I have got a P4 2.8 GZ 512 MB ram running XP Pro. The silly thing keeps shutting itself off all the time. It will shut itself off and then it will not start up again. If you wait 10-20 mins it will start up again. After and hour it will do the same thing again. I don't think it is the power supply but I don't know. I have not added/removed any hardware or software.

Can anyone offer any suggestions on how to diagnose what it wrong?

The other computer I have restarts all the time and flashes the bios each time it restarts. P3 650MHZ 256 Ram. I am open to suggestions on this one as well.

Thanks!

#1 sounds alot like a heat issue.

A quick look is obtainable via:

Look in your Event viewer: rt. click My Computer then click Manage then Event Viewer.
Or: Administrative Tools/Event Viewer or Start/Run/ eventvwr
Open the system as well as the application tabs & look for X errors. Click error line for details.
Post back the source & event id especially of errors that seem to coincide with a crash.

Or:

Also view your Error Log via:
[1] Start Menu
[2] Help and Support
[3] Pick a Task
[4] Tools
[5] Advanced System Information
[6] View the Error Log

A more comprehensive look can be done by the following:

1) Download and install the
Debugging Tools from Microsoft
2) Download and install this
debugwiz
3) Open the Wiz & Browse to, or paste in the path to, your latest .dmp file.
4) After the Wiz creates a Text document post it back to this thread.


If computer #2 is running XP change this setting:

rt. click My Computer then click Properties then Advanced then Startup and Recovery Settings then unclick Automatically restart in order to get error messages. Plus all the above apply.

Hope this helps.

Computer #1 I cannot get into to view the event viewer. The lights are on but it will not boot up at all. All I have is a black screen, not bios, no beeps, nothing.

What can I do?

Here is the most common 'X' in the event viewer.
The time provider NtpClient is configured to acquire time from one or more time sources, however none of the sources are currently accessible. No attempt to contact a source will be made for 29 minutes. NtpClient has no source of accurate time.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

So #1 wont start at all anymore? Even after it cools off? It definitly sounds like a heat issue. Are the fans running?

Is the Time Error from #2? It is insignificant anyway. Go to Control Panel | Date & Time | Internet Time | Synchronize