shutdown

[gwilo]

I have Packard Bell ixtreme 9200i, Pentium111, 128RAM
It just keeps shutting down on me and coming back improper shutdown detected. It started doing it the odd time now it's verry often, usally in the middle of things.
I,ve run AVG virus, Adaware and Housecall on line virus check they all say clean!
Any ideas anyone.

[mikeL]

gwilo, first off let me welcome you to the forums,

first thing I would do is check for dust bunnies inside of the case, remove them using compressed air, or vacuum cleaner.

next I would go to www.memtest86.com and download their testing software, and let it run.

then run a thorough scandisk then defragment the hard drive.

after doing these, and it still shuts down improperly I would suspect your power supply.

Hope this helps

Mike

[noby]

and check your fans !

noby

[gwilo]

Right, I,ve run scandisc in thourough mode came up with nothing. Ran defrag. Hoovered the inards of comp. Including fan. Went to Memtest and dident get very far downloaded 3.1 thingy clicked on it came up with load of gobelygook tried 3.0 thingy that came up insert disc. You might be able to tell from this I dont know a lot. Bit worried about this constant closing down. Better send this quick if it closes down now I,ll have to start again.

[Gizmo]

check for dust bunnies inside of the case, remove them using compressed air, or vacuum cleaner.

I wouldn't advise the use of a vacuum cleaner inside the computer. It emits static charge that can easily fry critical components and chips, not to mention uplifting stuff and loosening chips. One stupid move can cost you lots of cash.

[gwilo]

I gently brushed everything with a clean paintbrush and pointed the vacuume at it from a great distance.

[gwilo]

How do you spell vacuume vacume vackumee vakume???????

[GaryRouth]

Well, Ok: I was a lit major in college: it's vacuum.

Mike L. and noby gave good tips about things that might be causing your system to overheat. You can also try opening the case (with the computer shutdown, powered off, and unplugged) and then plug the power back in & start the computer with the case off - and see if things seem burning hot anywhere (things shouldn't be that hot).

Another thing you can do is to check the Bios Settings. When the computer is starting up, you might see a quick banner "Press F1 (or Del or F10, etc.) to Enter Setup". Press the key mentioned in the banner. If you can find a manual for your PB's bios settings, great (might be able to find it on the net, if not around the house). If not, you can try using the "Default" settings. If your Bios battery is about to go, it might not be saving the right values, and you might be accidentally overclocking & overheating. If Bios values keep getting lost, you might need a new battery. Just pop the old one out (with power off & unplugged!) and take it to your local computer hardware store & get a matching replacement (they usually only cost about $1.50 USD).

The memtest download was probably prompting you to place a blank diskette in your floppy drive. It will write some files to the floppy. You can then boot with the floppy & run the memory tests in DOS. You might have to change the "Boot Order" to floppy first in your Bios to boot from the floppy.

If it's not heat, and not a bad battery or bad memory, see if you can borrow a known good power supply somewhere & see if that does it.

Best of luck
. . . Gary

[p.s. ....also, while the case is open, listen for any odd sounds from the hard drive (especially strange clicking sounds). Since Scandsk thorough didn't find anything, it's probably fine. But if you still suspect it at all, try the disk diagnostics from the hard drive manufacturer's website = they are usually a free download]

[gwilo]

Thanks Gary, It's late now I'll get on to some of your sugestions tommorow. You mention battery I,m not sure where to find that, this comp is about three years old so maybe thats what I need.

[GaryRouth]

I guess I didn't mention where it is, sorry bout that: it's a little round battery about the size of a dime (often will be the Sony 2032 3v.) --> it's usually down near the bottom of the motherboard (if mounted in a tower case), next to or across from the PCI slots. Usually a tiny spring/clamp holds it in: often a set of three around the battery. Generally if you hold on little clamp slightly back, that should be enough to nudge it up and out. Be careful not to bend the little clamps (after all, they'll need to hold the new battery in).

If the battery needs replacing - you should see some of the Bios Settings not staying put. It can't hurt to replace the battery early, though = it's a nice inexpensive part & at least rules that out as a source of trouble.

Most computer stores, or stores with computer departments, will have the batteries. Radio Shack and Best Buy stores are likely to have them, for example.

Hope it goes well