PC Shuts down when sorting

[DrRJE]

Every so often, generally when I'm working with a big sheet (200k+ rows) and sorting (more often than not sorting by cell color), my PC will shutdown. Everything instantly turns off. I have to flip the power switch on my power supply off and on just to get it going again (cannot just hit the power button on the PC).

I'm using Office 2010
I'm on Windows 7 64bit
2.8 GHz Athlon II X4 630
4 GB RAM

I already swapped out my PSU for a much better one, but it still happens occasionally.

I'm thinking it might be a RAM issue, but I'd love to know if anyone else has this issue before I go out and get new RAM.

Thanks!!

 

[Lidsavr]

DrRJE,
This is not an Excel issue!.

It sounds like a hardware (possible power supply) or BIOS issue (on most BIOS' there is a setting that will shut your computer down to avoid the CPU from overheating. If the calculations are causing the CPU to run hot, that is a possibility, although I would check on the hardware issue first. Bad RAM will usually cause a computer to freeze up, or not boot at all. I've never seen RAM force the computer to shut down. One other possibility is that there is not enough air movement in your CPU case. Do you have a fan on the CPU or other air movement that will help keep the CPU cool.

If you have a new computer, take it in and have a warranty check done. Again, there is no Excel problem that I have heard of that can cause the type of problem you describe.

I do not want to step on the forum moderator's toes, but my guess is that they do not want hardware problems posted on this site, so please do not post a reply in response to the hardware statements. Since Excel has been ruled out, you might want to try asking on one of the hardware forums on another board. Of course, if you have another Excel question...

Best of luck,

Charles