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iMac DV Spontaneous Shutdowns

I'm running MacOS 9.1 on an iMac DV 400mhz. The system has been mostly stable, but in the last couple of days I've had 3 sudden unexpected shutdowns. The first two were as if someone just pulled thte power plug. The last time though, it just immediately came back on and saved the state it was in. The power did not surge, or at least it did not seem to as the desk light attached to the same surge protector strip did not even flicker. I was using different applications each time, once Word, the other Eudora.
Is an early sign of some hardware failure? I've checked the power cable which was firmly in place in the back of the mac, and to the outlet. Any ideas or suggestions greatly appreciated!
Lon

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weed

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zebulon303

ASKER

Thanks for the response. It is worth trying to find out if anyone else had the same thing happen in the neighborhood.

I'm sorry if it was not clear but I actually did state that the Mac was connected to a surge protector. I would suspect that it was the fault of cheap surge protector, but one of the times it was connected to a decent quality one. I've heard surge protectors vary a lot in their ability to actually protect against surges.

Any other suggestions out there?
Lon

weed

See if it happens again. My guess is still that youre having a "brown out" which is just enough of a voltage drop to shut down your computer.

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zebulon303

ASKER

Thanks for both the comments. I appreciate the info. It has not happened again yet. I'm not sure what it was. I guess I'll wait a see a bit longer. I'm not sure about awarding points, since I can't really tell who has the right answer. If nothing turns up, I'll split the points between you guys I guess. Thanks!
Lon

Psychonana

Hi, I'm not sure if you solved your problem yet, but I had this exact problem and went through all the same power unit suspicions.
However, in the end it was a 'sticky' power on button on the front panel of the iMac!
Not 'goo' sticky, but plastic against plastic sticky.
What I ended out doing to resolve the problem was to flick it "the bird" a few times! Yep, a few sharp flicks on the button seemed to have loosened it enough that it did not shut down any more!

This is the only time I have been abusive to my iMac! But I guess it was stepping out of line just a little too much.

PS: We have since made up and continue to have a productive relationship. :)