, I always install each OS on a separate HD.
The boot menu from my 'MSI' BIOS allows me to boot from any drive in my PC.

Nothing's worse than a boot manager gone sour. So I don't use one.

Cheers Mates!
The Doctor

RST101 said:

Never thought it could be your psu. Same thing was happening to me and it was the psu. It just kept shutting down randomly and at no specific time. Sounds very similar to your problem.

That MIGHT be it. It does seem to fit. But why does it run fine in safe mode? If it was the PSU then it doesn't seem like it would be caused by a stimulus. I'm not saying this is, but it seems like it would be more of a software issue. I think if the formatting doesn't work I'll buy another PSU and see what that does. Couldn't hurt anything but my wallet.

EDIT: After reading drwho's post, I think it might actually be the power supply. It is a fairly old, albeit good, psu. Still, one last reformat. For the hell of it.

I have to agree with the other posts, try another known good (or new) power supply. I've been a hardware technician for many a year, and have seen similar problems that all go away when I have replaced the power supply.

There is no need to format and reinstall the OS. It boots, and works fine while the power supply is able to keep up.

Just my two cents worth

I repeat....

The more CPU time and the more RAM you use, the greater the power drain is, on the PSU. It will be less in SAFE Mode, because you're using less ram and less cpu time.

The more you do on your PC, the more power it takes.

Like, running your car at 50mph doesn't take as much horsepower and gasoline as running it at 90mph.
If ya wanna play, you gotta pay!

Whatever PSU you are replacing may just be too small for the job you want it to do, so replace it with one about 50% larger (or better).
If you have a 300, get at least a 500.

Those numbers represent the Maximum peak power that the PSU can put out during the startup of the PC (about one or two seconds, to charge the capacitors on the mobo and start all the drives and fans).
That is NOT the all-day running wattage, , that will be up to 30% less than the wattage printed on the outside of the PSU.

By buying too small of a PSU for your PC, you're just setting yourself up for future problems. You can't go too big, so don't worry about that.

Good Luck!

The Doctor

Sounds to me like the CPU is overheating or the power supply is dying. I would suggest installing SpeedFan and check your temps, and also look for a load inducing program like Prime95.

If it is overheating then clean up the fan or remove it and replace the thermal compound.
I also say the power supply because when Windows is fully loaded, it can also causes heavier loads on the power supply since the devices are being used.

Since it is not doing it in Safe Mode, either one could be a problem still, because SafeMode minimizes CPU usage so does not let it overheat, or does not fully use all hardware so does not put a strain on the power supply.

If they all seem OK, anther option is the hard drive is going bad (check the SMART monitoring in SpeedFan). Best test for this is get another hard drive and use it for testing.

Ok. Back again. I was using a thermaltake 500w power supply, replaced it with my dad's 400w dynex psu and it completely fixed the problem. For about 2 days. When it crashed, it rebooted saying there were disk errors on drive C and it attempted to repair them. It doesn't crash NEARLY as frequently though. Nothing is overheating, i'm positive of that. It's useable now it just will crash after about 30 min. Not exactly sure what to make of that though...

It would sound to this old tech, like you've got a system there that's a real power HOG!

I'd stick in an Antec Earthwatts 650 and forget about the power problems.
I'm now running those on both of my PC's....the new one and the one that's already seven years old.

Any problem on the HD is probably due to the power supply crashing while the HD is writing to the disk.
That's a sure fire recipe for disaster.
Good Luck,
The Doctor