Continuous Shutdowns

[MentalCase]

Ok, so I recently just reformatted due to a nasty virus and I'm having a problem keeping my computer on.

After I initially reformatted, I wasn't having any problems, I downloaded Kaspersky and was looking for some drivers to get my computer fully operational again. Shut it down for the night, and the next day when I turned it on, it began the boot process as normal, got to the windows loading screen(xp, btw) then just powered down completely.

I turned it back on, and it shut down again, but a little sooner this time, and a little sooner again the third time which made me think it was over heating. checked my 2 case fans, powersupply fan, and cpu fan/heatsink and everything was working properly so I applied some new thermal compound to the cpu. It still shut down.

So currently I'm running on a sort of modified bench test... All that's plugged in right now is the hard drive, wireless card and 1 stick of ram. Even with only these I still had some trouble getting it going. I'm honestly suprised it's still running right now.

I have no idea what else to try. I'm completely out of ideas at this point so if anyone could help me out here that would be amazing!! I'm trying to do online courses for school so not having a computer makes it a little difficult.

 

[B00kWyrm]

Full System Specs?
You might just want to edit your initial post to add them...
What has taken place since your initial post?

 

[MentalCase]

This computer is confusing the crap out of me. Lol

Everything seems to be working fine now... I don't know why, but it's been on all morning, I haven't had any start up trouble today... Nothing's acting up at all... Sorry for the pointless thread then. Thanks anyway guys!

EDIT:: Wow... Ok so immediately after making this post my computer shut down again. It doesn't go through the shutdown process, it just powers off. For a few minutes I couldn't get it going again and now it's up and running again... I'm so confused...

As for specs I don't know much about that stuff but I'll give you what I know:
Intel Core 2 duo processor
3gb of dual channel ram
Gigabyte S Series motherboard
250gb hard drive
GeForce 8800gt Video Card

If there's anything else you need to know please tell me and I'll do my best to figure it out for you.

 

[MentalCase]

Alright, so I conducted a small test today. I had some things to do out and about so I left my computer on while I was gone. I was out all day, and when I got home my computer was still running fine, but as soon as I started trying to install something on it it shut off almost immediately. What could be doing this?? I don't get it!

 

[Route44]

1. Have you tested your power supply? You can with a digital multimeter.

2. Test your Ram: https://www.techspot.com/vb/topic62524.html

 

[davisjaron]

I actually think it may be your power supply... I was working on a computer a while back that would work fine until you tried to do something, then when it came to a tough task, lines would show up across the screen, and it would shut down...

A hardware diagnostic started and everything passed at first, but then it shut down again... had to have been the motherboard that time because it was running off an MRI disk...

It may not be, but a diagnostic at your local geeksquad will tell you the truth, it's only 69.99 and it's well worth it.

 

[MentalCase]

I think I've fixed it. I kept googling stuff because it was one of the only things I could still do and it turns out it was the cpu overheating. I went into the bios and checked the temp and it was running about 80C!

I guess when I was moving the tower around, one of the pegs that secures my heatsink/fan to the mobo for the cpu came loose and apparently with the chipset I have even if it's the slightest bit loose it'll over heat. I resecured that heatsink and it runs at about 45-50C now

 

[Route44]

Thanks for getting back to us. 80 celcius is 176 farenheit and 50 celcius is 122 farenheit. I take it the latter is within safe parameters?

By the way, thanks for getting back to us with how you resolved it.

 

[MentalCase]

No problem. Thanks for trying to help me out guys.

Btw, if anyone is using the Intel Core 2 duo E6300 processor chip,the stock heatsink/fan is what i was having a problem with. Make sure those pain in the **** clips are 100% secured or you're gonna have all sorts of problems.