Intermittent switching off

Agent Orange

Agent Orange

Agent Orange

Associate
Joined
20 Feb 2014
Posts
51
Location
Sydney, Australia
Hey guys,

Long time reader and there are so many gurus here that I'm hoping someone might be able to help with an issue I'm having with my PC.

I have a pretty awesome gaming rig that I love and am a fairly savvy enthusiast but it has me stumped. My system consists of a Giga Z68XP-UD3, i7 3770k with an Intel closed-loop water cooler, 16GB GSkill DDR3 1866mhz, a Thermaltake Toughpower 850w Gold PSU, a Giga 980Ti Xtreme, a 128GB Sata SSD boot drive, 2 X 2TB Seagate storage drives with one of them (the one games are installed on) using a 64GB SSD as an Intel Rapid Storage Technology cache drive, all enclosed in a white Corsair 760T, and an Acer CB280HK 4K monitor. I’m providing as much detail as I can to assist in the troubleshooting! (Haven't updated my sig for a while by the way)

Recently, at very intermittent times, the system will just, without any warning, turn itself off. Most often it’s while playing a game, but it has happened while browsing the web and on the desktop. It’s so random that I cannot work out where the problem lies. I have looked in Windows reliability history which just shows the computer was shut down incorrectly. I also changed the Startup and Recovery setting where on system failure the PC should not automatically shutdown, hoping for a blue screen to see an error message. The system still just turns off randomly and without warning. Plus, I can’t find the dump file it’s supposed to create.

I have also tried using the second PCI-E slot for my GPU, running with peripherals removed, removing RAM sticks, but it still occurs. I haven’t tried using the integrated graphics yet (can’t bring myself to!), but I suppose I should? The GPU is only about 9 months old – I know problems can still happen though.

It’s very intermittent and I have been getting by, but I would like to know where the problem is so that if I upgrade my motherboard, RAM, and CPU combo, it won’t still happen! I don’t think it’s the PSU because it’s only a couple of years old, gold rated and pretty good quality. I was, however, running 2 X R9 290s on it for a while which may have pushed it to limits, but it’s now on a much more efficient single 980Ti, and the system still boots fine and so on. So I’m personally thinking it’s the motherboard as it’s the oldest component, and it was fairly budget to start with. But it’s so random that I don’t know if it’s a corrupt sector, RAM issue, processor problem, argh! I’m looking at upgrading my motherboard, RAM and CPU anyway but again, I’d like to not have the problem occur again if I do.

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated! Please let me know if you need any more info and I will happily provide it. I’m sure there’s more I probably need to troubleshoot and provide.

I know it's hard so I'm not expecting much, just trying my luck. Thanks guys.

Adrian
 
Does the system turn itself off or reboot? It could be any number of things, but in my experience a reboot is usually due to a software or some kind of hard drive/RAM problem, while a power off is due to a power or temperature issue.

Check your CPU and GPU temperatures and see if they are normal. Run a malware scanner on your PC. Reinstall drivers.
 
Malware sounds unlikely. If it is actually turning off, then that suggests either a thermal shutdown or a power issue. I would check your CPU/GPU temps to see if something's running hot use something like hwinfo64 or hwmonitor. Don't rule out a PSU issue either. It might seem odd for a decent unit to die after a couple of years, but it does happen.
 
Thanks for prompt responses! I have Rivatuner running while playing so I know the temps are all good on both CPU and GPU.

It's tricky to explain whether it's turning off or rebooting. Cause it's done both. Sometimes it turns off and won't turn back on until I turn off mains power for a while. Other times it has got stuck rebooting and again, I have to turn off mains power.

Maybe I should check warranty on PSU as well...
 
It could still be the motherboard, but if you're having to turn on/off at the wall to get it to start up it sounds like a PSU issue. The PSU itself may be overheating.

It will be cheaper to try changing the PSU first rather than do a total upgrade. The 3770K is still a decent CPU.
 
This talk reminded me I have the old 650w PSU in the garage I can try out! So I will give that a whirl which will hopefully help my isolate it further.

Yeah it's still a good rig but seeing the shiny new motherboards make much want. Haha.
 
Yeah, it's worth checking with another PSU to see if you can replicate the issue.

I would try running without the GPU first as well, even if it means dialling the game settings right down. If the issue stops, then it could be a power draw issue - the GPU is drawing more power than the PSU can handle.
 
No, I'm running 2 980Tis in SLI with a gold-rated 850W PSU. 550W is more than enough for 1 980Ti. There is no way it should struggle. If the PSU has developed a fault though, it could cause the symptoms you're describing.
 
I'll hopefully have some time over the next couple of days to check my spare psu with integrated graphics to really isolate. If it's still happening it'll narrow it down, if not, and also not happening with my spare psu and the 980Ti back in, then psu it is! I'll report back, cheers guys.
 
It could even be a faulty graphics card, but I wouldn't have thought that would cause hard shutdowns. Another possibility is that your case's power/reset switch is dodgy, which could cause these types of issues.

At least you have a spare PSU and onboard graphics to help isoltae the problem.
 
Yeah I've also read that it could also be a dodgy power/reset switch. It sucks I really can't discount anything no matter how old or new. This is my hobby, pride and joy, and I try to look after it; cable managed and clean out dust every couple of months, spit and shine etc. haha. So I'm disappointed but I guess these things happen. It's frustrating not to have much indication of what it could be either, but just writing out the faults on here does tend to indicate the power side of things, either psu or switches - I feel like Windows would inform for other types of faults, right?
 
PSU should be the first port of call here. If that doesn't do anything, try testing the socket you're using. When the PC powers off does the socket itself still work. Could be a wiring issue too. Doubtful though.
 
Thanks dude, yeah there's still power on the socket - have swapped it as well as the actual power cable itself and problem still present. Will test spare psu tomorrow hopefully and let know. Cheers!
 
Pretty much 100% sure it was the PSU now as my spare one hasn't missed a beat. So there you go! I didn't think it was initially! Anyway it's got a five year warranty so I'll be putting a claim in.

Still wouldn't mind upgrading my mobo - I know it won't do much for performance but it will allow compatibility with newer tech such as m2 drives and so on.

Thanks for the responses, it really does help to bounce ideas off people!

Cheers again!
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom