My sim PC has recently started shutting itself down when it's working quite hard running FS2004.Basically it just switches off as if some has pulled the plug and then it won't reboot for a couple of minutes or until sometimes I have switched it off at the PSU and back on again.I built it myself and it has an Asus A7n8xe deluxe motherboard,Athlon XP 3200 processor,2 512 meg sticks of Corsair value select DDR ram, Radeon 9600 XT, 80 gig SATA HDD and a 350 watt PSU.The CPU and MB temps are fine. I have the latest Radeon drivers,latest direct x 9c and everything has run well for at least 9 months.I also tried out 3D mark 2005 and it's shut down 2 out of 3 times running that.I have my suspicions, but I wanted to see what everyone else thought.Dean

Hi Dean, it would be interesting to learn more about your suspicions. Very often it is due to faulty RAM (or settings), an overloaded PSU and/or too high temps. Good luck and kind regards Jaap

I can't tell you what might be causing your problem.I can tell you I replaced two identical MAXTOR disk drives in the last week. One was in my home computer and another in a work computer. The coincidence is both drives are the same MAKE/MODEL, the same age, and the serial numbers are near each other. They both have expired warranties as of 8/3/2004. Hmmm!W. Sieffert

Hi Bill, wow, I hope you didn't loose any data. Did you hear the drives go clack clack beforehand or was it from one second to next? Good luck and kind regards Jaap

Well my suspicions were memory or PSU. Now my PC has shut down and won't boot, nothing. The SB led is lit on the MB, but it wont boot. So I'm gonna try a new PSU, since I don't think memory will cause this, only other thing I can think of is the MB.Oh well... Thanks for the replies.DeanHttp://simflight.fotopic.net

Hi Dean, not booting at all is often a pointer towards the mainboard or CPU and/or -as you mentioned- the power supply. RAM usually kicks in after the CPU upon boot and the no-boot you describe makes me think it's not your RAM. It would be best if you could take your FlyTendo to the 'garage' before plugging new components which might not be the cause (i.e. the PSU). 'Garages' usually have test equipment and much better possibilities for diagnosing. I once came across a system with exactly the symptoms you described and it was a broken AGP interface on the mainboard which could only be diagnosed with such special gear. Hope this helps, good luck and kind regards Jaap

Thanks, CMOS reset and a new PSU have done the trick.My first PSU failure in well over 10 years, but then my first PC fitted in the avionics bay of a Beechcraft Queenair, maybe it didn't like it in the dark !!

Hi Jaap,I got all the data off my home drive prior to its expiration. If I leave it in a cold place, it will still work for awhile. The MAXTOR diagnotics says the drive is okay, but it will not be in my computer again.W. Sieffert