:S

I don't really know what to suggest...

there could be a problem with the power supply, as in the actual unit it's self.

is it still under warranty?

god, no. i put it together like 4 years ago. >.<

do you know any friends who may be able to swap out the power supply for you and give it a test with a different one?

i really, really don't. i don't have a lot of friends, TBH. i really don't leave the house much. -_-;

do you know what wattage the psu is?

no. :( probably pretty low, if i remember right. i just don't remember the exact number. i recall being aware that the psu wasn't great.

crapping out halfway into startup sounds like either a power supply issue or a motherboard issue. It would also depend on if it's a laptop or desktop.

it's a desktop >.< a shitty, frankenstein desktop. and i don't know the first thing about hunting down or even installing a new power supply, or how to find out if it's the power supply or the MB...

installing a new power supply is rather easy as hell i build my own pc`s

Well, first thing I'd do is open up the side panel and look at the hardware itself as you try booting it up. If you see anything strange happen before it craps out, you might be able to pinpoint where the fault is, because this definitely sounds like a hardware issue. If you see nothing, get a compressed air can and dust the hell out of that thing. (future reference, open up your desktops and dust them at least once every other month). I had a similar problem happen to me a while back, and it turned out to be both the power supply and the motherboard, with the power supply dying first. If you can list off this rig's specs, someone could probably recommend an appropriate replacement power supply. As for a motherboard, that's a different story. You might be able to find a replacement, but you'll probably have to reinstall your OS to avoid any hardware conflicts with a new motherboard. I'd recommend picking up an ATA/SATA-USB adapter, plugging it into your hard drive, and getting all your files moved to a new location if you have to start fresh.

my files aren't a big deal, because i back everything up on dropbox... but all of that other than the "dust the inside" was kind of greek to me, hon. i'm seriously not really equipped to fix this thing myself.

and i don't have a can of compressed air laying around at the moment. >.< i have one, but the "straw" fell out and it doesn't really work very well without it, does it?

Well, If you own a computer, it's almost imperative you have cans of compressed air. Desktops collect dust like nobody's business, clogging fans and leading to overheating. Laptops too can benefit from occasional treatments of it.

Also, if you have a list of the computers specs (brand, type, and model of the parts in it) it would probably help if you posted it here.

like i said, i put it together piecemeal from a list someone else gave me, 4-5 years ago, and i honestly do not remember any of that stuff.

i'm learning now that i need to be more proactive and learn how to do this stuff myself. ; ; i've just never had the focus for it.

i'll start keeping compressed air handy and cleaning the pc out, because this was very much my fault. ; ;

Don't beat yourself up too hard about it. Learning more about computers is pretty intimidating, but making the effort to know exactly what your computer can do and what it's made of makes for a far more rewarding experience with them. a couple of years ago, I wouldn't have even thought I could build my own PC, but I did just that earlier this year, and it was the best decision I've ever made, computer-wise. I suggest finding a friend that has working knowledge of computers and seeing if you can pick their brains or ask them to help you out. Turning that person into your own personal tech support will drive them crazy and make them hate you, but if you let them know you want to learn how to fix your own computers, they'll probably be more than willing to show you.

that's exactly the reason i'm loathe to ask anyone, because i know how much they hate it. :( i'm sure i could find some incentive if i really was desperate. thanks ; ;

starts up but just switches off sounds like the power supply is running on its last legs and seeing its been build years ago i asume there no warrenty left on it

What about the friend who booted it up the first time?
Maybe they know something?

it's a possibility, but i'd have to find a way to track him down and we weren't really close to begin with ; ;

How are you online now? Lls wtf
Anyway, it would be worth it right? Plus, friends usually don't think about charging so, if you ask and they CAN do it, then you are good.

