An elderly neighbour has a problem with his equally elderly PC which uses win98.

He was using Quicken when the PC suddenly powered off.

The PC has a main power switch at the back of the PC, and an on button at the front. After the power-off, he needs to hold down the rear switch for a few seconds, and then press the front power button to power up.

The longer he leaves the PC off, the longer the boot process gets before the PC again switches off.

I tried safe mode - got as far as choosing mode then it switches off. Set it to show system BIOS etc, but while in there it switched off.

Any ideas.

Rannoch

Could this be a hardware fault caused by overheating?

Rannoch

Yes it could be, based upon the problem description so far. If there's a lot of dust build up in the system and power supply it can trip thermal "switches".

Are there any sounds coming from the system (beeps, "sirens", etc) when the shut off occurs or just prior to it?

No sounds at all. Just shuts off.

I opened it up to check the dust and fans. It's the cleanest PC I've ever seen - absolutely no dust at all, and the fans were working. Even with the cover off the PC still switched off.

Rannoch

On the troubled machine, boot into RAW DOS. (Hold or start tapping the Ctrl key at the system POST. (Power On Self Test.)) You have to be quick. You should get the MS Startup Menu. Choose Command Prompt Only. Run the system in dos for a while to see if it still powers down. (I take it that this is an ATX system.) Type in something like;

scandisk/all/surface

This will "work" the system.


EDIT: Sorry, I missed the; " Set it to show system BIOS etc, but while in there it switched off." This shows the problem to be hardware related, which is what I was getting at.

Is this a "brand name" system? (ie; Dell, Hewlett Packard, Compaq, Gateway, etc.) Make/Model number?