Random shutdown

[omegaRED]

I installed WinXP Pro a couple of days ago, since it was time for me to reinstall Win2K Pro (lots of programs/stuff in and out, was geting sluggish and occasional errors here and there), and i thought i`d give WinXP (another) try.

Well, everything went smooth, drivers etc., except for the crappy Rocwell/Conexant HSF, which was to be expected, i ended up removing the modem...

But a VERY strange thing started happening. The PC would powerdown out of the blue, and i need to uplug the power cable out of the outlet and plug it back in for the PC to power up. I checked the BIOS, i`ve changed nothing from the Win2K installation, the Drivers are all ok etc... The first day it happened 5-6 times, the second and third once or maybe twice a day, but i still cant figure out why. I`ve removed the modem, checked the PSU (fan working properly, not too hot), CPU (XP 2100+ @ 2.17 GHz, 1.7 Vcore), temps are normal, voltage ok...

I`ve had XP installed back a while, it felt a bit more sluggish than Win2K, but i experienced no such problems then...

This has got me stumped...

Sys specs:
MSI KT4V (VIA KT400, Hyperion 4.49)
Athlon XP 2100+@2.17GHz (1.7V)
300W PSU
512 MB Ram, 333 MHz
Maxtor 6080Y0L0
Samsung SD-616Q DVD-ROM
Samsung SW-252F CD-RW
ATI Radeon 9100 (Cat 4.3)

TIA

[UtwigMU]

Unless you have a driver problem (but you said, drivers were OK under 2k and XP is IME better in this regard as it comes with more drivers), you have a hardware problem IMO.

Give her one Memtest86 over night and 24 hours of Prime95 torture test.

[Sasq]

in the start up and recovery section

my computer r/c -> properties -> advanced

see if the automatically reboot is ticked.

untick it

Check your event log for weirdness.

[omegaRED]

Automatic Reboot is off, i turned it off once the BSODs cause of the modem started appearing. BTW the PC doesnt reboot, it powers down completely.

Checked the event log too, nothing unusual there.

I thought it could be a hardware problem, but the weird thing is that it started occuring the day i installed XP. I`ll try memtest and Prime95.

Thanks for the suggestions though.

[Sasq]

Mine was set to reboot, never did though just shut down. - ya for windows.

also pay to check for tarnish on the pins of various connectors around the place.
Something is causeing the the motherboard to latch into failsafe and keep the powergood signal in it's 'bad' state, hence needing to pull the cord.

[omegaRED]

Hmmm... That could be it. I`ll check all the connectors/pins on the MB.

Thanks Sasq

[UtwigMU]

Another idea: Swapping cards might confuse BIOS, clear the CMOS.

Also try flashing to lattest BIOS.