OK heres the dilema - [:@]
More & more recently - I've been having my PC shutting off - (not logging off or shutting down - just
losing power like a hard reset) This seems to only occur when playing games...

When it loses power - I cant reset - but have to shutoff the power switch in the back & then turn back on -
sometimes - the PC wont start back up - sometimes it'll take a few tries of the switch on & off -
All I get is a flash from the colored fans & then dies again..
& have to repeat switching on & off - till the fans stay lit & PC starts up...[:'(]

I opened up the Tower & taken care of the dust elephants, []
I've run both spyware programs - no problems there - no viruses, & I've cleaned out the registry etc...
I've reasearched a lil on the web - & PPl w/ similar problems had narrowed it to Power supply issues...

How do I know if Power supply is the issue? HELP ! Is getting really annoying & I dont want to have to
buy a whole new PC - it's been running fine for the past few years...

I have Windows XP 2002 w/ service pk 2...
AMD Athlon XP 2600 - 1.9 GHz, 512 MB Ram
Video card - Radeon 9200 series - 128 MB

THANKS !

 

Power supply's are cheap, dewd... http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/category/category_slc.asp?Recs=30&Nav=|c:1077|&Sort=0

Drop $30-$40 on a replacement. FWIW, I was gonna suggest either that, or updating (flashing) your BIOS.

 

Games produce super hot processors sometimes. Do you have a fan controller and any thermal monitoring tabs stuck to key pieces of hardware?

 

That's really dangerous without UPS and super duper dangerous if your pc is cutting off at weird times and you don't know why. You flash you bios and something turns off - you can go ahead and put that baby in the dumpster.

 

get a new power supply
mayb from newegg, they have good price sometimes

 

hmm so general consensus is the power supply huh?
I dont mind dropping $$ on that - if thats the problem...
Does that sound consistent w/ power supply problems though? (Only shutoff during games?)
Thanks for the help guys... I'll probably try the power supply upgrade this weekend.. I hope that works[:-]

 

Power supply is a good start, but you should look into the heat issue as well. Something like Battlefield II over an extended period will make my machine run really hot and can lead to screw ups, including crashes.

 

I'm with turbo on the heat issue, too. My general philosophy, when it comes to fixin things and you've got multiple possibilities as to what the problem is, is go with the cheapest, first. Which it why I suggested power supply. plus, that was my knee-jerk reaction. You sait yu got the bunnies out. Next thing id do wud be to b/u, format and re-image the drive. start clean and see if that cures my woes. the BIOS thing, that was me brainstormin possibilities. turbos right that, if you lose power while flashin yer BIOS and yu've got a pretty big paperweight on ypur hands.

 

Yes, I would say power supply as well.

 

I have a toshiba laptop and it does the same thing. I dont play games though, mine does it when I am watching videos or something, it just dies. POS!! Also I think my fan has crapped out as well, cuz I have to prop the back of it up so it gets air or it does the same thing. It is only a little over a year old. [:@]