PC Acting Up

[faint545]

Recently, my PC has started to act up... For no apparent reason, my computer just recently started to shutdown by itself and its not one of those soft shutdowns, the computer just instantly shuts down as if someone pulled the plug.... I honestly don't know where to start... Maybe it's a virus, but AVG tells me I have no virus. Maybe it's hardware related like.. there's not enough power but my PSU is 700W. Anyone have any ideas?

Just as additional info, here's how my PC is setup..

Thermaltake Armor Case with three 120mm front intake fans, one top exhaust fan and one back exhaust fan for radiator.

[daveyp225]

My guess is (1) PSU issue, probably faulty, or (2) CPU is overheating. What do your temps look like?

I built a computer not too long ago that completely shut off like you're describing, and it was the video card. The board just didn't like the geforce card I was using, but it worked fine in another board. Swapped cards and away went the problem. I'm not saying its your card, just using this to illustrate that it really could be anything, and you may need to go on a testing/swapping frenzy if it isn't something simple like the temp or the PSU.

[faint545]

my temps on idle are below 40C. when doing heavy processing, between 40 and 50. the CPU monitor im using (Core Temp) tells me my temps are like around 30C but when i use the ASUS cpu monitor my MB came with, it tells me its like 35+. I dunno which to believe.my CPU is water cooled and im not doing any OCing. i also came up with the idea that maybe since the power strip my PC is plugged into is full, it could be that? thats just my guess. I also have a EVGA GeForce 8800GTS so that thing is pretty power demanding but my PSU should cover that and then some.

[daveyp225]

Temps seem fine, so I'm willing to bet its the PSU if anything (although in reality it could be anything). Immediate shutdowns are an instant sign theres a power-related (or heat-related) issue going on (whether through the power supply or components or even the source). You could try another outlet. Do you have a spare PSU to try? Just because its 700W doesn't mean it isn't faulty.

[shadowpr]

what brand is teh psu?

did you look at the mb to see if you saw anything bulging, or broken?

[faint545]

if the PSU was faulty, i would think it would start acting up the day i put it in and turned it on.. but in any case, weird stuff does happen in a PC.. this has only happened about.. 3 times. i'll give it... a few more days to see if it does it again.

my PSU is by Thermaltake.

[daveyp225]

Originally Posted by faint545 if the PSU was faulty, i would think it would start acting up the day i put it in and turned it on..

Not true...

edit: Anyway, here are some resources to help you:

http://ask-leo.com/why_does_my_compu...t_warning.html
http://www.geekstogo.com/forum/Compu...ts-t34143.html

[faint545]

ok, i've reevaluated my current internal pc set up (e.g. fan placement etc..) and i realized that my psu was boxed in. my psu has two fans, one small fan in the back and a large 120mm fan on the side. the side with the 120mm fan was completely blocked by a hard drive cage. you think because of the lack of proper air flow, this would cause my psu to just fail resulting in a instantaneous pc shutdown?

[liambl]

If the fans on a psu are blocked, it is likely the psu will overheat causing a shutdown. But the psu will most likely not be damaged, its just the overtemp kicking in to prevent damage. Leaving some room around the psu should fix the problem

[faint545]

yeah i kinda thought that was the problem and i felt like an idiot thinking.. "why did i put this here?" oh well, i removed the cage and placed the hard drive else where so it seems to be working.

[StykFacE]

Originally Posted by faint545 my PSU is by Thermaltake.

I personally have had bad luck with this brand of PSU's. a friend of mine right now has a Thermaltake PSU that's going out on him as well. I'm not one to harp on a company just because I have had issues with them because every company has lemons, but I personally do not trust these guys anymore. I have an Antec PSU that hasn't failed me once in over 3 years now.

Hope this brings some line of sight to your issue...

[faint545]

Ok so after this incident, it kept on shutting down (instantly) without warning. I just replaced the PSU and it's still doing it.. Any ideas?

[Cricket]

A random shutdown could be caused by almost anything in the computer. You need to systematically troubleshoot the problem. You've already replaced the PSU and the problems till exists so now you move on and look at other components that could be causing the problem. I would pull the motherboard from the case and run the computer case-less just to see if the problem persists or not.

Make sure your liquid cooling system is attached properly and that the water is moving through it...I've seen pictures of water blocks that corroded to the point that water couldn't pass through it.

Make sure everything is inserted/connected securely. Inspect all the cable and wires from breaks or bare spots.

Faulty video cards or RAM could be possible causes.

Even faulty optical drives might cause something like this.

Cricket

[faint545]

Thanks. Will do!

[faint545]

ok, so i tried to figure out what's wrong with my pc and after troubleshooting and thinking about possible problems i still have an unknown cause and it's really bugging me. so this what i have..

the problem never started occurring until i replaced the PSU. my original psu was very messy, lots of cables and junk so i switched to modular cabling. i ended up getting a thermaltake psu with modular cabling. then the problem started occurring. then i got a replacement thinking the thermaltake was bad. but then i got another one. same brand though. problem still persists. my question is, could the problem be because of the modular cable? it seems very unlikely but i'm up for anything right now.

also i don't think my video card is seated in 100%. i took it out the other day and it came out too easy in my opinion.