I've seen another thread on the subject, which was closed due to no one posting anything for a long while, I guess. Well, it could have been kept for further reference, because the subject was treated like a moron for saying BOINC could power down his computer. One of the accusations was that, if BOINC really had an issue, why was she/he the only whiner? Well, all pathologies are encountered for a first time!

Anyways, the issue is: My computer just powers down in a random second while running Asteroids tasks. At first, I had BOINC set to start working after 2 minutes idle, so for most times I didn't see it happening. I started running less and less programs to identify the problem, and it kept happening. When I was almost sure that it was BOINC that was causing the issue, I had it run while I was browsing wiki. After almost 10 minutes of nothing happening, poof! My computer dies!

I've just recently given my computer a nice, good clean, so its very unlikely to be dust. That was about 2-3 weeks ago, and BOINC only started powering off my computer 2 days ago, so no, I haven't messed up anything inside. The cabin has 2 coolers, my source has its own cooler, and so does the GPU. Even though, I checked: it doesn't seem to be heating. Also, the error beep code when it powers on isn't the one from overheating I used to get one year ago before I changed almost all the pieces and got myself a new cooling paste (two beeps).
Oh, and to state the really obvious, that was asked to the OP over on the dead thread: I do hear fans when it is working, yes. Nothing different from the noise when it wasn't powering down.

Specs:
Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) 64bits X2 Dual Core 4400+ 2.30Ghz
Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce 9500 GT
Memory: 4GB of RAM
OS: Windows Vista(tm) Home Premium 32bits Service Pack 2.

Also one of the ignorant folks on the other thread went on about how, in the unlikely chance the problem wasn't the OP pulling of the power cords and not noticing, it was Windows fault, for being capitalist and all. Linux saves everyone.
Well, alright, I can go on like that as well. But I am currently running BOINC on a Windows machine, and, just like I advocate Linux, I also do for BOINC, and most people, truely unfortunatly, run Windows. BOINC was created to harnest the power of mass computing. Thefore, BOINC has to work on being compatible with Windows and whatever irrationalities it may have.

If I did overlook something, notice I wrote so much because I DO NOT want to be treated like an idiot. Maybe I really just overlooked, or maybe I'm savy in many ways that you are not, but not as much in this subject. I wouldn't treat you badly for trying (and failing many attempts) at any of my fields, though. Try to make your point nicely, or return in a better mood.

I hope for some responses. Meanwhile, I'm droping my Asteroid tasks and suspending the project to help me pinpoint. If it works, I will come back to help out other people "imagining" issues in the future.

Now then, as you may have noticed, none of the usual 'ignorant folks' who selflessly help around here are touching your thread with their bare hands, let alone asbestos gloves. I'd like to ask you to tone it down a lot, if you want to get help here, or be off help here.

Well then, with that out of the way, two things:
You mention the error beep code when it powers on. What do you mean with that, and if it's really an error tone, don't you think it's wise to look up what it may mean? Not all computers give a single bleep anymore these days to tell you all is OK, that is usually stated in the motherboard manual. Else on the motherboard manufacturer site, or the BIOS/EUFI manufacturer site. Or take a quick look at http://www.computerhope.com/beep.htm and see if it's on there. Do check what BIOS you have before thinking it's always a DRAM refresh failure.

Second, usually when the PC goes off when the system is under (severe) load, this points to the power supply unit being either old, or too weak to be of sufficient use. What brand and model PSU do you have, and how 'heavy' is it?

Now, there are PSU calculators out there on the internet, such as here and with less options here. I just filled in some numbers there, guestimating what you have in your PC additionally to what you told us, and both sites tell me that the minimum required PSU for that system is a 300Watt PSU.

You may already have such a PSU, but then the question becomes how old it is. How much has it had to do the past so many years?

Enough homework, I would say.

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In Addition to what Ageless suggested I want to add that you should try another project besides Asteroid@home to see if maybe the science application is causing this crash. And also it would be nice to know if you allow CPU and GPU work. You could try and allow only one of those and see if the crash still occurs. That would narrow it down a bit more.

Another GPU project that usually works well is Einstein@home.

My source (PSU) is a Casemall 600W. I got it last year, together with my other new pieces. I had a 400W, but I read something about them working best at 80%, and their real power may vary, so I thought I'd just get a higher one.

So far, it has powered down twice running only Docking, Asteroids being cancelled and removed. It stayed all night running, though, something that it wouldn't do before. I'll do the obvious that is to see if it powers down without running BOINC. If it doesn't I'll test what Christian said about varying the GPU options. One thing I noticed before this started happening, though, was that BOINC can't work at 90% at my computer. It runs a while, then pauses, then runs a while, pauses, and so on. I don't know if that's how it was made to work, but it can't keep a constant 90% (nor with a small error margin) CPU usage.

I don't have much time to search beep codes right now, just passed here to report the findings so far. I'll leave my computer on to see if it powers down. Even though I already did that yesterday, but it was also able to stay on WITH BOINC for 6 hours, and repetition is key to science .

And I'm sorry about the tone on the first post. It was more deffensive then anything.

One thing I noticed before this started happening, though, was that BOINC can't work at 90% at my computer. It runs a while, then pauses, then runs a while, pauses, and so on. I don't know if that's how it was made to work, but it can't keep a constant 90% (nor with a small error margin) CPU usage.

That's how BOINC CPU throttling works, by suspending work and resuming it. On a 50% charge, that'll be run a second, pause a second, etc. On 90% that'll be a 9 second run, 1 second pause.

If you want to run a sustained 90%, you'll have to use a third party application such as Threadmaster, or see if TThrottle does it.

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