Update regarding Powerflopping in sister's computer(with tl;dr version at the end)

[MishkaKatyusha]

Original statement of discourse: Sister's Computer would shut off without warning,only on secondlife,and never with anything else.

Investigation results pre-amble: First hand experience with computer repair indicated that it might be a failing power box,given the one current at the time had been harvested from a "computer husk" (a broken computer with some working parts).Ordered new 750w power box to replace the then current 500w powerbox

January 19th Investigation results: Power box received.Installed new powerbox.Reset SL settings on my Sister's computer to Sub-Ultra (an inch behind the end of the scale).Power Flop Occured within 32.5 minutes.

January 19th 1a Investigation results Rehash: Relogged Onto SL.Used Organic neural-based probe to check heat output (held my right hand infront of one of the back vents).temperature of outflowing air would rapidly rise on the upper half of the back vents.new powerbox was installed on the lower half of the computer (my sister's comp's cpu and gpu are located in the upper parts of the computer).

January 19th 1b Investigation results History recall: While the time approached the previously established powerflop limit.Memory indices were recalled.Early in the history of said computer unit,Large blue fan had to be removed due to defect that caused it to emit a high pitched whine.Only encountered SL at a much later date.Conclusion was suddenly reached.

January 19th 1c Investigation results Conclusion: Previous powerbox had been malfunctioning due to age and damage (a previous incident involving lightning hitting my apartment),it's own fan wasnt working right,causing a heat buildup.New powerbox only alleviated half the problem however.As the other half was the lack of the one fan that was most critical to the computer case's design,the massive sidefan.Funds were however unavailible to aquire a replacement sidefan.

January 19th Ad Hoc Solution Established: 27 minutes into 32.5 powerflop limit.Still logged onto SL,quickly removed side plating from computer.Grabbed old box-fan from storage room,plugged in boxfan and placed it half foot away from now open side of computer with the air intake side facing the open side of the computer.turned boxfan on to low-power mode.Immediatly A large amount of built-up heat was removed from the computer (that wasnt too hard to notice).Solution reached,now currently 7 hours into working solution

 

TL;DR VERSION: turnes out my sister's computer's problem was the lack of a giant fan on the side and a old ,worn out powerbox that was likely not a big enough capacity.fixed the one problem by getting a new,beefier powerbox,used an old boxfan to fix the other.will be purchasing a replacement sidefan in the next couple of weeks

(post comments): there you go,i hope this solution will help others who get this problem,as i cleaned out the computer (with a huge load of q-tips) as i always do when i fix a computer,i reccomend these three steps if you find you have the unexpected shutdown problem

1: get a new and beefier powerbox: this is a good idea,alot of problems are due to powerbox damage,age,or lack of capacity

2.clean the computer: use q-tips if you dont have fancy things liek compressed air cans or kits,there cheap and dont attract static.

3.check those fans with your hand: if you feel an unhealthy amount of heat rolling (not blasting) out of your computer,you probably need some new and/or better fans,rolling heat is never good as it means the hot air isnt being pulled out of your comp properly

disclaimer: this is not a guaranteed solution for all possible causes of said problem,it will cover the most probable and common ones,this is only intended to alleviate the current lack of formalized information,or possibly too many opposing sources of information causing confusion in the less tech-savvy