Why does my computer shut down automatically?

Why does my computer randomly shut down?

• In the last seven days, my computer has shut down for no apparent reason for three times. The first time I experienced this was while playing Garry's Mod, not a very graphically-intensive game. I was simply playing normally, and my computer just turned off without a single error message or blue screen. The screen went black and the power light turned off. When I restarted it, I found that I was not able to use my keyboard anymore. I looked this up and fixed it with a motherboard reset on my laptop. This solved the problem, however my computer shut down again - this time while not playing any games. My keyboard was left unaffected. I came to the conclusion that this may have something to do with the dying battery - which had been displaying warnings about how it was reaching the end of its usable life for a couple of months now. I spent some money on a new battery and it arrived today, however the problem occurred yet again while playing Garry's Mod. I simply don't understand why my computer is shutting down. Does anybody have an idea why, and any way to fix it? I am posting my computer specs below: ------------------ System Information ------------------ Time of this report: 5/4/2012, 20:37:10 Machine name: TIGRAN Operating System: Windows Vista™ Home Premium (6.0, Build 6002) Service Pack 2 (6002.vistasp2_gdr.120305-0430) Language: English (Regional Setting: English) System Manufacturer: Dell Inc. System Model: Studio 1555 BIOS: Ver 1.00 BIOS A06 PARTTBL" Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T6400 @ 2.00GHz (2 CPUs), ~2.0GHz Memory: 3066MB RAM Page File: 1934MB used, 4399MB available Windows Dir: C:\Windows DirectX Version: DirectX 11 DX Setup Parameters: Not found DxDiag Version: 7.00.6002.18107 32bit Unicode --------------- Display Devices --------------- Card name: ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4500/5100 Series Manufacturer: ATI Technologies Inc. Chip type: ATI display adapter (0x9553) DAC type: Internal DAC(400MHz) Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_9553&SUBSYS_02BE10… Display Memory: 1783 MB Dedicated Memory: 505 MB Shared Memory: 1277 MB Current Mode: 1366 x 768 (32 bit) (60Hz) Monitor: Generic PnP Monitor Driver Name: aticfx32.dll,aticfx32.dll,atiumdag.dll,a… Driver Version: 8.17.0010.1077 (English) DDI Version: 10.1 BGRA Supported: Yes Driver Attributes: Final Retail Driver Date/Size: 4/20/2011 03:09:04, 676864 bytes

• Answer:

  This is most likely due to your graphics card overheating (always the first think to check) and a driver crash. So first get a program that can measure your GPU temperature and make sure you find one compatible with an ATI card. If thats not the problem get a program called bluescreenview even though its not displaying a BSOD you are still likely getting one its just that your screen is shutting off imedietely after your display driver crashes. It will log which driver caused the crash and even give you the error code so you can google it. If it is the display driver make sure you completely uninstall it using something like driver sweeper and reinstall to the latest version. If that doesnt work I would start thinking about doing a fresh reformat so you can reinstall your chipset drivers and everything in its intended order. And finally if that doesnt fix it your hardware might be in a state where its not technically broken but cant be stable at whatever speed/voltage it is running at. Also power supplies can cause weird issues like this but the battery only stores power it doesnt really regulate the power per say. esentially what im trying to say is you should have atleast plugged the computer into the wall without the battery in before completely replacing it.