I have a laptop in the same office. :( But my cintiq doesn't work on it -- at least, I've never been able to figure out how to plug it into this laptop. I'm really that computer illiterate. So doing art on this thing is really a no-go unless someone can teach me how to do that. if they can, then I'm not totally screwed...

why not search on google and youtube? that's how my friends and i learn stuff computer based haha!

i have a hard time finding and locking on to anything helpful. ;_; the situation is so generic that i'd literally have to set aside several days to take the thing apart and study every little part to understand how to handle any of it.

oh, but it does seem all i needed was an hdmi-to-dvi cable (i did find out that much), so that's on the way.

could you maybe call geek squad? or was that all that you needed?

rofl, they'll charge me over $100... i'll just build another computer if it comes to that.

Way to go Bob the builder lol!

Try posting on the fA or dA forums, see if anyone who's any good with computers lives near you and would be willing to help out.

If it was the power supply, the computer probably wouldn't even start--mine did that last year. It's a fairly cheap fix if that is the problem though, as you can get a workable power supply for $40-$60.

If it starts blue-screening, you've probably lost your motherboard or hard drive (in my experience) and those are a fix in the hundreds of dollars. X_X So if you're not blue-screening, you might be okay.

You might have actually just lost a critical file. If that's the case, it's all software, and should be easy to fix. Sometimes that happens when you unplug USB devices without ejecting them or stopping them first. Again, personal experience.

Concrete advice - if you used a full bare-bones kit to put together your computer, and can remember where you got it all from, go looking for it on that site, and then cross check and see if anyone else has this problem with the same kit. If they do, there may be a fix, or an explanation listed.

i'm pretty sure this is just a "this piece of crap is old and you didn't take very good care of it" issue, not a "you bought bad hardware" issue. it's been 4 years, possibly 5.

like i said, it tries to start and then gives up before it even gets to windows. no blue screen, just... starts, i got to the point where i could pick safe mode and then it just said nooo. i could try to get to the bios and see if it'll hang on, but i'm seriously NOT a computer person...

If Windows doesn't want to load, you may want to see if you can scrub the computer, and reinstall windows, honestly. Again, you could have accidentally dumped a critical file by pulling a USB device. If you're gonna do that, see if you can download your hard drive first, though, as that will be the end of all saved files, etc.

i didn't pull a USB device, though. the few USB cords attached to it never get removed.

and to be honest... i don't even know the first step you'd take in my situation to "scrub" the computer and try to reinstall windows. ; ; and i don't have my XP CD anymore, and windows 7 probably won't run on this thing.

but i don't need to worry about backing anything up, it's all saved.

Well, I thought since you mentioned that your cintiq randomly shut off, that such an action could have, to the computer, had the same effect as pulling a device. Something shutting off improperly like that is a similar sort of action, in some ways. I'm guessing it wasn't jostled or bumped or anything, and just randomly died?

As to the case with the fan, that may very well be it. It might very well have finally stopped altogether, and that would throw the computer into thermal shut down because its too warm for the circuitry to tell the system it's not able to work. But, like I said, for this, you'll need to leave the computer and let it cool down.

After it's cooled, try turning it on again, and see if it gets any further. If it does, and runs for a while before warming again and turning off, then it's probably your fan. Fans are usually cheaper than power supplies, but they are a bitch to remove and install, and without physically having the computer, I can't even begin to offer advice on installation.

I'm sure there are also lots of your watchers and friends that can offer other advice, and by piecing it together, you might be able to figure it out.

Theoretically you could also try a 'hard' reboot on the computer, and see if that purges the problem. Sometimes, it does actually work, but you have to be fairly careful as it could mess up a bit of the memory. However, if you have everything saved and backed up externally you ought to be fine.

no no, the cintiq detected that there was no signal and turned off -- i meant that i watched it turn off as i was drawing and that's what told me the comp had just shut down.

i've been letting it cool down, i am pretty sure you're right and that it just overheated. hopefully it didn't fry my motherboard, but i'm not holding my breath. ; ;

if, later, i can get a little farther when it's cooled off, i'll leave it off and see if i can't get the fan replaced.

what do you mean by a hard reboot?

