Computer losing power or something

[Counterfeit]

Not entirely sure how to explain this but I'll do what I can:

Basically, my computer shuts down, kind of. My monitor goes black and does the "No Signal" message, but the lights on the computer itself are light up still. I try to hold the power button to make it shut down and that does not work. I have to unplug the power cord for it to completely shut down.

Been doing it for a week or so. More frequently in the last two days.

[Ghostsix.Midgard]

any hardware changes in the past week?

[Counterfeit]

There were no changes at all. I am running a second hard drive from my old computer but I hooked that up nearly 6-7 months ago, shouldn't be acting up now? Will a system restore eradicate this problem?

[Celeras]

If holding the power button doesn't work I'd guess power supply.

What is the error message in your admin log? Control Panel-> Administrative Tools-> Event Viewer. Or if you're on windows 7, Action Center->Maintenence->Reliability History would be faster.

[Counterfeit]

This is my first time playing with Event Viewer, is there anything specific I am looking for under a certain tab?

[Dmitry]

Look for entries around the time that it happens. Might give some indication of what's causing it

Look in the application and system sections for any errors or warnings.

[Akucaen]

PSU is probably dying. Different brands will do different things prior to biting the bullet.

For example an old Antec PSU of my was notorious for not staying off after shutdown (when it was on its last legs.) If you tried to shut the computer down, it would stay off about 5 seconds then spring back to life without you touching it. It was amusing at first, but ultimately a pain to switch out.

[Takedown3]

monitor?

[Yabby]

monitor?

This is what i would look at 1st considering that you said your computer isn't turning off, and this would be the easiest to test also.

[Counterfeit]

It is a relatively new computer. It just happened, and I found that it is a WMI error?

http://img191.imageshack.us/img191/4219/wmierror.jpg

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

[Counterfeit]

No incident yesterday but happened today once so far. Any advice about that WMI thing?

[Counterfeit]

This issue has consumed my desktop to the point where it does not want to work at all. I was going to take the hard drive out of it but I tried to run the computer once more as a final effort to salvage my files and was surprised to see it running. I put some files on my flash drive and maybe an hour later it did its usual black screen for no reason with a message saying "No Signal" on the monitor.

I was told that it could be a graphic card error. Is it possible to like, take it out, clean it, then pop it back in?

Just to recap: I turn on the computer, I see the lights flashing and stuff on the computer, it makes zero beeping noises, and the monitor says 'no signal'.

[Mafai]

how many sticks of ram do you have in there?

[Balthasar]

Could be the power supply. Power supplies actually contain multiple power supplies of varying voltages, and if one goes bad, other things may still turn on, such as LEDs on your computer. If you know how to use a multimeter, that's an easy way to test each voltage without having to take out the entire power supply.

If it's not that, then it sounds like something is overheating after the computer being on for awhile. You should check to make sure the fans on your graphics card, CPU, power supply, and case are all working.

[Furtwangler]

Try letting the computer sit in the BIOS to see if it repeats itself, to rule out hard drive and OS problems.

Run Memtest (google it, im about to go to sleep or I would for you) to check your ram.

If you have onboard video, try running off that to see about any changes, but if you dont you can try reseating your video card. I don't think it's video card related though, since it should still power down.

The power supply is still probably the culprit, or the motherboard but the power supply is an easier fix so try that if all else fails.

[Counterfeit]

how many sticks of ram do you have in there?

There are two. The fan is functional.

This was an on and off issue for a while then for a good thirty days, I never had a problem with it and now it is at its worst. I used to be able to unplug the power cord from the outlet, let it sit a few minutes then replug it and be able to use the computer. Now I can't access anything at all because of that 'no signal' message except for the hour I got out of it yesterday.

I can't be bothered with replacing any internal parts. I think I'm just going to remove the hard drive and trash the computer. It was only nine months old.

[Icari]

sure there is no warranty left on it?

[Counterfeit]

I don't know. I always decline when they offer me an extended warranty on stuff. I don't have the receipt either so I don't know.