Please help my computer restarts all the time!!!

[Likethiss]

Hi all! im new to the board, but i am hoping i would get an answer...

So this is my prob, My computer restarts if i dont have any game or program like
winamp on!
it is really frustrating me, cos if i dont remember to put winamp on when i startup xp it restarts in 1-5 minutes..
The problem occured a while ago. Also when it started restarting itself ANOTHER problem occured. When i try to turn it on after it has been off for more than 20 mins it wont start. It just makes a ticking sound and the hd led is blinking, then it wont shutdown from the power button on the front, so i have to turn it on from the switch in the back, Sometimes it starts up just fine in the second time i do it, but sometimes i have to turn it on and off from the switch for like 20 times before it starts. Im VERY sorry for my bad english BUT i would be very very grateful for a response!!! Also i cant imagine its an overheating problem, because it works just fine as long i have winamp on.

PLEASE HELP ME!!

 

[Abraxas]

Well, if you flip that switch in the back some more you might be on a good way to fry your PSU and everything else.
No idea about the rest, but you should stop what you are doing there.
Try and have a look at your motherboard. Keep your eyes out for cracked or deformed capacitors (cylindrical things on the board). That's my latest problem and it's just a thought.

 

[Merc14]

Sounds like either your PSU (power supply unit) or Hard Drive is going bad. You can disconnect the hard drive and just boot to BIOS and see if it continues to run without a problem. If it does you probably have a dying hard drive and need to transfer the data ASAP to a back up medium and replace the drive. If it dies with the drive disconnected then you can suspect the PSU is going bad and need to get a new, quality one before it fries something.

This is a very rough guess at what your problem is and more detailed troubleshooting is probably necessary but it is a good place to start and relatively easy to do.

 

[Likethiss]

thanks for your response!
im going to try a new PSU soon, i hope it will fix it...
ill keep you posted if it doesnt!

 

[Likethiss]

I ordered a new PSU, should be here in a couple of days.. But i found out that the problem was a malfunctioning PSU and the reason why it was shutting down if the computer wasnt "working" with anything... It just gave too little power if the hd wasnt doing anything... But still thanks for the Reply guys!!!!!