My Computer Keeps Shutting Itself Off

[flutterbard 55]

My computer keeps shutting itself off. It doesn't act as though the power went out. It acts as though I hit the shut down button, giving me the "shutting down" screen before shutting off. 

 

What's going on? How can I fix it? I have a Windows 7 PC by the way.

[Admiral Regulus 2,769]

Oh jeez, this could be any number of things. I'm going to guess it's a software problem, though, so... try reinstalling Windows if you can. That should get rid of anvy software bug you may be experiencing.

[Thorn O Discord 118]

Well, if it's an old old computer, it could be on it's last legs, otherwise, you could have bigger problems. Lucky for you, there are several things to do before you have to take drastic measures. 

 

(Check it's power cable by the way, those can be lose sometimes)

 

Firstly, download Maleware bytes, ( https://www.malwarebytes.org/), and run a quick scan. If it finds something like a virus, then it'll get it taken care of. Otherwise, I'd suggest a Full Scan, assuming it won't terminate partway through. (Full scans take a while). If nothing is found, and you still have problems, it's time for drastic measures. (Cue scary music)

 

You can take everything you like off of the computer, and wipe the drive, restoring it to a factory like setting. (Do be gentle about doing it though, computers are people too). 

 

If all this is done, but it still reboots randomly, you've simply got a bad PC. It happens. Hope this helps!

[ARagY 1,152]

There are so many variables from viruses to part malfunctions that I don't think anyone can give you a fair diagnosis/assessment here. I'd wipe your drive or try booting from a flash. If its still not working, then you've got something wrong with your internals. And it's not even just the motherboard that might be going screwy.

[nolongerabout 403]

Try running a system restore. Open the start menu and type in the search bar 'System restore'. This could fix the problem. If not, run an antivirus sweep, just to make sure it's not something nasty. After that, it could be a hardware problem, most likely related to the power supply.

 

Either way, contact someone who knows more than me about computers.

[Malinter 3,064]

Mine does that, tho in my case its due to it overheating if i push the graphics card to hard and the thing shuts off. This comp is 9years old. I'm actually surprsied its lasted this long XD

[Twilight Dirac 721]

Your computer could be generating a Blue Screen of Death.  By default, Windows 7 will automatically restart instead of displaying an error message, this being typical Microsoft thinking.  Go to my computer, right click, select properties, select advanced system settings, click on the settings under startup and recovery and disable automatic restart.  If the problem does turn out to be blue screens, download whocrashed which can then attempt to diagnose the cause.