PC switching off without warning (1 Viewer)

I hope that this might help a few frustrated PC users out there as I found this problem very frustrating.

During December last year I had problems with my PC switching off totally without warning. No restart just switched off and had to be restarted. Even then sometimes it switched off again during the restart. This initially appeared to be very random but then I started to notice it definitively occurred when I was playing MOH or when doing a batch process using DPP on RAW photos. In short it was when additional demand was placed on the processor.

I looked on the internet and this is a fairly common problem with a many solutions offered. Including:-

1. Buy a bigger power supply unit. Some research on this issue proved that this is not always as simple as it sounds because a lot depends upon the quality of the unit.

2. Install additional fans inside the case

3. Install ASUS probe and monitor the processor temperature, etc, etc.

4. Her indoors even suggested buying a new computer as it was affecting her internet shopping.

Eventually I found on solution offered which seemed to make sense and that was to clean the processor fan. So off came the side of the case and out with the vacuum cleaner. I blew into the fan and then vacuumed again and again until I was happy that is was clean.

Lo and behold problem solved without any cost. I can now play computer games again and do batch processes in DPP.

I hope that this is helpful to others.

Brian

Ah, the old overheating problem.

Getting some additional cooling fans may well help to prevent the situation from arising again.

Also, it may well be worth removing the heatsink and cleaning off all the old thermal compound/pad and replacing it with new thermal compound. I tend to replace my thermal compound every 12 months, as it definitely loses it's efficiency over time.

Keeping an eye on the temperatures occasionally, is always a good idea.

Just a word of caution.

Vacuums and computers don't really go together, as it's possible for there to be quite a lot of static build up on the vacuum nozzle, which can fry delicate components.

Much better to use a can of compressed air and a good quality brush.