PC shutting down/restarting. Trying to pinpoint the issue.

ElliottC420

ElliottC420

ElliottC420

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21 Sep 2012
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213
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West Yorkshire
Hey guys, recently my PC has been shutting itself off at random intervals. (Used to be once a day, now it happens about 20 seconds after I power on the PC.)

When the PC shuts down the light on my GPU remains lit, if that means anything. No BSOD, just instant power off and then it will attempt to boot itself up again. (Usually it won't boot again, the fans will attempt to spin and then stop.)

I imagine that this is probably a PSU issue, as I have checked the temps for my GPU, CPU + RAM and they are all fine. Do you guys think this sounds like a PSU issue. If so I will order a replacement immediately, I just wanted to make sure before I spend the money. Thanks.

Edit: the PSU is 550w + is a Corsair. Around 5 years old now. I have been running it with a 290x for the last 2 years or so. Not sure if that could have contributed to it dying.
 
I have tried running the PC with each of my RAM sticks separately, one seemed to last longer than the other before restarting but that is probably just coincidence.
 
Corsair sticker on top doesn't automatically mean good quality.
Just like other branders they sell also cheap stuff.
So what's the full model number of that PSU?

And while at it rest of components of that coffee machine, because also my crystall ball is crashing and declines to tell what you have there.
 
Full spec: 3570k (OC to 4.2 for around the last 5-6 months. Removing the OC didn't seem to have any effect on the restarting.) PSU is Corasir TX550M from around 5 years ago. GPU is a 290x Lightning edition. Mobo is Gigabyte Z77 D3H. All I can tell you about the RAM is that its HyperX and is also around 5 years old. I have an aftermarket cooler for my CPU (coolermaster Evo 212).

Weirdly enough now I can't get any signal out of the PC at all. It will boot for around 5-10 seconds but the monitor does not react at all, I've tried DVI and HDMI through both the mobo and the GPU and nothing. Is there any way I can narrow down which component it might be? Surely it must be the mobo or the PSU right? Thanks for the help.
 
Update: I have tried the power supply on a really old (probably around 10 years) PC and the system stays on the 'disk read error' screen for as long as I leave it. No immediate shutdown/restart. I've tried the psu with my current system with only the mobo/CPU/RAM and I still get a power on and then shut down/restart anout 20 seconds later. Does this indicate that it is a motherboard or CPU issue? Or is my old PC not taxing the power supply enough for the issue to be present? Any help greatly appreciated as I would like to order a replacement part this weekend. Thanks a lot.
 
Update 2: in my last check where I mentioned that I tried with only cpu/mobo/ram it turns out that i'm an idiot and I forgot to put the RAM back in. Now that I have inserted one of the sticks of RAM the PC remains turned on with no shutdown but I cannot get any signal from the VGA, HDMI or DVI on the mobo.
 
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Update 3: (sorry for the constant spam)

Since I couldn't get any signal from my mobo but the PC remained on, I have now tried it with my GPU and am now typing this comment from the PC. I'm not going to get my hopes up yet though as I haven't determined what the original problem was. Previously to when the PC would restart in around 20 seconds, the PC would work for hours at a time before randomly shutting off, so I'm half expexting this to happen again. I will leave the PC as is (without extra case fans + HDD installed, and see how I get on.)

Edit: it crashed again, after about 5 minutes. I did get to check the temps and everything was fine though. I'm going to try leaving it on the BIOS, see if it crashes there too.
 
I went into the BIOS and chose 'optimized default settings' and the PC has been turned on for around 20-30 minutes now.

Edit: it turned off after around 40mins to an hour. Managed to play a couple of games of Overwatch before it shut itself off. Now i'm back to square one as the PC won't boot up anymore.
 
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I'm going to have to assume that it's the power supply and buy a new one. I'll update this thread with my results for anyone who might stumble upon this thread with the same issue.
 
I managed to get it to boot with a very old, cheap looking PSU from a packard bell i used when i was younger. All seems to be fine but i did notice a very slight coil whine which I think is coming from the PSU. Is this safe or should I disconnect it immediately? Gonna see if it can last 12 hours without restarting. Then i'll be able to order a new PSU with more confidence that I'm ordering the right replacement part.
 
Buy a psu from a high street store. Test the pc for 24h uptime.
Take it back to retailer get money back.
Buy a real one from here :p
 
Interest post. You may have solved the same problem on my old computer. The fact that I am in the process of buying a complete new system is besides the point.
 
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