You know when the computer is on and you press and hold the power switch for ten seconds, and the computer will shut off instantly instead of going through the shut down process? That's known as a hard reboot. The process fixes problems with things like blackberries, and most other cellphones, and as well as sometimes with computers. They all work on the same sort of principle. It basically dumps the recent memory and the random access memory, if I remember correctly, and so you can lose some stuff. But like I said, if you're backed up, it won't matter.

Use that as a last resort, though. Older computers are...fussy. 'Fussy' is a nice word for older computers...downright bitchy is more accurate.

would i have to start to turn it on and then try that to attempt the hard reboot?

Yes.

The difference is with cellphones and laptops, the better way to do that is to just pull the battery. You just can't really do that with a desktop though.

I had to do that with my laptop the other day, and now it's giving me a "consider replacing your battery" icon. :( everything is falling apart.

Well, to be fair, laptop batteries are total trash. Any lithium based battery is specifically designed to fail so that you have to go buy a new one. I wouldn't blame rebooting your computer for the battery--I'd blame the company.

fair enough. at least a new laptop battery won't be too expensive. ; ; it won't totally break my computer if it fails.

Very true. At least they work off the adapter.

Also--I just thought of this. Let your computer sit for a little bit, and then try it again (let it sit for at least a half hour). If you can, listen and see if you can hear the fan going, or if you have a clear case, watch it. If you can open a side of your computer and look in and still start it, try that. If your fan has stopped working, your computer is probably going into thermal shut down, and the cooling unit needs to be replaced, or maybe even just reconnected. This is more frequent with laptops, particularly Sony's, but it can also happen with desktops.

i wouldn't be surprised if that was the case... the fan has never really worked well, and i didn't know the first thing about buying and installing a new one. i really do not know how to modify computers at all. ; ;

if a cpu fan dont work when looking at it its proably totaly clogged up whit dust if haven`t been cleaned in ages

Well, that depends. I had a vaio laptop two years ago where the fan would actually spin itself off it's bearings and then that would damage the other components of it. If something let go, and it's not spinning, it would have the same sort of effect. But really, no one can tell what's wrong unless they can get a good look and properly diagnose it.

but im kind of betting the power supply is nacked as she says it dont even gets near starting windows and at that point more power is needed to start windows memory and hd will begin to work but if the power supply cant manage that any more it just switched off i had the same thing a wile ago whit one of my older pc`s after replacing the power supply it ran like a charm

I've had a similar issue before but at that time my computer was almost 11

When my PC shut down by itself and then wouldn't boot all the way, it turned out to be a rootkit virus that failed to attach itself properly to Windows and instead caused it to reboot forever.

Reboot but instead of Safe Mode, choose the option that lists out all the drivers as it loads. See which driver it loads last before it reboots itself again.

PM me if you need help figuring out what to do from there.

Could be an issue with the processor overheating and shutting down as well, but I'd point more to the powersupply.

I'd be more than happy to help, but I'd need the computer to do so :<

I'm assuming power supply first, honestly... the computer felt unusually hot.

I'm thinking my only way out right now, in the mean time, is to try to afford an HDMI to DVI output cable and see if I can't hook the cintiq up to my laptop. ; ; it's my only shot, since there's no way I can afford to get the PC fixed or buy any new parts for it right now... it was on its last legs already. ; ;

I don't know if this is the right cable or not, but it sounds right - http://www.amazon.com/DVI-HDMI-Cabl...../dp/B0002CZHN6

And it's only a couple bucks. :/

I think that's it! I'm going to check the actual cables just to be sure, then I'm gonna go ahead and buy one. this will at least save my ass in the meantime. thank you very much.

No problem. ;) Amazon also sells one themselves, and it's only 6 or 7 dollars as well. You might have better luck with them--they ship faster, typically.

I'll probably go with them, since I have Prime and wouldn't have to pay for shipping.

Well there you go. :)

It's unlikely that it's the power supply. The power supply either works or doesn't, it never just "kinda" works. If the computer just shuts down without a bluescreen or anything then it's probably a heat issue. I'd check for any excess dust or lint balls in there, and to make sure the fan on the processor is still running.

i imagine that's probably it.... so i'm letting it cool down and then i'm going to open it up and hopefully manage to clean it out and investigate without getting myself killed. -_-; i imagine i need to replace whatever fan is in there, but i don't know the first thing about buying one or installing one.

Did it feel hot ONLY around the power supply? Go ahead and see if the fan inside the power supply is running too when you try to turn it back on. And don't worry, the only thing that can kill you is if you actually take the power supply apart X3

i'm not sure. i put my hand up to the fan in the back and it was really, really, really hot.

i had a power supply doing the same thing it tryed the power the pc but just cutten out

yeah, no idea how to do any of that. :(

if i remember right, my motherboard is MSI, and it's an asian company and their support is confusing and abysmal. ; ; but yes, i do have the laptop, which is how i'm able to be getting help from you guys right now. i just can't do art on it yet.

not quite. pretty sure it was totally overheated. we'll find out in a little bit. if it gets any further in about an hour i'll know it's just overheating and i'll see if i can replace the faulty bits... and, y'know, clean the damn thing out.

i hope it's that simple.

i think you may be right. my best bet right now is to just leave her alone for a while, then open her up and clean her out, then see how things go. if i got really lucky i can try to take better care of her and maybe get her a new fan. -_-;

it's just sometimes not really spun properly... like it was getting stuck on itself? it's a crappy fan. i'm talking about the case fan, i mean... i don't... even know if there's another one inside. >.< this is how little i know about the computer i put together myself. gah.

the case fan. i have no idea how the cpu fan has been doing. or if there's... i don't know the difference. i honestly don't. i know about the case fan, that's all i know. >.< i am genuinely stupid about this stuff, i'm sorry.

and i don't even know what fan to buy because i don't know how to figure out what mm i need.

all right. i just ordered some canned air and it'll be here tomorrow, so it'll have to wait til then. i'm crossing my fingers. unless i can find the can that's laying around this house somewhere. ; ; thanks for the advice.

was free with amazon prime. :) didn't have to rush it.

I appreciate it nonetheless. no one ever has to help, but people always do.

that is another thing i don't know how to do. ; ; i honestly don't remember the make of my motherboard.

liked to checked it but im asuming your no were near the netherlands :)

I had excessive heat issues with my pc, and the same symptoms you describe, and had to eventually shut it off permanently. What was happening was that the capacitors on the motherboard were bulging up and threatening to pop. It's a good idea to look at your motherboard really quickly to see if you have that issue.

If so, sadly you need a new motherboard.

if i need a new motherboard, i pretty much will just resign myself to retiring the whole thing and working toward a new one. :( thanks for the input.

If you need a new one, of course. You might not. ^^ There's hope!

fingers crossed!

If you live around the northern VA area, I will be happy to take a look at it for you. I build something on the order of 16 PCs a year and I always have plenty of hardware laying around to test with.

unfortunately, i'm in texas. but if i wind up deciding to put together another pc soon after this, i may ask you for some advice.

Possibly overheating. The comp could be shutting off as a safety. maybe the heatsink disconnected or the thermal paste is done.

pretty sure that's exactly it. hoping it's just that. i dunno how to fix it yet, though. hoping i can get some local help if that's what it turns out to be.

Dunno about the power supply. Sounds more like it's overheating and the system fail-safes are shutting it down. If you have a floor fan, try taking off your side panel and have the fan blow directly on the motherboard and see if that makes any difference. Also if there is a ton of dust inside the case, it's gotta go because dust buildup can be a problem too. It doesn't take much. If you don't have an air compressor or vacuum (be extremely careful if you use a vacuum), take your tower to a gas station next time you get gas and use their air pump to blow out the dust. Now sometimes these pumps get moisture in the lines, so make sure that the inside of the system is completely dry before even plugging it in (because just plugging it in can short it out from standby power even though the system isn't actually on). Hopefully this helps.

thanks. :) I'm just gonna try a can of compressed air first. i'm pretty sure it's just the failsafe... hopefully i didn't fry it, and if i clean it out i should be able to turn it back on and not have this happen again. fingers crossed.

