# Computer Turns Off And I Need To Unplug It To Turn Back On???



## youngandfit (Jul 30, 2006)

Hello all. I running a dell dimension 4500 with windows xp on a 250 w power supply, 512mb ram, 60 gb hard drive, standard motherboard, only upgrade is sony cd-rw. I am having the following problem:

My computer will switch off at random throughout the day. The only way to turn it back on is to unplug it and wait for the number lock light and caps lock light to go off on the keyboard. Once they go out, I can insert the plug back into the back of the cpu and it will power back up. If i do not unplug it, the lights on the keyboard will remain on ,but I cannot power the cpu back up. Everything I am running is stock right from dell. The fans are working properly and I even blew out a ton of dust from inside the fan housing. I can keep turning it back on, but it will just keep shutting off and powering down. Sometimes it will go days without doing this and then it will continue for days at a time. I'm thinking power supply??? Let me know what you think. thanks.


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## Zazula (Apr 27, 2006)

Yeah, I would also start from the psu - at 250w it's on the edge.
Can you get your hands on a 300-350w psu of known functionality?


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## linderman (May 20, 2005)

double check to make sure its not a micro ATX supply give us what info you can dig up off the side of the PSU ( a sticker should be there)


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## Ralck (Dec 10, 2004)

This sounds like possibly two issues. First off is heat. When was the last time you blew the dust out of your case with compressed air? Dust can cause all sorts of problems, including excessive heat, which sounds like the main problem.
The second problem, as Zazula said, is power supply. This could also be a contributing factor, if the heat is causing the power supply to overheat as well.
My suggestion is to try and blow your case out first, and also, if you can try to get a better PSU. If you need to buy one, check out the power supply link (in my sig) before you buy one.


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## Zazula (Apr 27, 2006)

Joe, I seem to have found the Dimension 4500 PSU details here.


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## linderman (May 20, 2005)

nice find Zazula!

I wish they woulkd state in those specs if the form factor was ATX or micro ATX

tommorow I will look in my brothers he has one of those


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## youngandfit (Jul 30, 2006)

Ok guys. I downloaded Sensor Views and it says my computer is running at 94F. The problem seems to be that my fans are reading at 0rpm. I can feel one of them on, but it states they are not even working. Not sure what is going on here, but maybe it's time for new fans. Let me know what you think and can someone post a like about purchasing or replacing these myself. Thanks for all your help.


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## youngandfit (Jul 30, 2006)

it's got to be the heat boys. It's up to 100F and climbing as the computer has only been on for 10 minutes. could this be a power supply issue for the fans as they are both not working, or could it be software?? thanks for the help.


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## Zazula (Apr 27, 2006)

*How to figure out the right PSU replacements for Dell computers*

1. First of all, since we're talking Dimension 4500 here, it seems that the original 250W PSU has a standard ATX form factor: http://www.atxcases.com/item.asp?id=1787&desc=dell_dimension_4500_250

2. An interesting conversation regarding the proprietary PSUs in older Dells that can lead unsuspecting users to blow their board, akin to our own Proprietary PSU discussion that took place in TSF, can be found here.

3. I believe the coolest way to determine what's the best replacement for a PSU in a Dell pc, is to use the PC Power and Cooling PSU selector for Dells. If one follows the link to what PCP&C suggests, one gets a very good idea of what the PSU to be replaced actually is.


***EDIT: I saw the comments on overheat right now; I'll come back to it in a separate post.


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## Ralck (Dec 10, 2004)

Here's the easiest way to see if your problem is heat:

Take off the side of the case, and point a desk fan directly into the case turning it on high. Then, start the computer up and see if the temperatures stay lower and the problem goes away. If it does, we can help suggest better ways to cool your system.
This could be a heat and PSU issue though, so heat may not be the only problem you have.


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## youngandfit (Jul 30, 2006)

yep. the heat dissipates and the problem is gone with the case cracked open and the fan on it. she's running at 88 degrees and doing great. It's been like this for about 1 hour and no problems.


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## youngandfit (Jul 30, 2006)

here are some specs I got from everest home edition.

