So I was dusting my PC a little while ago, and it seems something has broken. The system starts fine, but when I went to stand it up and close the case it shut down. I assumed I'd not replaced the heat sink properly and it was simply overheating - but that wasn't it. It just shuts down whenever I stand it up, or give it a whack.


Should I be looking at the PSU or is some wire loose on the mainboard?

Does it just close down entirely or reboot? A complete shut-down suggests something like overheating, whereas a reboot, to me, suggests a dodgy connection. That said, the fact that movement seems to trigger it makes me veer back towards the connection thing...

I've had the rebooting problem with a faulty PSU before (alternating +5v, IIRC) - although that was accompanied with beep codes. Can you get into the BIOS?

After an hour or two of playing around with cables, checking connections and hardware I've discovered the central nexus cable that comes out of the PSU is the culprit. When the cables are pushed up, the PSU runs. When they droop down, it goes off. So now, I am using a pencil (yes, a pencil) to hold up the cables inside the tower. Who would've thought?

I once 'fixed' an IDE cable with blu-tac...

I had a switch on the inside of my case that used to auto shut-down the computer when you opened it. 30 Seconds and some Araldite soon fixed that one

Wow! Technical supremacy awaits! I shall stock up on some blu-tac, some pencils, araldite and swine flu vaccine!

I read somewhere that Gaffer Tape is like the Force, it has a Dark Side, a Light Side and it binds the Universe together

Ooo... I must have some of those as well...

I read somewhere that Gaffer Tape is like the Force, it has a Dark Side, a Light Side and it binds the Universe together

This.

Hammertime?