My newly built PC shuts off after being turned on for a bit.

Zamp · 04-09-2008, 11:10 PM

I just built my first PC, and it shuts off after being on for a little bit. I can turn it on fine, and the motherboard will start up and tell me to insert a system disk. Whether or not I do, if I wait probably about 30-45 seconds the computer shuts down. The motherboard gives me no chance to go into the bios, it just says to insert a CD.

Does anyone know what could be wrong? I thought that the CPU may be overheating, but when I took the heatsink off and checked, it didn't feel hot to me...

By the way, this is my build: Newegg.com - Once You Know, You Newegg

edijs · 05-09-2008, 12:50 PM

to go into the bios, don't wait for any prompt to appear on the screen as the prompt might appear only for as short of a time period as 1 second. Thus, when you press the Power button, try to press F2, F10 or ESC or F8. One of those should get you into the BIOS. Also, it's kinda funny that the system is asking for a CD. Are you sure it's doing that? If it's asking only for a system disk, then - do you have any OS installed at all? But however, you should be able to get into the bios easy-time. If not, well, then somethings seriously wrong and you might have to re-assemble the computer.

hbob51 · 24-09-2008, 12:18 AM

I am not sure which MB you have but some offer pins that will disable the bios from being entered.
But the same board will have a set of pins to allow the resetting of the bios.
Even if the bios where password protected it would remove the password.
However the first time the pc is started it goes directly to the bios setup utility.
The other way to enter the bios for sure is to disconnect the power and remove the backup battery for about 30sec and reinstall it (be sure to ground your self to the case before touching MB).
After removing back up battery and power cord then reconnecting both the some PCs boots to the bios automaticly.
hope this helps.
Also from the last post you may also try holding the delete button
I know that alot of PCs use the delete to enter the bios on startup.

3321thec · 11-10-2008, 06:33 AM

Just a thought, Is the computer shutting itself off because of a high CPU or other temp?

Hope you get this worked out!
~3321thec

hbob51 · 21-10-2008, 10:32 PM

I don't think so the reason is several times when it shut down I would go into the bios setup and check the cpu temp and fan speed both remained normal.
There was nothing at the end I could figure out and I have the MB in the boneyard now.
the things I tried before making this choice was
I changed the power supply
I removed the cpu and the memory cards and cleaned the entire board with compressed air and resetted the cpu with heat paste
and the memory cards.
I changed the video card and removed all other cards from the board.
I used the Western digital drive repair disk on the drive (which is currently running with a different MB).
The strange thing to me is that the unit would run and did run for 4 hours straight while writing the drive to zero's with no problems.
My thoughts is that one or more of the pci slots or controller itself went bad.
I was able to fully load windows 98 second edition (just for the grins) but the system failed as soon as I plugged in my network card which was about 2 hours after the install during the loading of the drivers it locked up (it would never shut down it would just freeze up).
Later I may try to flash the bios but getting a floppy drive that works is rough but most bios updates require a floppy install I checked with abit.

04-09-2008, 11:10 PM	#1 (permalink) Top
Zamp Geek Trainee Join Date: Sep 2008 Posts: 1 Status: Offline	My newly built PC shuts off after being turned on for a bit. I just built my first PC, and it shuts off after being on for a little bit. I can turn it on fine, and the motherboard will start up and tell me to insert a system disk. Whether or not I do, if I wait probably about 30-45 seconds the computer shuts down. The motherboard gives me no chance to go into the bios, it just says to insert a CD. Does anyone know what could be wrong? I thought that the CPU may be overheating, but when I took the heatsink off and checked, it didn't feel hot to me... By the way, this is my build: Newegg.com - Once You Know, You Newegg

05-09-2008, 12:50 PM	#2 (permalink) Top
edijs Programmer Join Date: Sep 2006 Age: 22 Male Posts: 519 Times Helpful: 16 My Mood: Busy Status: Offline My Computer	to go into the bios, don't wait for any prompt to appear on the screen as the prompt might appear only for as short of a time period as 1 second. Thus, when you press the Power button, try to press F2, F10 or ESC or F8. One of those should get you into the BIOS. Also, it's kinda funny that the system is asking for a CD. Are you sure it's doing that? If it's asking only for a system disk, then - do you have any OS installed at all? But however, you should be able to get into the bios easy-time. If not, well, then somethings seriously wrong and you might have to re-assemble the computer. __________________ Come to Latvia \| Crossfade, Element Eighty, Nickelback \| The Best Series Ever \| Love the classics: PlayStationOne \| Works well for me \| Opera rocks \| My Ride

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24-09-2008, 12:18 AM	#3 (permalink) Top
hbob51 Geek Trainee Join Date: Sep 2008 Posts: 5 Status: Offline	I am not sure which MB you have but some offer pins that will disable the bios from being entered. But the same board will have a set of pins to allow the resetting of the bios. Even if the bios where password protected it would remove the password. However the first time the pc is started it goes directly to the bios setup utility. The other way to enter the bios for sure is to disconnect the power and remove the backup battery for about 30sec and reinstall it (be sure to ground your self to the case before touching MB). After removing back up battery and power cord then reconnecting both the some PCs boots to the bios automaticly. hope this helps. Also from the last post you may also try holding the delete button I know that alot of PCs use the delete to enter the bios on startup.

11-10-2008, 06:33 AM	#4 (permalink) Top
3321thec Geek Trainee Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 9 Status: Offline	Just a thought, Is the computer shutting itself off because of a high CPU or other temp? Hope you get this worked out! ~3321thec

21-10-2008, 10:32 PM	#5 (permalink) Top
hbob51 Geek Trainee Join Date: Sep 2008 Posts: 5 Status: Offline	I don't think so the reason is several times when it shut down I would go into the bios setup and check the cpu temp and fan speed both remained normal. There was nothing at the end I could figure out and I have the MB in the boneyard now. the things I tried before making this choice was I changed the power supply I removed the cpu and the memory cards and cleaned the entire board with compressed air and resetted the cpu with heat paste and the memory cards. I changed the video card and removed all other cards from the board. I used the Western digital drive repair disk on the drive (which is currently running with a different MB). The strange thing to me is that the unit would run and did run for 4 hours straight while writing the drive to zero's with no problems. My thoughts is that one or more of the pci slots or controller itself went bad. I was able to fully load windows 98 second edition (just for the grins) but the system failed as soon as I plugged in my network card which was about 2 hours after the install during the loading of the drivers it locked up (it would never shut down it would just freeze up). Later I may try to flash the bios but getting a floppy drive that works is rough but most bios updates require a floppy install I checked with abit.

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