What is wrong with my PC?

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nintendokid

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(note: This is a backup PC that I'm using)

My main PC is now unusable. Bought it back in 2002 (hehe) and has been running 100% until recently. Turns off randomly and then it proceeds to turn on, off, on, off at the black boot screen and the only way to stop it is to unplug the power cord. It's not just a quick power failure because whenever I use it, it still shows that "Saving Settings, Windows is now shutting down" screen. I scanned with spysweeper and norton antivirus (outdated, unsubscribed) and got nothing. I highly doubt it's a virus because I've been doing the same things I do and haven't downloaded anything out of the ordinary nor visited unsafe sites and I'm the only user of my PC.

I'm guessing it might be the power supply but if it is, would it still shut down properly like it's doing? Wouldn't it just BAM! blackout power cut? It's also very clean - I dusted and cleaned just 6 months ago.

I don't care much about the PC, just the harddrive. However, I also don't want to hook up the HDD to this crappy backup PC for the fear that it could be a virus. Then I'll seriously have no PC.
 
I don't have much experience on this but I would guess it's the power supply. I don't think it would just shut off unless it's really not getting enough power. Why don't you try the powersupply for the computer you're using currently? That would be an easy way to figure out if it's bad. This is just a guess though, I'm not well versed in the subject.
 
my PC was doing something similar last year. I bought a new power supply and it works fine now. the only difference is that I didn't get the shutdown screen like you are.
 
[quote name='nintendokid'](note: This is a backup PC that I'm using)

My main PC is now unusable. Bought it back in 2002 (hehe) and has been running 100% until recently. Turns off randomly and then it proceeds to turn on, off, on, off at the black boot screen and the only way to stop it is to unplug the power cord. It's not just a quick power failure because whenever I use it, it still shows that "Saving Settings, Windows is now shutting down" screen. I scanned with spysweeper and norton antivirus (outdated, unsubscribed) and got nothing. I highly doubt it's a virus because I've been doing the same things I do and haven't downloaded anything out of the ordinary nor visited unsafe sites and I'm the only user of my PC.

I'm guessing it might be the power supply but if it is, would it still shut down properly like it's doing? Wouldn't it just BAM! blackout power cut? It's also very clean - I dusted and cleaned just 6 months ago.

I don't care much about the PC, just the harddrive. However, I also don't want to hook up the HDD to this crappy backup PC for the fear that it could be a virus. Then I'll seriously have no PC.[/quote]

There is an awesome freeware program called PC Wizard 2008 that will monitor board/HD/CPU/GPU temps in Windows. You can watch them climb as you do your normal routines. If you have a board schematic, you could also try pulling out the power switch plug just to eliminate a shorting switch. Unlikely, but possible. It's a shame to toss a perfectly serviceable PC, unless you really want to upgrade.
 
At first I was going to say power supply, but if you get the "Windows is shutting down now" screen I want to say more then likely it isn't. If it's getting hot it would also shut down instantly as a saftey procedure, odd power issues would do the same as well. So this is a thinker. If it's hardware .. it's the power supply, but let's think software. Yet that requires a couple of questions to be asked.

Does the Black boot screen mean after windows starts to load and or loaded .. or while it's still going through the bios stuff before you even see anything windows related on the screen?

Does it do this while the internet is connected, disconnected, or both?

Did it become slower then normal before it started to do this?

These can help me a bit :D
 
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