PC shut down immediately after cold boot

[kwfine]

Hi all,

My PC is 4 years old. It has got 2GB RAM, 160GB HDD, Raedon HD 4600 PCIe series, CoolerMaster 550W running on XP SP2.
Recently, it shut down immediately after a cold boot.
Sometimes it shut down before I could see the Desktop screen.

Since it kept shutting down, I thought that the problem might be caused by some corrupted core files of Windows XP, so I used True Image 10 to restore the system back to 2 years ago when everything ran very well. But the PC still shut down after the restoration of the system.

I had also used MeMTest86+ to do the memory check, and the 2GB RAM passed the test.

I have no idea what happened.

Please help me if you could.

Thank you so much for your time.

Kitty

[Raymond]

Check the CPU fans if it is still spinning? Most of the time this will happen when the CPU gets overheated.

[hal9000]

I thought CPU temps at first as well, but then if the PC can sit there for several minutes restoring an Acronis backup which must put a reasonable amount of stress on the CPU maybe it could be something else.

Would still start with the CPU and any other fans in the machine (PSU / GFX card) as they're the obvious ones.

Can you run in safe mode?
Have you checked the BIOS for temps / fan speeds / voltages & clocks to see if they're OK?
Can you boot with onboard GFX if you have it to rule out the card?
Can you run a boot cd like Hiren or UBCD4WIN without a shutdown?

[kwfine]

Thanks, Raymond, and hal9000 for the quick help.
---------

Hi Raymond and Hal9000,
When I opened the PC case, I noticed that there was a wire connecting from the motherboard to the switch (power button) on the front panel of the PC case. The wire looked very old, and part of it had melted.
I am not sure if the problem was caused by this old wire. I am not sure if I should replace it and see if the problem can be fixed, but I have never done this before.
Is it possible to replace the wire connected from the Power Button.

What should I consider if I want to buy a new CPU fan?
Do I have to find out the number of pins of my CPU before I buy a new CPU fan?

Here are some of the hardware in my PC:
It has got 2GB RAM, 160GB HDD, Raedon HD 4600 PCIe series, CoolerMaster 550W running on XP SP2.

Thank you for your time again.

Kitty

[hal9000]

A very easy way to check to see if it's the wire at fault is to act as the power button yourself with a small screwdriver. Note which 2 mobo connecters the button wire goes to then pull the wire off. Touch those 2 connecters together with your screwdriver to create a bridge between them (that's all the power button does).

The PC will start as if you pressed the button then you can check to see if it turns off again without the dodgy wire. To remove the bad bit just cut it out and reconnect the wire or splice in another piece of similar wire if it's too short. Cover exposed wire with insulating tape or use a connector block.

Logically speaking though, this shouldn't be your problem as you said it shuts down immediately after trying to load Windows but stays on for several minutes when using Acronis.