Computer goes into sleep mode randomly

[sarahblue1981]

My computer started going into sleep mode when I either:

1.) Rip from a CD. It doesn't do it after a specific amount of time, sometimes it will rip the entire CD, sometimes it will only rip 1 track.

2.) Burn a CD. Sometimes I can burn an entire CD, sometimes it goes into sleep mode halfway through the process.

This is where I thought it was a problem with the CD ROM. But then, it threw me off because it started:

3.) Going into sleep mode part way through my anti virus software scanning my hard drive.

I've tried formatting, turning off sleep mode altogether. Nothing works. It doesn't completely shut down, because the green power light is still on.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I love my computer but I don't know how to fix this, I'm thinking about getting a new one.

It's an IBM ThinkCentre with Windows XP.

[IT-Guy]

It doesn't sound like sleep mode to me... It sounds like a problem our Dell's had at one time... The computer display just goes blank on it's own and then more frequently.  How do you know it's in sleep mode?  How do you get it to wake up?  Do you have to power it off and back on?  Our Dell's had a bad motherboard issue.  The box was so confined it was burning them up.  Look at your board and check the capacitors for heat symptoms.. ie. bubbling over or expanding.

[sarahblue1981]

I know it's not the monitor cause I turn the monitor off and back on again, and it still doesn't work. I actually hear my tower powering down, but only into sleep mode cause the power light still stays on. I actually have to turn the computer off and on again. I read this and checked inside my tower as well, I'm not sure what the motherboard looks like but nothing looked out of the ordinary...

[IT-Guy]

Exactly.  The monitor goes blank but has the green light and your pc stays on but nothing works.  If you look in the case.. you will see the motherboard has little round cylinder shaped capacitors with an indented x on top... Look closely at the 'X'.  If it is expanding and the 'x' separating or if it's more obvious with what looks like battery acid pouring out the top.. then it's a defective board.  Otherwise... swap memory modules and see if that has any effect.

Good luck.

[Backdated]

Power settings?

[IT-Guy]

Nah.. That would be too simple  

[Backdated]

It's good troubleshooting methodology to start with the simple things.