Comp turns off after 30 secs

[H0ly-H@nd-Gr3nade]

I finished my first semester of college and am very excited to just go home and just RELAX! Well, I arrive home to a faulty computer. Having the title of 'Computer Repairman' for the family, I now get to find a solution to this!

Well here's the situation:
One day my brother's computer randomly shuts off. He turns it back on, and it will only run for about 30 seconds (no POST or anything displayed on the monitor), then just dies again. I honestly have no idea where to start with this.

RAM? Power supply? Other ideas?

The specs are:
Intel C2D e6600
8192 MB RAM
eVGA 9600GSO SLI Nvidia
Windows Vista Ultimate 64
Fortron Epsilon 600w PSU

[{CLR} ObiTroy]

Same symptoms for me a few months ago, had to RMA my moherboard.

[K PhaNTOM]

Check CPU fan, CPU might be overheating. Faulty RAM is more likely though. Try the cheaper solution first.

[Savage_Hobo]

When it turns off has it booted into the Operating System? You could try going into the BIOS screen, and see if it still turns off after 30 seconds. Maybe there is something software related in the OS?

If it still turns off even in the BIOS menus try quickly checking the temperatures in the BIOS before it turns off to see if they are really hight. Open the case (amusing it's not a laptop) and visually check that all the heat sinks and fans are connected, spinning, and not missing....

[paceman]

If it doesn't POST at all, and no beeps, remove the RAM. Try again, if you don't get any beeps again, then it's probably the MOBO.

[H0ly-H@nd-Gr3nade]

When it turns off has it booted into the Operating System? You could try going into the BIOS screen, and see if it still turns off after 30 seconds. Maybe there is something software related in the OS?

If it still turns off even in the BIOS menus try quickly checking the temperatures in the BIOS before it turns off to see if they are really hight. Open the case (amusing it's not a laptop) and visually check that all the heat sinks and fans are connected, spinning, and not missing....

It will stay on about 30 secs, and in that time literally nothing is displayed on the screen. The monitor doesn't even wake up from "sleep mode", so I can't get into the BIOS let alone the OS.

[juneau]

Sounds like a bust PSU to me or a very slight chance the motherboard has died. Overheating shouldn't cause the PC not to post, especially if it hasn't been switched on for a while so it's at room temp.

Have a spare PSU? If not, try running the PC on bare minimum. Remove all USB items except KB and Mouse (preferably use PS/2 if you can). Disconnect all HDD's except the OS drive, and remove any optical drives. You can go one step further and remove things like a sound card but the previous is usually enough.

[Donziboy2]

For the PSU you can always unplug it from all components then use a small piece of wire to connect the power on wire. Then plug the psu in and check voltages with a meter. Last PSU that died for me was a Silverstone in my HTPC It was only putting 5v out on the 12v line.........

There are guides on the psu hotwire trick. Just be careful or you could get a nice shock.

[paceman]

try the memory test.

[H0ly-H@nd-Gr3nade]

try the memory test.

Just tried out removing all the RAM and using different combinations of the sticks, but still no dice. I'll try using a spare PSU next, and hope it is that!

[WalkinTarget]

Crap .... that is sad news indeed. I loved that PC, and I still think of it probably once a month. I swear I have entertained notions of buying it back from you too ...

I sold HHG this rig early last year. I am verrry familiar with it in every facet of its build process. In fact, I still have detailed pics to boot !! I'm guessing its the PSU as well, and that is at least fairly easy to test.

Fingers crossed that its an easy fix for ya, buddy. Let me know if I can help you out in any way with it.

[H0ly-H@nd-Gr3nade]

Crap .... that is sad news indeed. I loved that PC, and I still think of it probably once a month. I swear I have entertained notions of buying it back from you too ...

I sold HHG this rig early last year. I am verrry familiar with it in every facet of its build process. In fact, I still have detailed pics to boot !! I'm guessing its the PSU as well, and that is at least fairly easy to test.

Fingers crossed that its an easy fix for ya, buddy. Let me know if I can help you out in any way with it.

Thanks WT! It has been very good to us so far, absolutely no complaints.


I'll update later after I get a chance to try some more things out.

[WalkinTarget]

That Fortron Epsilon 600w was the shiz back in the day !! It wasn't until after I sold it that I read a review on JohhnyGuru that it had some higher than normal ripple across the 12+v rail.

What that means is any power fluctuation on your power line itself may cause the power supply to not feed a constant 12 volts to the hardware. Its designed to fail itself first rather than send that ripple downstream to the hardware, so it essentially is telling you that it is not up to snuff anymore.

I always run my PCs on a UPS to alleviate any power spikes to keep a power supply from experiencing any harmful surges (like when the power goes out and comes back on 5 seconds later (due to a nearby accident that takes out a utility pole, for example).

That chip had a very healthy overclock too ... stock of 2.66 but OC'd to 3.6, so if it isn't the PSU (90% sure it is), you can drop it back to stock temporarily to see if the CPU is causing an issue. That rig would run a Kentsfield Q6600-6700 very well, which is the same chip I am currently running.

[{CLR} Cobalt]

I dont think it's the ram. At least you could get into the bios, even if the ram was bad. It just wouldnt post right. If the processor overheats from the get go you will get black screen. Same with the motherboard being bad. If it doesnt post beep or anything check inside and see if anything is spinning when you turn in on. Could be PSU related but for it to sit a while and go out doesnt make sense.

Did you talk with any of the family to see if anything was changed while you were away. If you have spare parts laying around you could just try swappin stuff our to check em. Process of elimination when repairing computers.

[Mobojo]

My guess would be CPU or MOBO. I don't think it would be over heating in 30 seconds from room temp but it could. I'm wondering if it over heated before and damaged something like the CPU. Maybe the CPU isn't seated all the way. I would strip it down to bare bones just to make sure there are no weird conflicts like interrupts being screwed up or something. Thats all I can think of and who knows how close I am.