Computer halts under heavy load

[Wups]

Hi there,

Not entirely sure this is the correct place to post.

Anyways,
I built my computer 2 years ago. All was running well for half a year until the problems became apparent.

Firstly, I noticed that if I press the power button, it sort of "short circuits" and everything lights up for a second and shuts down. I have to pull the plug for a minute or two and then turn it on - this is the only way to get it back on.

Also, I re-installed Windows 7 64-bit yesterday. Currently installed on it is:
OS, Skype, Spotify, Steam & The Division Game.

The main issue is:

My computer froze entirely and I can't do anything at all. Mouse is unresponsive as well as the keyboard. Rebooted the machine and it did it again. I let it cool down for half hour and booted it back up, it lasted for 12 hours (saturday binge night, why not?).

I suspected GPU, so I ramped up the GPU Fans to 50%(were at 20% factory) - Still halts.

I'm now suspecting the CPU simply because the RAM is reletively new (16GB DDR3 Corsair Vengeance) and if it was the PSU, the machine would shut down rather than freeze. Am I wrong or any trouble shooting will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Wups .

 

[rmarier83]

In my opinion, I think it's the motherboard; something happened to it.

 

[Wups]

In my opinion, I think it's the motherboard; something happened to it.

What makes you say that? Nothing has been in contact with the motherboard. The case has been on and it has been sat in the usual place where nothing can reach it.

 

[rmarier83]

I am just guessing, but everything you describe like your mouse/keyboard freezing up (connects to the motherboard).
Graphics Card (connects to the motherboard)
The font panel power button (connects to the motherboard).
Nothing needs to touch the motherboard for it, to start having problems. Power surges could short the circuitry on it (but that's not my area of expertise).
Do note this is just my opinion, I have been wrong about things before.

 

[Wups]

I am just guessing, but everything you describe like your mouse/keyboard freezing up (connects to the motherboard).
Graphics Card (connects to the motherboard)
The font panel power button (connects to the motherboard).
Nothing needs to touch the motherboard for it, to start having problems. Power surges could short the circuitry on it (but that's not my area of expertise).
Do note this is just my opinion, I have been wrong about things before.

I totally understand and thank you for your input.
What I'm trying to get at is, the OS could freeze, resulting in the mouse/keyboard not working and everything else. I don't believe it is the motherboard, as it wouldn't start up at all if there was an issue with it. I still believe it's an overheating issue which I will check when I get back from work.

Do you have any monitoring tools you could recommend?

 

[faalin]

What is your exact PSU? PSU do some funky things when they are going bad, they dont always shut the computer down when they have issues. My guess is the caps are starting to go in the PSU

A few things that peak my interest towards the PSU is having to unplug it for a few min to boot up the computer, meaning your letting all the power drain out of the caps. When it freezes letting it sit for a half hour before you can boot it up, the caps are getting warm and swelling turning off the power lets them cool back down and return to normal.

If the CPU was overheating the computer would shut its self down, and even right after that you can boot it back up a few seconds after it shuts down.

 

[Wups]

What is your exact PSU? PSU do some funky things when they are going bad, they dont always shut the computer down when they have issues. My guess is the caps are starting to go in the PSU

A few things that peak my interest towards the PSU is having to unplug it for a few min to boot up the computer, meaning your letting all the power drain out of the caps. When it freezes letting it sit for a half hour before you can boot it up, the caps are getting warm and swelling turning off the power lets them cool back down and return to normal.

If the CPU was overheating the computer would shut its self down, and even right after that you can boot it back up a few seconds after it shuts down.

I can't remember off by heart, it's been two years since I've built it and forgot. It's a Corsair 850w I believe but not too sure until I take a look. If it was the PSU, wouldn't it shut the machine down?

 

[Wups]

So, last night, my monitors shut down half way through a game. Rebooted machine, wouldn't show video whatsoever. My card had fried. So I went out and got a GTX 970 and plugged it all in and voila, it showed. I thought that was the end of my problems. Computer froze shortly after. I know it's not a heat issue now because that thing is well ventilated(2 intakes on front, 2 intakes on side casing, 1 intake on top of case and exhaust on rear of case). I've calculated and it's only using 500w of my 750w PSU. I managed to get Amazon to refund my money for my PSU(thankfully the woman was very nice). It turns up on Friday, so I'll let you know how it goes.

 

[faalin]

what is the new PSU that you got?

 

[Wups]

what is the new PSU that you got?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Corsair-CP-9020015-UK-Builder-Series-Bronze/dp/B008RJZR40?ie=UTF8&ref_=pe_385721_126263201_TE_dp_1

 

[faalin]

Well corsairs CX line is known to be not that great. Seeing as you bought a 750W unit it shouldnt stress it that much and you should be ok.

Try it out when it gets there and let us know what happens, if you still have issues i would return it and pick up something off this list in ether tier 1 or 2 http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-2547993/psu-tier-list.html

 

[Wups]

Well corsairs CX line is known to be not that great. Seeing as you bought a 750W unit it shouldnt stress it that much and you should be ok.

Try it out when it gets there and let us know what happens, if you still have issues i would return it and pick up something off this list in ether tier 1 or 2 http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-2547993/psu-tier-list.html

Well, I'm a Mac Technician, so I don't have to fiddle with PC parts. I only use my Windows machine for gaming and it's not a lot so really I don't use the machine too much nor do I know much about the PSUs. But I'll definitely take that into consideration.

 

[Wups]

Well corsairs CX line is known to be not that great. Seeing as you bought a 750W unit it shouldnt stress it that much and you should be ok.

Try it out when it gets there and let us know what happens, if you still have issues i would return it and pick up something off this list in ether tier 1 or 2 http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-2547993/psu-tier-list.html

So it's not the PSU. I decided to take a look at the CPU yesterday, and as I went to take the heatsink off, the thing wouldn't move, so I had to sort of pry it off.. the CPU came out of the socket (although it was clamped down) and they were glued together, which in the end f*cked the mobo and CPU up. Going to change to Intel and get the i7-6700k.

 

[rmarier83]

Yeah I've seen that before, you really want to make a twisting motion as your taking the heatsink off (just something for next time). Perhaps there was too much thermal paste applied.

 

[Wups]

Yeah I've seen that before, you really want to make a twisting motion as your taking the heatsink off (just something for next time). Perhaps there was too much thermal paste applied.

It came pre-applied, sadly 🙁 - I've got the new parts so I'm going to apply thermal paste myself and see how it goes from there.