complete computer shut down

I have just started getting complete shut downs while playing SL in last 2 weeks and getting worse each day. It just literally dies and powers off, and all the other machines are on printer scanner etc but computer just dies... booom... off

U have to turn off and on at wall to restart it at all and it then restarts. Each time I enter Sl today it happens within a minute or two of being in world, complete shut down. OR.. sometimes it flickers off and on for a second and then is reboot...

I dont think I have changed anything... what culd cause this my computer can stay on all day on net or word or chat but soon as get into SL it just shuts down, I can't play today at all for more than 2-3 mins at most.

Check that it's not overheating. When the fan went on my graphics card, mine started doing that.

It seems to shut down only when I enter a game, perhaps cos gfx card gets used more? Its happening also in Neocron now as well as SL, at least twice anyways but doesnt happen while in normal web....

Tho it DOES happen several times if u tuirn the machine off overnight then start up and soon as u start it can die 4-5 times before it will run

Today I left it on all day and when came from work was STILL on, went into SL and boom,... power off and dead


machine is 3 yr old Athlon AMD 1800
Radeon 9600 Pro about 6 mths old or so now
1GB Ram
1mb DSL

Again, when it starts, put your hand at the back, and feel how hot the outlet vent is... if it's 'hot' as opposed to warm, then you need extra cooling. Also check for dust blocking fans... and if you have cats or dogs... fur...

Snakekiss, as a quick test-through, does this happen with any other apps and games? or just SL? In other words, is it a Second Life-specific problem?

Like Sio said, check to make sure it's well-ventilated and that the cooling is running properly. If the problem continues to get worse, I'd shut down everything and get the necessary components fixed, or you risk worse damage.

sounds like what i had with my r9800pro card

Everything worked nice till i started something that actually required its hardware, boom crash and froze/reboot , my card was defect tho, cause i had barly any dust on my fans.

Secondlife itself (the software) shouldn't cause your system to reboot. It's got to be hardware. I'd agree with the other posters on checking to make sure your system isn't overheating because SL is pretty intense on your system. My system goes up a lot from when it is idle to playing SL. If the system isn't being cooled properly it wouldn't take long at full load to overheat and possibly reboot. If you have a sensor alarm on your motherboard you may turn it on so it puts off an audible alarm.

When my Athlon XP processor would overheat it'd power itself off and I'd have to pull the plug to get it to turn back on.

Try running with the case open and a fan blowing directly on the board , see if this lets you play SL for more than a few minutes.

i would say with about 98% certainty its one of two things:

a) one of your fans in the system has died (was it making more noise than usual recently and then the noise stopped lately? that would be a good indicator) Open the side and turn it on, and make sure all the fans are spinning, the cpu fan, power supply fan, graphics card fan

b) The power supply is failing (this is going to be a bit trickier to diagnose... one possible indicator would be to go into the bios at startup and look for a 'power/temperature/monitor' menu/screen. Ensure that each of the voltages being applied *IS* about what its supposed to be... is the 12v power actually 12.1, or 11.9, or 11.2? etc for each listed voltage. The rule of thumb is things are allowed to be off by about 5% give or take, any more than that and the system may be compromised)

These two problems account for almost all of the failures of the type you described.

If both of them appear good (aka all the fans are moving properly, and not making undue noise, and all the voltages appear to be within their normal ranges, you may want to get rather drastic in yer repair efforts, and i or someone equally knowledgable will probably be able to help further)