I'm running a Compaq Presario with WinXP SP2. After the computer is on about 8-9 hours it will just randomly, aruptly shut down/off without going through the normal process of shutting down. I will be surfing the web, playing a game, listening to music, or all three and all of sudden everything stops and the screen turns blank. There's no mouse pointer or anything, just a black screen.
Everything stays on, the computer light, monitor, speakers, but the screen is blank with no response from the computer on anything. The only thing I can do is manually turn off the computer by holding the power button. I do think either the HD or fan stops, because the computer seems quieter when this happens. I have a CD-ROM, CD-RW, PCI ATI 9200SE, 768MB RAM, and a HD attached inside the computer, and a USB wireless mouse, USB wireless network adapter, USB webcam, and sometimes a USB game controller attached too.
I'm thinking that the problem is an overloaded power supply that causes these shut downs. I've run Prime95 to check my processor, but after 1hr 39 min with no errors, I don't believe that is the issue. I have checked my power settings, and those are fine, along with my USB shut down options (which is not set to turn off anyways). I've also done some scans and there doesn't seem to be any viruses or spyware, so I'm thinking it has to be hardware. Is it the power supply? drivers? overheating? something else?
This problem keeps occuring and I am getting a bit worried about it. Thanks for any help.
