Wierd crashes...

[I)eadnerzhul]

Alright, I got a new computer for my thirteenth birthday a while ago from new-egg. The OS is Vista Home Premium, with 3.0 GHZ and 2047 MBs of RAM. It's a gaming PC, and is capable of running most next-gen games at max at about 30 FPS. But for SOME REASON, occasionally it just SHUTS OFF. It doesn't actually crash, but rather SHUTS OFF right away. It even skips the 'shutting off' screen! I know it's not a virus, but rather something physical. Any ideas?

 

[Steel_Stallion]

Your power cable is not properly attached, or the problem is something with the power outlet (Faulty/loose plug maybe?)

Last time I had this problem was with an old PC that had too much dust covering up the vents, which clogged the fans and caused it to shut off completely just suddenly like you described it (I opened it up and cleaned it)

But since yours is a new PC I don't think that's the problem. Also, check if you are eating too much power from the same outlet (Connecting lots of things to it) might be interfering with the PC's power

 

[whisp]

You should activate the blue screens. I don't know how it is done in vista, but in xp you open the properties of "my computer" then choose the tab "advanced", where you push the button "Settings" in "start and recovery". There you uncheck "automatic reboot". Maybe it's similar in Vista.

Not that this wouldn't crash your pc anymore, but maybe the informations on the bluescreen will bring you closer to a solution.

Could be an erronous RAM, overheating problems (cpu, gpu, chipset...), a problem with the powersupply... and more... Lots of choice

 

[I)eadnerzhul]

Your power cable is not properly attached, or the problem is something with the power outlet (Faulty/loose plug maybe?)

Yeah, that's gotta be it. I'll look into it. Thanks!

 

[Gilles]

You should activate the blue screens. I don't know how it is done in vista, but in xp you open the properties of "my computer" then choose the tab "advanced", where you push the button "Settings" in "start and recovery". There you uncheck "automatic reboot". Maybe it's similar in Vista.

Not that this wouldn't crash your pc anymore, but maybe the informations on the bluescreen will bring you closer to a solution.

Could be an erronous RAM, overheating problems (cpu, gpu, chipset...), a problem with the powersupply... and more... Lots of choice

Yeah my guess would be heat, but this is your best bet.

 

[Dr Super Good]

If it shuts off, it must be a defective power supply or power source. If it restarts then its a BSOD caused by a defective component in the graphics, processor or motherboard.

 

[I)eadnerzhul]

Thanks for the help guys! I don't know what it was, but, my dad got it fixed.

Edit: Turns out the motherboard was defective. So, my dad got me a new motherboard. Fine! But now I have a new problem... my graphics card doesn't work! I installed the proper drivers, but whenever I run ANY game, it stutters every few seconds. Anyone have any solutions?