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General discussion

My PC shuts down unexpectedly - intermittent problem

Dec 24, 2010 10:30AM PST

Gateway LX6810-01 Quadcore about 18 months old Running Vista

This is an intermittent problem which began about 10 days ago. I have run Norton 360 and found some low-threat issues which were removed.

Overnight I usually set the PC to "sleep" mode - sometimes during the night, the system shuts down so I have to do a cold boot. (MIGHT this be due to updates which were automatically run overnight such as disk optimization?)

In the past few days, I've had the PC shut down while I was using it. No warning - nothing I can see that is related to some particular steps I was taking. (Not related to a particular program; although I'm usually running Firefox while the system is awake.)

When I have to do a cold reboot, at least half the time I have to respecify which hard drive to boot from -- rather than the bios remembering which one to use.

All my work files are stored on an external 1TB drive; programs on the internal 500 GB C: drive.

Appreciate any advice -- and will be happy to answer any questions that might help diagnose what's going on.

Could it be related to a 'hot' CPU? The bios reports temp of about 80 degrees C. Is that unusual?

Discussion is locked

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A few ideas.
Dec 24, 2010 10:34AM PST

1. Put in a new CMOS battery.
2. Stop using SLEEP and try HIBERNATE instead. (The reason has been written about too many times?)
3. Be ready to reload that OS. Many folk wait till it's too late and lose their stuff.
Bob

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Your Ideas Worked...
Feb 7, 2011 9:28AM PST

Thanks R.Proffitt -- replacing the CMOS battery stopped the unexpected shutdowns. And using hibernate mode instead of sleep seems to make the restarts more reliable.

Still have an occasional problem doing a cold re-start. The system doesn't find the right drive from which to boot.

Maybe if the funds come in, I'll upgrade to Windows 7. Thanks to both of you for the help.

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That COLD RESTART was not something I want to read.
Feb 7, 2011 1:01PM PST

Why?

That's one of the symptoms of BAD CAPS (google tells more.)
Bob

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gateway lx6810-01 shuting down unexpectedly
Feb 7, 2011 6:04AM PST

i bought the same model. i also had the same problem. the problem is that the computer is over heating. their are no case fans in it. you can either add a case fan or up grade to windows 7. i upgraded to 7 cause my os crashed and lost everything. but that was a 119 dollar repair. the fan is a cheaper way to go. windows 7 runs cooler

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No it doesn't
Feb 7, 2011 10:13PM PST

No it doesn't. The OS does not factor in here. The fact that your system was "fixed" by an OS restore suggests that your problem was caused by something completely different.

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No mention of a OS restore
Feb 9, 2011 8:20AM PST

racerx24,
There was no mention of an OS restore in the previous commentary by anyone, except you.