PC shutting down

[bigTillyMint]

Our PC seems to be doing wierd things like shutting itself down when left for say 10mins.

I have clicked to restore to previous settings incase someone has inadvertently done something and it now seems to be stuck.on a screen which says please wait while your windows files and settings are being restored System Restore is initialising - that circle is going round and then it just went off so I pressed the power button and the same screen came up.

Help! Please

Its a Dell. No idea what model! No idea where any receipts are either - it must have been ordered online but I cant see any emails...!

Could possibly be a simple overheating problem, check the fan on the power supply for operation and check that its not clogged with dust and fluff. Also remove the side cover and check that the processor and heatsink/cooling fan are not clogged up with dust, if so use a hoover to remove any and all dust/fluff from the computer/fans and heatsinks. Make sure the computer is turned of first.

this simple programe will tell if the computer has an overheating problem which will make it freeze or shut down.

www.alcpu.com/CoreTemp/

It sounds like it's overheating. DO NOT use a hoover to clean it, that can spin the fan out of control and make matters worse. Instead get a can of compressed air (you can get ripped off for £10 in PC world or buy one cheaply from tesco/poundland/online instead depending on how much of a rush you're in) and carefully clean out the fan openings. It's even better if you can pin the fan so it doesn't spin while you're doing it.

It won't defrag if the computer is switched off. So if the scheduled defrag happens when it's off it'll either happen when you switch it on or it won't happen at all.

OK. It is switched off at that time. When I click on disk defrag it says 0% fragmented. Does that mean it needs doing?

No it just means you haven't started the process :) Once you click go or start or defragment or whatever the button says that 0% will start going all the way up to 100.

If you've never done it then it's probably worth doing anyway (it's something that should be done semi-regularly) but from what others have said I don't think it will stop the turning off issue. It might help with the bluescreening and it should speed your computer up a bit.

I should probably go and do mine.

Ok thanks, I'll give it a go tomorrow!

We have a PC that switches itself off.

We isolated the problem to overheating, caused by a build up of dust clogging the fan.

This happens every three or four months and we fix the problem by holding a hair dryer to the vents.