PC Randomly Just Powers Down

[HTM|Minion]

Ok, so in addition to needing a new headset and Keyboard i now have a new issue. Last week I began noticing after I would leave the home office and return that sometimes the PC would be powered down. Thinking that it may have been a power glitch which we are prone to have around here I dismissed it.

Well now I couldn't even keep the damn thing running long enough to type this post and had to come out to the workshop and use this PC.

When it powers down it's not like a controlled power down, it just smooth turns off. I may or may not attempt to restart on its own. I hate to keep jacking with it in the event it is a low voltage situation and I damage other components.

What do you guys think? Power Supply?

It is getting old... I looked it up and I purchased it in Nov of 2013.

https://www.amazon.com/Seasonic-M12I...ronics&sr=1-10


*EDIT ... I forgot to mention I do not see any overheating issues. All fans are operational and my heatsinks are clean. Looking at the Gigabyte utilities screen all temps are well within normal ranges. I may start it and the thing barely boot Windows before it shuts down...

[HTM~Bluesman]

Sounds like the PSU. Easy enough to try another one. You shouldn't have to even mount it in the case, just connect everything and power it up.

If it works, then mount it nice and pretty up the wiring. If not, then my bet would be the mobo.

[cUnNiNg_StUnTs]

Yep when mine was doing this it wound up being the Power Supply. I have the HD Series Gigabyte with the Intel I5 and I had a piece of software that was telling me all voltages were good but I borrows a friends PSU and ran for days with no power off issues so I ordered my own PSU and returned the loaner.

[HTM~FooFoo(Ack!)]

had the same thing happen awhile back and it too was the power supply. Change it before it shorts your MOBO and ram...that's what fried my last mobo and I had to build the current pc I have

[HTM|Lunch_Meat]

My psu's would always just stop working. My guess is to try Blue's idea and if that doesn't work I think its a motherboard issue.

[HTM|Minion]

Thanks for all the feedback. I think it is as well. I disconnected power to the 3 IDE HDs and left only the SSDs and it booted and ran for a couple hours. I'll order a replacement PSU and let you know.

Thanks again!

[HTM|Minion]

Well, I just installed an 850 watt Thermaltake Toughpower GF1 power supply and all was going great for about 5 minutes.

Then.... turned off. So I think I'm safe to say it was not the power supply eeeeee.

What's next, MOBO? It's been so long since I worked on my PC it feels very strange to ask you guys for advice, but I still am.

[HTM~Cousin_Itt]

A guy I work with is having the same issue and he thinks its his vid card. You might try to swap it if you have an extra or even swap slots? What model Gigabyte MB, CPU and ram are you running? You could also try to remove the CPU fan and re-paste it. I just recently upgraded and it was MB, CPU and Ram. Microprocessors are in demand and prices are starting to go through the roof. One program I use is CPUID HW Monitor and its a free download. https://www.cpuid.com/softwares/hwmonitor.html. If the pc will run for a bit and then shut down, you could keep an eye on the voltages and temps to see what might be causing it.

[HTM|Minion]

Thanks Mark, I'll take a look. I did use the bios based gigabyte hardware monitor and all temps seem to be ok, but I'll try the CPUID as well.

I fiddled with it for a bit last night thinking the "start" button might have been internally shorting and commanding it to shut down. I removed the connector from the MOBO and jumped the contacts manually, it started, but still shut off again so I know it's not the switch.

I check all cards and everything seems seated properly. The issue is so random it's hard to know when it will shut down. Last night it shut down 3 times before ever booting window, but ran nonstop for a day and half a couple days ago...just weird.

I'll add all the hardware specs and temps tonight if I can keep the damn thing running long enough.

[HTM~FooFoo(Ack!)]

Have you checked the Event Viewer under Systems to see if any warning or errors have occurred? Also, if it's a newer chip, it should have integrated graphics and you can select it as the main GPU, disable and then shut down/remove the video card. You can at least verify if it's the card or not that way. If you developed a short somehow on the actual board, bios self diagnostics might not show it. If you have corrupted OS, (which can cause this kind of failure), you can check by performing sfc/ scannow. You can also verify ram integrity with a program like MemTest86...if you run it overnight, it can stress/load test the ram and tell you if there is an issue. I would also run HDD diagnostics tool like Seatools bootable long test or whichever tool comes with or is preferred by your drives manufacturer

[HTM~Cousin_Itt]

Honestly so many things can cause this issue...even malware. I would do as much shotgun trouble shooting you can...if you got 2 pc's easy way to test most components...as you stated the pc might boot into Win7 or not even get there so you are a bit limited...how do you test when you cant load any programs to load before it crashes...try this or consider this....get a copy of whatever version of Linux...Ubantu...hint free hint...on a USB or DVD and see if you can boot off of that stable as they are bootable off a drive...you should be able to...if not, I would really be looking at a hardware issue. Just trying to help you narrow the issue down. Good luck man and let us know what you find out.

For my techie bros....need to unlock a Windows or a PW in Windows? You can do it the same way with Linux....just sayin...I am not a hacker I just know a few tricks and no I wont tell you how...look it up...lol!

[HTM|Minion]

Thanks David, I'll look into those as well. I'm leaning pretty hard towards it being a hardware issue, simply because last night it would attempt to boot and immediately turn back off. It did this maybe 10 times before it actually made it through the bios screen.

I also tried removing the memory (I have 2 modules) one at a time to see if it made a difference. Nada... I did get it to fire up and load windows long enough to monitor temps using CPUID (nothing looked abnormal), run Belarc Advisor to capture my hardware info then upload a file to the website and it crashed just as the upload finished. It may have run a total of 4-5 minutes.

It appears like there is a disconnect between the start button contacts on the mainboard and the power supply initiation circuit. Lots of clicking going on between the mainboard and the power supply. The weird thing is sometimes when it boots it will run the CPU and GPU fans, but not the case fans which also makes me think it's a mainboard.

Here is a link to the hardware/software profile generated by Belarc Advisor ( this reminded me how old my rig is) maybe it's met its end of life...

https://h-townmadness.com/SydPC/

[HTM~FooFoo(Ack!)]

something that stick out for some reason...I recall HP having some issues with some of their software causing this exact issue specifically with Win 7 machines and I see that you use a bunch of them. Might not be it, but you never know

[HTM~Cousin_Itt]

I also saw where several people with the same MB reported that replacing the CMOS battery fixed their issue. Worth a shot.

[HTM~Bluesman]

Cuz may be on to something regarding the BIOS, maybe the CMOS battery is dead or the BIOS is just corrupt. The battery is an easy fix, just pull it out and replace. I would give that a shot, pretty cheap to check it.

As for the possibility that the BIOS is corrupt, does that MOBO have the dual bios? If so, you should be able to boot to the backup BIOS. Then If that works you would restore the main BIOS from the backup.

To switch to the second BIOS, shut your PC down, then hold power button until it starts and shuts down again, then release it. Then press press the power button again and it should load the backup bios.

To restore the main BIOS from the backup, shut down the PC, then hold power button down for about 10 seconds, and then release power button. It should boot and restore the backup bios.