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Thread: Mind of its own

  1. #1

    Mind of its own

    One of my friends recently re-installed Windows 98 and is facing this problem that is quite unfamiliar to me. His computer shuts-down by itself at random intervals of time, even when he is doing something (like typing, downloading etc.) He is not using any power management facility and all the settings are set to 'never', but even then his PC has a mind of its own when it comes to automatically shutting down. The only advice I was able to give was to switch to LINUX; no shutting down hassles.
    According to my analysis, there could be a software program that is conflicting with the Windows OS and forcing it to shutdown and the software could run as a scheduled task. That’s why it automatically shuts down at random intervals.
    Well, can anyone help me on this one? I'd be really grateful. Thanks in advance.
    With great power comes great responsibility.

  2. #2
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    have you run an up to date virus scanner ? the only other thing i can think of is that the setting`s in power managment are not applying when you hit apply or u could convince him to move to linux
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  3. #3
    AO Curmudgeon rcgreen's Avatar
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    Sounds more like a hardware problem like power
    supply fan or processor fan allowing the temperature
    to go too high, or bad memory, a loose connection etc.

    I guess you could install a different OS as an experiment
    to see if it goes away. I doubt it would be an application,
    but maybe a corrupt OS file somewhere, maybe.
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  4. #4
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    More Info

    hollow_man,

    Your problem is not uncommon. Besides, I do remember encountering such a similar problem, but the causative was my power-management settings.

    Here are two web sites that might help in such a case:

    1) http://www.pcezine.ca/disc2_toc.htm

    2) http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/win98/t1027828824

    Good luck!
    \" ZxC 4 life! \"

  5. #5
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    This is more common than one would think. I suggest resetting the power management settings. It would also be a good idea to run a virus scan. There was one time that this happened here at work and it was in the Task Scheduler which is default in 98. Check there, it is possible that a simple batch file has been placed there that would tell his comp. to shutdown. Good luck.
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  6. #6
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    it could be a hardware problem.

    i would watch the temp. in your case for a few hours. some bios will give warnings or shutdown the machine if your cpu gets over a certian temp.
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  7. #7
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    Originally posted here by rcgreen
    Sounds more like a hardware problem like power
    supply fan or processor fan allowing the temperature
    to go too high
    I would have to agree with this suggestion. I had the same problem when my CPU fan started to go, and it took me a shile to figure out the problem, because as I watched the fan it would start, but after seeing it run I thought nothing of it, until one time I just looked inside the box, and noticed 3 mins after running my CPU fan would give out.

  8. #8
    Well guys it can't be a hardware problem because it shuts down properly and displays the message 'Its now safe to shut down." My first guess was that.
    With great power comes great responsibility.

  9. #9
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    It could still be a cooling issue. (Computers automatically shut down when they over heat)

  10. #10
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    Looking at your symptoms I would say this is likely to be a hardware problem, but could be some sort of virus infection.
    I very much doubt it is a problem with the power management software - there is no way Win98 will shut down if you are using the PC (typing, downloading etc.) at the time.
    Recent motherboards will shutdown your PC if they detect something they don't like (e.g. high CPU temp) - which will apply to *nix as well.
    The fact it shuts down normally doesn't prove anything either way - it most definitely does not rule out the fact it is a hardware problem
    Hardware errors like this can be unpredictable - if you have a component (like a CPU fan) that works some of time, then your PC will work for a random time before shutting itself down.
    The good news is that the motherboard is doing its job - it is stopping your CPU from being fried - much cheaper to replace the fan/power supply than the CPU!
    If you do have something odd in Task manger this is easy to check - open it up to look at the scheduled tasks...

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