Have you changed any of your Power Management settings?

Right click Desktop > Properties > Screen Saver > Monitor Power > Power Option Properties

From there you'll see four (04) different tabs. Go through them and verify the settings.

Nope, everything there seems fine.

Anyhow, it is not shutting down due to a setting because MS Outlook complains when I start it saying that my computer was not shut down properly and that it must examine the email file for curruptions --> computer turned off suddenly.

Did you install software with the UPS? If yes, then that's your answer.

If a program does not respond correctly to a shutdown notification then it will be forcibly closed. If I shutdown while Firefox is open, it does much the same thing as you're describing. (I don't think Firefox is forcibly closed, I think it is closing itself incorrectly.)

Kaled.

No I didn't install any software, that's the puzzling part of it all. Very odd timing to start shutting off.

Following pageoneresults instructions above, what are the settings on the UPS tab? Is your UPS recognized? Is the service stopped or started?

Does Outlook give you the same error if you do a clean reboot?

As a precaution, you might want to run Scanpst.exe on your PST file just to make sure everything's all right with that file.

My computer is connected to a power bar now.

UPS is not recognized, service is stopped.

No outlook doesn't give the same message during a clean reboot, only if it is shutdown unexpectedly.

At this point I think I may just format my hard drive (It has been a while since I have done that anyhow) and it might solve the problem, if not I will have to keep thinking of what could be going wrong!

At this point I think I may just format my hard drive.

Nah, you shouldn't have to do that. Check the size of your .pst file. Is it over 1.0 GB? When was the last time you archived? Do you have a lot of saved mail?

At this point I think I may just format my hard drive.

I agree that's probably a bit of overkill for this. If you think there's something wrong with your setup then you might be better off with a Repair Install of Windows, but even that might be too much for this situation.

When you had everything plugged in did Windows properly recognize the UPS? Was the service running at the time you had the trouble?

Did your UPS come with software? Many of the units I've purchased lately do have software and drivers included on a CD. You might want to give them a try.

If you are still having the problem, look in the event viewer. See if there are any notices.

Also, check to make sure you are getting 110v (if in the us). I had to run on generator power at home for about a week last year. I had two 100' 12 guage power cords to bring power to the office. Every time I would turn the PC on, it would shut down after about 10 minutes.

What was happening was that there was a voltage drop. The UPS was getting less voltage than it needed so it would flip right over to battery and drain it down. With the PC shut off, the battery would build back up.

If you've plugged back into the power bar consider

1. Most ups don't like a surge protector before or after them.

2. Stupid question - you aren't on any type of a lightswitch for the power receptacle...(I just did that with a laptop.. No wonder the battery didn't charge)

3. Try a voltmeter (if you know how) on the circuit. Watch for voltage drops.

cg

One other thing.. Most of the lower end UPSs have to be opened up and the red battery connector connected.

Also, many of the UPSs have a "surge only" side and a "Battery" side. If you are plugged into the surge only, you will not have battery support.

Check to see if the ups added any software for power management. It's possible something like that is taking precedence.

cg

I have totally unplugged the UPS, my computer is connected to the power bar, and the power bar is connected to the socket.

I did indeed connect the battery in the UPS, I even unplugged the UPS and turned my printer on and it did turn on (so the battery in the UPS did hold a charge etc).

Anyhow, the issue now is my computer is still turning off when simply connected to the power bar just like it was before I bought the darn UPS! hehe

thanks for all the tips so far.

Lateral solution...

You say it doesn't happen when you're working, are you leaving it fully powered up? If yes, why not put it in standby. If it's in standby, you could use hibernate (but I don't like it).

Kaled.

If it's in standby, you could use hibernate.

Hehehe, they should call that coma. I've never had much luck with the hibernate feature, on any of my systems. Windows seems to go into a coma if left in hibernation too long.

I noticed that you mentioned your printer was on the UPS - bad idea. Especially if its a laser printer.

Could it be that my computer's processor is heating up and it shuts down?

OVerheating could cause a shutdown. There is a freeware app called motherboard monitor that is a little quirky at times but it will read the temp sensors in the machine.

I added an auxiliary fan to my machine that fits in one of the slots. It's a bit noisy but it was cheap and easy to install.

Also, check for 'felt' buildup in the air intakes of the case.

I took the side casing off my computer and it hasn't shut down since yesterday (it was on all night long).

It could be that the fan on the CPU is not turning as fast as it should.

Check your system bios setup program for temperature shutdown options. If your bios supports it, you may be able to select the shutdown temperature or even disable this feature altogether. It may also tell you what the cpu temperature is in real time as well as the fan speed.

I used compressed air to clean out the dust on my cpu which seemed to fix things. The guy at the computer store mentioned that if there is too much dust on the cpu heat sink it prevents it from cooling.

I have the casing back on my computer and it hasn't shut off since (oh and the UPS is plugged in again).

Thanks for all your help!