Help! PC Shuts Down

[14Schofield]

Alright so this has been a problem for months now, and I'm tired of it... My computer will randomly shut down if I play ANY video game, not only that, but simply using a webcam will shut it down as well. I think it's most likely a hardware problem because it shuts down, I don't get any error report or anything!

My specs are:

OS: Windows 7 Home Premium 32 Bit
Version: 6.1.7601 Service Pack 1 Build 7601
Processor: Intel Core2 Quad CPU Q9550 @ 2.83GHz, 2833Mhz
BIOS Version/Date: Phoenix Technologies, LTD 6.00 PG, 7/30/2008
SMBIOS Version: 2.4
Installed Physical Memory (RAM): 4.00GB
Total Physical Memory: 2.75GB
Available Physical Memory: 1.34GB
Total Virtual Memory: 5.50GB
Available Virtual Memory: 3.23GB
Video Card: NVIDIA GTX 285

Sorry, I do not know what half of those things are, I'm not really into computer technology that much, I just posted what I thougt was necessary from msinfo32.exe. I'll take all the help I can get, I'm tired of having to switch to my father's laptop to cam with my girlfriend, but more importantly I want to be able to play games!

 

[Golden]

Hi,

Since you mention shut-downs during video games and webcam, it sounds to me as if you have a graphics card problem. The easiest thing to do is update your graphics card drivers.

Please go to this site and download and install the video card driver that matches yours - please check carefully.

Drivers - Download NVIDIA Drivers

Make sure your panel looks like this:

View attachment 163990

Post back and let us know if you still have problems with the game. After that lets tackle the webcam problem.

Regards,
Golden

 

[14Schofield]

Thanks, but no luck. Updated the driver, restarted PC, attempted to play Minecraft. Figured I should start with a game that is easy on hardware - well my PC crashed not even five minutes into playing.

 

[14Schofield]

Just tried using webcam, that didn't work either.

 

[richnrockville]

Just tried using webcam, that didn't work either.

Schofield, it could possibly be a hardware heat problem. Have you tried to take the case off or if it is a laptop just blowing out the vents with compressed air.?

Your system specifications don't tell us much to be able to help you outside if generic responses.

Many times in a desktop, the cpu fan sucks in all the carpet dust and cat/dog hair and gets matted down. Then it overheats and shuts down.

Or your cpu fan or graphics board fan (if it has one) could get clogged up.

Rich

 

[14Schofield]

Just tried using webcam, that didn't work either.

Schofield, it could possibly be a hardware heat problem. Have you tried to take the case off or if it is a laptop just blowing out the vents with compressed air.?

Your system specifications don't tell us much to be able to help you outside if generic responses.

Many times in a desktop, the cpu fan sucks in all the carpet dust and cat/dog hair and gets matted down. Then it overheats and shuts down.

Or your cpu fan or graphics board fan (if it has one) could get clogged up.

Rich

I went out and bought some compressed air and did a very thorough clean of my computer; removed the hardware and cleaned all of them, then put them back in. Still powers down when I play games/webcam though, I want to be able to identify what is wrong, I can just replace what is broken, but I can't identify the source of the problem.