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Recently I noticed that my computer suddenly shuts down. First I thought it overheats. But after digging a bit deeper I found the reason.

When someone nudges the computer it switches off (like you hit the power switch). It doesn't need to be a hard knock/bump. So it seems like a hardware failure, but I have no idea where to look further.

Has anyone of you noticed such behaviour? What can be the cause?

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Maybe the cables from the power supply are loose. You will have to open it to see if the connections are okay. Also my friend has a HP laptop and this is also happens to him, it seems that is a battery problem so if your computer is a HP laptop you should look into it. – octa Jul 17 '10 at 22:31
Indeed. Like the PC I had at school. The SATA cable was so loose, one kicked the table = no PC. :) – Shiki Jul 17 '10 at 22:32
Laptop or Desktop? – Moab Jul 18 '10 at 3:35
It is a desktop. – qbi Jul 18 '10 at 13:34

1 Answer

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It sounds like a loose connection somewhere or a broken wire. I would just try nudging every wire you can, narrowing down the problem.

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I tried kickin the computer itself as well as some cables, but nothing happened. I guess I'll have to wait for my kids to kick the computer. They had more luck. :-) So as I can't reproduce it at the moment I'll close it. – qbi Jul 18 '10 at 13:36

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