Computer shuts down

[cambdi]

I have an old Packard Bell PC running windows XP, it shut down once during the day last week and I thought I'd knocked a wire out or something. Now I'm only able to use it for approximately 8 minutes before the screen goes blank and it shuts down although it appears to be still running.

 

I've not knowingly downloaded anything, I run the free version of AVG.

 

I don't know if that's enough information or whether I've posted in the right place but I need some advice please.

 

Cambdi

[KenB]

Hi again :)

 

This could be an overheating problem that could be caused by dust.

 

Take the side panel off the case ( assuming a desktop ? ) and take a look inside.

There will probably be a lot of dust. Check the fans and the aluminium heat sink on the CPU.

 

If there is dust I suggest you get a can of compressed air ( from any computer shop and some motor-factors ) take the machine outside as there will be some mess.

Use short blasts to remove the dust.

You can use a soft brush but this is not as effective.

[Wonderland]

Last month My laptop started to shutdown once a week , I had to keep the battery charged all the time, One day I couldn’t get power to the monitor the whole system went off. I bought a good smooth brush which was specifically made for laptops and cleaned my laptop, It started functioning and worked well for couple of days and two days back I saw a red cross at the battery icon, Sadly I need to change the battery and spend couple of bucks on it! …….. I asked my friend (hardware savvy) to come and take a look at my laptop…..Hope he’ll come soon….Any suggestions to save my money?