Machine Shutting Itself Down

[Daij]

Last night I was working on my desk top and suddenly the screen went black and the PC (Dell) stopped working – no fan sound and the usual din it makes when it is running. I looked at the on/off button which normally displays a green light when it is running, and this had changed to an orange/yellow flashing light. I pressed it to restart – nothing. I had to hold the button in for 30 seconds until it ‘went off’ before I could restart. It restarted OK and after 2-3 hours the same thing happened. I restarted successfully again and worked for an hour or so when I shut down properly to retire.
I was on the net the first time and offline the second time. Anyone have any ideas what is happening here?

Something bizarre also happened – may have nothing to do with the problem, but a massive coincidence nonetheless.
I have a safety device which I attach to the door at my mother’s house – it’s a small gadget that I record a message to her to remind her not to try to open the front door. It has a sensor on the front and when it detects motion, so that when she approaches it, she gets my recorded message. I brought it to my house to change the battery and last night, this device was aside the CPU on the desk. The motion senor was pointing away from the PC but at both times the PC stopped working, the device played my message! Very odd I know, and I can’t see why this would happen. Maybe it will mean something to you IT buffs out there.

Thanks in advance

[Buenchico]

Your PC seems to be overheating and, as it's designed to do, then switching itself off. (All electronic circuitry produces radio frequency emissions; it's possible that the switching device in your PC is transmitting on a frequency that interferes with the operation of your safety device).

So the first things to check are that your computer's vents aren't blocked and that the fan is running normally. (My friend had a computer that kept shutting itself down. When I went round to her house to take a look at it I immediately noticed that she'd got a bar towel on top of it, so that she could put her coffee mug up there. The towel was hanging down over the back of the computer, obstructing the vents. I simply removed the towel and the problem never occurred again!).

[retrocop]

I am far from being an IT expert. The problem seems similar to one I had. Simply my old lap top was overheating due to the fan being faulty and the laptop (acer) automatically shut down. Once it cooled it could be rebooted but kept shutting down again when heating up again quite quickly.
No idea about your other coincidental problem though. :-)
I ditched the laptop and bought a new one. Not economocal to repair and well passed it's sell by date.

[ivor4781]

take the side panel off check your fans are not blocked with dust and fluff, very common, blast it out with as can of compressed air
http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/maplin-airduster-200ml-n57jx