Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
I've got a home assembled PC based around an Asus motherboard. Which shuts
off at random. Not a controlled shut down - it just dies. Thinking PS
problems I've replaced it. Same thing. Sometimes it will boot up ok and
continue for as long as I want. Sometimes it switches off half way through
the boot sequence - but never at the same time. Any guesses? I've got AVG
free installed and that shuts it down after doing its tests. That sequence
always works ok.


Dave,
What make/output is the power supply? What is the consumption of the PC?
How many hard drives, how much memory, any extra cards etc?

I had a very similar problem with my wife's PC about a year ago. Tried
all sorts of things including a number of power supplies. It wasn't
until I fitted a good quality 700watt power supply that the problem went
away. Seemed like total overkill for the PC but it's been very stable
ever since.

You should be able to find out what temperature the CPU is running at.
Have you done this? The mobo manufacturer usually supply some sort of
monitor program.

One program that might help identify the problem is Passmark Burnin
Test. It's a very good stability test program.

http://www.passmark.com/products/bit.htm

Best of luck,
Roy