My folks have developed this same problem, just today, on their pc, although it
wasn't turning off that many times, till it would, finally, not boot at all.
I went by there, & as crude as it may sound, I got down at the back of the tower &
took 1 whiff of the fan & could smell that burnt, electrical smell in the power
supply.
Going to pick 1 up tomorrow & go by there after work & change that out.
Just a possibility &, quite a coincidence, if you have the same problem.

~Gary


"Ron" <ronjon2@cox.net> wrote in message
news:uFAPTxUNIHA.2140@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
> After a reformat to eliminate some spyware and adwaere that software solutions
> wouldn't cure, my computer shuts down frequently.Usually after initial
> boot-up the next time after about 20 sec, then after about 1min, then about 2min,
> then about 5 min. But today it is shutting down after about 3 min each
> time I reboot. The sound is like pulling the power cord, no wind down of futher
> noise. Last night it would die 3-4 times but as it warmed up, it would stay.
> Tonight it won't stay more than 3 min and it's gone. Should I suspect power supply,
> motherboard, ????
>