I have a home built Windows 7 x64 computer with a Core 2 Quad CPU. It has recently taken to suddenly shutting down/turning off at unusual intervals. I should note that it powers down suddenly, and does not do a blue screen or shut down. It seems to be most common when playing media. I have tried running SpeedFan, and the CPU temp seems to hover around 49C. The computer has been running fine for over 1 year. Could heat be my problem, and how should I address it?
Steps Taken: (Problem Resolved)
- Completely cleaned the inside.
- Reseated the heatsink.
- Ran memtest 86, which found one memory error, which was followed sometime later by the computer switching off (which leads me to believe it's not the memory).
- Installed a brand new power supply.
- Inspected all fans to ensure they are running.
- Switched out memory sticks. This is not the problem, unless they're all bad.
- Reseated hard drive cable.
- Tried with a different video card.
- Tried the CPU in a friend's motherboard. Same exact problem occurred there.
- Applied for a warranty replacement.
- Replaced the CPU, seems to be working now.
Just as a side note, the computer is still running fine, it was definitely the CPU.