Random shut downs

[kellystarz]

Hi, i just puchased a gateway Description : LX6810-01 ; INTEL QUAD CORE Q8200, 2.33GHZ, 4M L2 CACHE, VISTA PREMIUM 64BIT, processor in Jan 2009 it worked great for about a month and started randomly shutting down, just the tower did the monitor was still on. i am not getting any error codes it just shuts right off, so i sent it back to gateway in march, when i got it back it worked fine for 2 weeks and started up again but this time it is much worse, i was on internet and it shut down i pushed the power on button ot started turning on but shuts off again never gets to start up screen, i managed to do a system restore back to man settings and now it is refusing to install windows and shuts down again, i do play World of Warcraft on it but i played it for 2 months fine, it meets all the requirements and some, i thought it was video card, its nvidia geforce (cant remember specifics at moment) but the test came back fine for it and it is not over heating, when it came back from gateway they did no repairs and said it was fine, but now the problem is worse than ever, i will be shipping back to gateway a 2x, i am not real good with computers so any opinions here would be greatly appreciated, i am wondering about a faulty PSU, motherboard, or processor, but again i am not great with computers, i am frustrated with this, i spent about 1000.00 on the tower alone and only have enjoyes it about 2 1/2 months total, , thanks for viewing my post.

and i did open case, fans all working doesnt seem to be overheating, if it is a psu, what is the best to get to replace?

 

[B00kWyrm]

I would suggest attaching 3 or 4 of your most recent minidumps to your next post....
Since you are running Vista, I cannot direct you to the right directory... (in xp it is C:\Windows\Minidump)
This would give us some data upon which to base a diagnosis, whether Hardware (like RAM), Software (like drivers) or something else (like Virus or Malware)...

Are you running a software firewall or security suite? (there are many options)
Are you running an AV package (possibly included above?)? (again, many options).
Are you fully updated? Have you seen any alerts / warnings?

 

[Bobbye]

It sounds like to have a 'lemon'! Either gateway isn't repairing the computer, or the computer model itself is defective. Do you still have some kind of warranty? It's not even 6 months so it should still be good.

I do note that "and now it is refusing to install windows and shuts down again"- it is possible that this may void a warranty.