Eratic pc behaviour

[mRmasteRful]

Hell Hts-ers. My cousin has a pc and it is giving a little trouble. First it kept cutting to a blue screen after about 10-30 minutes of usage. After some googling and opening the pc I deduced that dust was that was heavily around the heatstink and RAM ports was causing it to overheat. It was cleaned and the blue screen stopped appearing but now it just suddenly cuts off for no reason.
So my question is does anybody know what could cause this or have dealt with something similar in the past. I'm leaving by him soon and would like to nip this in the bud in a day or two.

[Vulpine]

Details would be useful, but a system that "cuts off for no reason" could be overheating.

[mRmasteRful]

I assumed I fixed the overheating problem. All dust has beeen removed and Ram has been cleaned. It used to cut off to a blue screen so after I cleaned it I installed windows 7 over it. Incidentally it starting cutting off during the windows 7 installation as well. Now it doesnt give you a blue screen it just shuts down for no reason. Oh a screw is missing from the heatstink but it is fixed to the processor nonetheless

[LoGiCaL__]

If you have ruled out viruses/malware then you should run a diagnostics test. It may be overheating as previously mentioned or it may be a bad stick of ram....etc..etc... I recently had the same problem and noticed that it cut out after a while. However, it was really going to the bluescreen when something was taking up a good portion of cpu %. If you are fortunate enough to have a similar pc, switch ram and give it a test run. If that doesn't work then test the motherboard then the hard drive.

-- Thu Aug 19, 2010 11:35 pm --

After just reading your last post, I am willing to bet it is the ram. I had the same problem, thought it was windows and re-installed. It wouldn't get past repair/install screen of windows xp and then cut out with a BSOD. Try ram first since it is the cheapest to repair.

Also, try google'n the error numbers on the bottom of the BSOD. It will/should give you a nudge in the right direction.

[Vulpine]

Was the heatsink removed at one point in time? If it was, and thermal paste wasn't reapplied, you could be getting a bad contact. Check out the BIOS to see if the temperature is where it should be, just to be certain.

Edit:
I don't think it could be the RAM. A bad stick would cut to a BSOD and then reboot, instead of simply shutting the system down.

[mRmasteRful]

I think its the heatstink to ill try ram switching. We happen to have another pc lieing around

[LoGiCaL__]

A bad stick would cut to a BSOD and then reboot, instead of simply shutting the system down.

It could make it hang on the BSOD and force a hard reboot. (Not "fighting" by the way) What would really help would be the BSOD error message and codes it gives, but mostly the error code. Write it down or take a picture with your phone and post it or a link to it or google it.

-- Fri Aug 20, 2010 12:00 am --

Specs would help, and brand if not self built.

[mRmasteRful]

I dont know what the BSOD is, Im not getting any error message of any kind. It just turns off. When you reboot it starts as normal and repeat the same shutting down.

[LoGiCaL__]

What happens when you boot into safe mode?

[Goatboy]

This is definitely a heat problem. I don't know of any software methods to instantly shut off the computer. At best, a bluescreen with an immediate shutoff.