4.08.01.0810 (DirectX 8.1)
Operating System Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
OS Service Pack Service Pack 1
User Name me

Motherboard:
BIOS Type AMI (05/22/02)
Communication Port Communications Port (COM1)
Communication Port Printer Port (LPT1)
CPU Type Intel Pentium 4, 2000 MHz (20 x 100)
Motherboard Chipset Intel Brookdale i845E
Motherboard Name Intel Pendleton 2 D845EPT2 (3 PCI, 1 AGP, 2 DIMM, Audio)
System Memory 256 MB (PC2100 DDR SDRAM)

Display:
Video Adapter 64MB DDR NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 420 with TV Out (Dell) (64 MB)
3D Accelerator nVIDIA GeForce4 MX 420
Monitor Dell 1703FP [17" LCD] (2Y3153AAA811)

Multimedia:
Audio Adapter Creative SB Live! Value (CT4780) Sound Card

Storage:
IDE Controller Intel(R) 82801DB Ultra ATA Storage Controller - 24CB
Floppy Drive Floppy disk drive
Disk Drive MAXTOR 6L040J2 (40 GB, 7200 RPM, Ultra-ATA/133)
Optical Drive SONY CD-RW CRX300E (DVD:16x, CD:48x/24x/48x DVD-ROM/CD-RW)
SMART Hard Disks Status OK


[ BIOS ]

BIOS Properties:
Vendor Intel Corp.
Version A02
Release Date 05/22/2002
Size 512 KB
Boot Devices Floppy Disk, Hard Disk, CD-ROM, ATAPI ZIP, LS-120
Capabilities Flash BIOS, Shadow BIOS, Selectable Boot, EDD, BBS
Supported Standards DMI, ACPI, PnP
Expansion Capabilities PCI, AGP, USB

[ System ]

System Properties:
Manufacturer Dell Computer Corporation
Product DIM4500
Universal Unique ID 44454C4C-32001047-8054B4C0-4F523131
Wake-Up Type  Power Switch

[ Motherboard ]

Motherboard Properties:
Manufacturer Intel Corporation
Product D845EPT2
Version AAA83421-106
Serial Number CN02P9974811126401C1
CPU Properties:
CPU Type Intel Pentium 4
CPU Alias Northwood, A80532
CPU Stepping B0
Engineering Sample No
CPUID CPU Name Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.00GHz
CPUID Revision 00000F24h

CPU Speed:
CPU Clock 1993.45 MHz (original: 2000 MHz)
CPU Multiplier 20.0x
CPU FSB 99.67 MHz (original: 100 MHz)
Memory Bus 132.90 MHz

CPU Cache:
L1 Trace Cache 12K Instructions
L1 Data Cache 8 KB
L2 Cache 512 KB (On-Die, ECC, ATC, Full-Speed)

Motherboard Properties:
Motherboard ID 63-0100-000001-00101111-052202-i845$P845E10A_BIOS DATE: 05/22/02 16:06:01 VER: 08.00.00
Motherboard Name Intel Pendleton 2 D845EPT2 (3 PCI, 1 AGP, 2 DIMM, Audio)

Chipset Properties:
Motherboard Chipset Intel Brookdale i845E
Memory Timings 2-3-3-6 (CL-RCD-RP-RAS)

SPD Memory Modules:
DIMM2: Nanya NT256D64S88AAG-7K 256 MB PC2100 DDR SDRAM (2.5-3-3-7 @ 142 MHz) (2.0-3-3-6 @ 133 MHz)

BIOS Properties:
System BIOS Date 05/22/02
Video BIOS Date 04/03/02
DMI BIOS Version A02

Graphics Processor Properties:
Video Adapter nVIDIA GeForce4 MX 420
GPU Code Name NV17 (AGP 4x 10DE / 0172, Rev A3)
GPU Clock 250 MHz
Memory Clock 166 MHz


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## Ralck (Dec 10, 2004)

Why kinds of fans and case cooling do you have in the machine? Tell us what you have and we can help recomend ways to improve it.


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## youngandfit (Jul 30, 2006)

ok. not sure what is going on. The sensorview states that my fans are not working at all, but i opened the case and took a look inside and both are working fine. The one to the power supply is making a buzzing noise and the one below seems to be quiet as a mouse. There are two fans, one pulling air out of the power supply and one pulling air out of the bottom. I'm not sure what to make of the problem now, but the cpu is def. overheating and shutting down. I have the case open and a fan on her and things are good to go. Help me please, I'm a rookie to problems like this.


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