Random restarts but ONLY when not in use?

hughtrimble

hughtrimble

hughtrimble

Soldato
Joined
22 Jan 2014
Posts
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Evening,

A strange one - my PC has started randomly restarting when I step away from the PC. It has not once restarted when I've been sitting in front of it, e.g. watching YouTube (i.e. not even touching peripherals).

It's like it knows when I step away and it restarts - I can be away for a minute and it restarts. Sometimes 10 minutes and it restarts. But never when I'm sitting in front of it.

What the heck could cause that?
 
When you say when never infront, I take it you mean when it's idle?
Try this
1) Type Power Options in the search box from Start. Then click Edit power plan or other items relates to power settings.

https://images.drivereasy.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/img_59b79395b78b6.png
2) Click Change advanced power settings.

https://images.drivereasy.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/img_59b7941bdec4c.png
3) In Balanced section, click Processor power management > Minimum processor state. Then set it to low state, such as 5% or even 0%.
Click Apply > OK.

https://images.drivereasy.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/img_59b79482efc69.png
4) Work on your computer for a while to see if it restarts randomly.

**Do not Hotlink images.**
 
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Thank you for this - I've tried it, but soon after got a restart whilst away from the desk again. Still looking to see what could be going wrong!
 
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are you running an overclock or xmp?
Try dialling down the overclock, disable xmp and let the memory run at stock, I know with xmp there can be issues where it needs a bit more power then the 1.35v it get, one last thing befeore messing around with Bios, set your monitor to never sleep in your power saving and see if it still does it
 
Hakanese said:
are you running an overclock or xmp?
Try dialling down the overclock, disable xmp and let the memory run at stock, I know with xmp there can be issues where it needs a bit more power then the 1.35v it get, one last thing befeore messing around with Bios, set your monitor to never sleep in your power saving and see if it still does it
Click to expand...
Alas, no overclock and the monitor has always been set to never sleep!
 
Well if you've done the ram reseat, checked your cables, uninstalled, an clean installed your drivers, maybe to an older or newer version, checked your windows, and maybe even tried a clean install of that, I would suggest that your psu is becoming faulty, but this has been a problem for a lot of people, some have fixed with clean windows install, some haven't. wish you luck dude. Maybe try another psu if you have access to a spare
 
Hakanese said:
Well if you've done the ram reseat, checked your cables, uninstalled, an clean installed your drivers, maybe to an older or newer version, checked your windows, and maybe even tried a clean install of that, I would suggest that your psu is becoming faulty, but this has been a problem for a lot of people, some have fixed with clean windows install, some haven't. wish you luck dude. Maybe try another psu if you have access to a spare
Click to expand...

I really appreciate the time you've spent helping @Hakanese

The peculiar thing remains with this - if I'm sitting there, there are no resets. It's only when I'm away from my desk (and I'm at it a heck of a lot more than away when the PC is on!).

I need to find a way to replicate me sitting there...nice bit of placebo I'm sure.
 
Hakanese said:
Well if you've done the ram reseat, checked your cables, uninstalled, an clean installed your drivers, maybe to an older or newer version, checked your windows, and maybe even tried a clean install of that, I would suggest that your psu is becoming faulty, but this has been a problem for a lot of people, some have fixed with clean windows install, some haven't. wish you luck dude. Maybe try another psu if you have access to a spare
Click to expand...
As above - reseating all cables and components would be wise - and if you're still getting issues then the PSU will be a lead contender.

Have you tried a simple CMOS reset and loaded defaults?

*What is your complete complete spec?

hughtrimble said:
The peculiar thing remains with this - if I'm sitting there, there are no resets. It's only when I'm away from my desk (and I'm at it a heck of a lot more than away when the PC is on!).
Click to expand...
You could try a different mouse and keyboard - odd but so is the issue.

If the motherboard is over 3 years could swap out the battery for a new - a bit of a hail mary but can have surprising results.
 
It could still be an idle power problem, just not a windows based one. I would try disabling C-states, stepping, adaptive power etc in your bios. If you tell me what your motherboard and CPU is I'll let tell you what to change.
 
I used to have a PC that did this. It would crash during one of the processes Windows ran when it was idle. You may get an idea by putting task manager on the screen then leaving it alone and just watching ~ you may see which task is running when it collapses. You could then try looking in that specific task and if possible stop it being activated.
 
Lots of great suggestions - thank you. I'm going to be methodical with this and make changes one at a time to see if they make a difference.

Alas, no cat (though that would be great).

First one:

Hakanese said:
Last resort, do you have a case reset button? try unplug the cable from the reset header on your mobo
Click to expand...

Unplugged that, and it's been multiple hours with no restarts...seems promising! Though I'll have to see how it behaves tomorrow whilst working as it's on pretty much all day then.

I'll keep this thread updated!
 
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