Gateway DX4300 That Repeatedly Shuts Off.

I have a Gateway DX4300-11 that repeatedly turns itself off. I purchased the desktop in mid-January/2010 and this problem began to occur in mid September/2010. The computer will sometimes run for a couple days with no problem and sometimes it’s less than an hour. I have spoken to Gateway support and have been asked me to restore the system back to factory settings as they want to rule out the possibility that Windows 7 (64 Bit) or other software conflicts are not turning the computer off.

I am not convinced that the OS or software is creating the problem as the system is so locked up that I have to unplug the computer and repower in order to have the system respond. When the system turn off depressing and holding the power button will not have the computer turn on eventhough the power button light remains on. I have read other posting on line and some DX4300 users are of the opinion that the problem is a power supply issues and/or an overheating problems.

Overheating does appears to be the problem. How the overheating effects the motherboard I am not sure, but I performed the following test to determine that overheating is causing the system to turn off. I have taken a small fan and aimed it at the computer and the computer will run for days on end with no shut downs. The first was a 5 day period and then I followed it with an eight day run. To confirm the heating issue, I then operated the computer without the fan in operation and the computer would shut down within a couple of hours. I repeated this half a dozen times and the computer would always shut down. Once again, I return to using the fan aimed at the computer and the computer does not shut down. It has been running now for a couple of days with no shut down. Again, I am convinced that the computer is shutting down as a result of an overheating problem.

Back to Gateway support I will return. I will keep you informed of how they respond to this defect in their product.