Ah, yes, those work well. I just wasn't sure if you had one already. It wouldn't hurt to blow out the power supply as well. And remember, short controlled bursts, otherwise you'll go through that air can really fast. You can also use a small firm-bristled (not metal, be gentle) brush to help dislodge dust that has become stuck to a surface like the heatsink or the board itself and then blow it away with the air. ^^ Again, I hope it works!

thanks, good advice! ^_^

You're welcome =)

the processor is either over heating and shutting the system down to protect itself or the power supply is overheating and shutting down to protect itself. crack your system open and blow it out (clean the dust out) same with the power supply (dont open it though).

I had a problem similar to this and I couldn't figure it out at all. Eventually tracked it to a heating issue because all software and hardware seemed fine. After giving it enough time to cool down I started it up and went to watch the various system temperatures in the bios and was able to find out just what was overheating. Turned out my thermal paste (which holds the heat sink and fan to the processor) went bad and wasn't doing it's job at all. Luckily we figured it out before my processor sustained any damage.

azelyn said this might be the issue, too. if it is, what do i do about it? i don't know how to replace that.

You can find thermal paste at just about any store that sells computer components, Arctic Silver is the brand to look for from what I've been told and if I remember right, it was about fifteen bucks for a tube that'll give you a couple uses worth. You'll need to very carefully remove your processor from the motherboard and clean off all the old paste with rubbing alcohol and a razor blade before you can apply new paste.

There's also instructions that come with the tube that will give you a simple walk through on how to apply the paste. Set the processor back in it's seat on the motherboard, apply about a dime sized amount of the new paste on the processor, and fix the heat sink to it. If that turns out to be your problem, you'll be golden from there.

Although I'm at least somewhat tech savvy, I had my boyfriend take care of mine while I watched. I was way to nervous about the prospect of this not being the answer and my computer being blown to even try to do it myself. Thank god that wasn't how things turned out.

well, it's good to know i'll have a chance... how do i know if the current paste is "done for"? what am i looking for? i could just google for it, but i tend to suck at finding any tech advice online... :3

Well, the way I figured it out was by starting up my computer and jumping into the BIOS to watch the temperatures rise on my components. My CPU hit something like 119C before shutting down so that's what made us pretty sure it was the paste. You can't really just reach in and pull off your heat sink to check because in the chance that the paste is still good, you'll run the risk of having to change it anyway just because you could burn it up by breaking the original seal it made.

Your computer should tell you what key to hit to enter the BIOS on start up and usually the menu is pretty easy to figure out where to go from there. You don't have to change anything in the BIOS, basically just monitor the component temperatures. Optimal temperatures vary for different processors but as far as I can tell, most should range right around 70C.

wouldn't a lack of proper fans cause a rise in temperatures too?

Probably. Though if it's the processor overheating, it might more likely be the paste not doing it's job to transfer heat from the processor to the heatsink. How improper are your fans? Do you have a working fan over your heatsink/processor?

I'm pretty sure the case and power supply fans both suck. i'm not sure if the one over the processor is doing well, but i imagine it's better off than the other two. ;_; I'm opening up the case today to give it a full cleaning and inspection if I can manage it without messing anything up. waiting on compressed air and a static electricity strap.

First thing I think of when a computer shuts down abruptly is thermal issues. Its pretty well been covered above, but check all your fans are turning - make sure to check the one in your power supply. Secondly, open it up and check the heat sinks themselves, if there is dust anywhere, give it a good brush and vacuum out, you'd be amazed how much a good clean can drop the ambient temps.

I wouldn't stress about the paste too early on, if its been working for this long, its unlike the thermal past suddenly stops like that, but if you can get your hands on some easily, you won't do any harm replacing it.

thank you! my hopes are really really high that a good cleaning and some vigilance will keep her with me for a while longer yet. and i'll start cleaning her out monthly if that's all it was. i wasn't taking very good care of her ._.

Good luck. Let us know how it goes. :)