2013-06-09, 10:22 PM
I'm hoping some people can give me some ideas on what to tell my brother in regards to his computer. He texted me about an hour ago in regards to his computer shutting down every 20 minutes or so with no errors or anything like that. Please note that I have no ability to go down there and diagnose any issues myself(He lives over an hour away from me and I don't have the time to go down there anytime soon), so I'm going purely on what he says to help figure out what is wrong.
This is the conversation I just had with him:
Him: "Hey, I need your help...my computer just randomly resets...and sometimes won't even turn on...lights on the motherboard are on...any ideas?"
Me: "Are the lights on the motherboard always on?"
Him: "Yea, and the monitor stays on...so it's not the house power." (Note: He was having some power issues with flickering lights and TVs and stuff, so that's why he mentions it not being the house power.)
Me: "How long does the computer usually stay on for before it crashes?"
Him: "Twenty minutes? Give or take...it doesn't crash like software (BSOD I think is what he means) it just turns off."
I could get more information from him if necessary, but from what he was saying I suspect it might be the PSU, I'm wondering what everyone else thinks. The lights on the motherboard tells me that it's a "receiving power" light and that everything is okay from the motherboard side of things, if it's always on that makes me think that there's nothing wrong with his motherboard. In addition, the PSU he has now is an old one he found in our basement after his last one shorted out. This makes me think that the old one is starting to go as well.
I suggested to him that he could test voltages on the PSU with a voltage tester (He's a mechanic, so he has one), however I don't remember how to do that or what voltages to expect, so I don't know if he will or has the ability to find out how.
Wondering what anyone else thinks, I can get more information if necessary however he mentioned that he doesn't know the specs off hand and with it turning off like that he doesn't want to turn it on unnecessarily to find out.
Any thoughts are welcome. Thanks in advance.
This is the conversation I just had with him:
Him: "Hey, I need your help...my computer just randomly resets...and sometimes won't even turn on...lights on the motherboard are on...any ideas?"
Me: "Are the lights on the motherboard always on?"
Him: "Yea, and the monitor stays on...so it's not the house power." (Note: He was having some power issues with flickering lights and TVs and stuff, so that's why he mentions it not being the house power.)
Me: "How long does the computer usually stay on for before it crashes?"
Him: "Twenty minutes? Give or take...it doesn't crash like software (BSOD I think is what he means) it just turns off."
I could get more information from him if necessary, but from what he was saying I suspect it might be the PSU, I'm wondering what everyone else thinks. The lights on the motherboard tells me that it's a "receiving power" light and that everything is okay from the motherboard side of things, if it's always on that makes me think that there's nothing wrong with his motherboard. In addition, the PSU he has now is an old one he found in our basement after his last one shorted out. This makes me think that the old one is starting to go as well.
I suggested to him that he could test voltages on the PSU with a voltage tester (He's a mechanic, so he has one), however I don't remember how to do that or what voltages to expect, so I don't know if he will or has the ability to find out how.
Wondering what anyone else thinks, I can get more information if necessary however he mentioned that he doesn't know the specs off hand and with it turning off like that he doesn't want to turn it on unnecessarily to find out.
Any thoughts are welcome. Thanks in advance.