computer shutting off and on by its self...

[inap]

a friend of mine asked me to look at his computer, he said it turns off and on by its self since i got it i can not find the problem, i turned it on but it diddent come on  till about 5 mins later and then tured off right after and it turns back on ect.  but i can not figure out what is wrong with this computer, maybe someone else has had this problem before and would like to share their story thanks

[Dusty]

Welcome to the CH forums.

Maybe someone would like to tell us what kind of computer we're trying to diagnose the problem on and what the operating system is?

Please read this.

Thanks

[inap]

 its a compaq presario and has windows xp

[kuszmania9999]

that's mean you can boot to the windows right?
could be related to virus / spyware.
can you boot in safe mode?
is it shut down & turn off every 5minutes?with that perfect timing??

[Dusty]

Is it a Presario laptop or desktop?   Does it have a working cdrom and/or floppy drive?  Do you have a full XP cdrom (not just a recovery disk)?

Do:
1.   Boot into Safe mode as Administrator.
2.   Right click My Computer.
3.   L.click Properties.
4.   L.click Advanced.
5.   L.click Settings in the Startup & Recovery pane.
6.   Uncheck the Auto Restart box.
8.   Reboot into Normal mode.

After the system loads is an error message displayed onscreen?  If yes please post the displayed message.

Thanks

[inap]

as of today computer will not stay on long enough to do that
 so im thinking its some sort of hardware problem

[Dusty]

Is it a Presario laptop or desktop?   Does it have a working cdrom and/or floppy drive?  Do you have a full XP cdrom (not just a recovery disk)?

If you ain't gonna answer questions to help with the diagnosis then I for one just ain't interested anymore.

Adios.

[inap]

it is a desktop came with a xp disk  i belive its a full disk, you know them ones you get with the computer as if you bought it from walmart or something, cdrom and floppy both work ,and im sorry but i am new to these forums

[Fed]

What happens when you try and start it in safe mode?
http://www.computerhope.com/issues/chsafe.htm

[spiderlucci]

hi, make sure your power supply and CPU fans are working.
make sure all your cables and connectors are connected.  example, HD, CD-ROM,Floppy Drive ect... check your ram ...make sure they are seated right.

if you go in safe mode and it restarts by itself... There could be a hardware problem going on!
Good Luck!
spider