Computer restarts automatically while playing games after it's been reformatted

[Exxoc]

Hi,

I've been looking all over for a solution to this sudden problem of mine but haven't as of yet reached a solution, hence why I am now reaching out directly to you.

About a month ago my old GPU (Asus GTX 560 Ti) gave up after about 4 years of use and forced me to get a new one, an MSI GTX 980. Everything worked fine and a week after the new card was installed I conducted a planned reformat as my PC needed one. It went well without any issues.

But after almost 2 weeks of plain sailing my computer has been restarting automatically while playing games even on low settings. It only occurs then, not when doing other tasks outside of gaming. It happens inconsistently, it can vary from 30 minutes to several hours. And in some cases it won't even happen at all which makes me even more confused. Prior to a week ago it did not do this. I first thought it was overheating but I've been playing with both my case and window open letting the cold winter air in.

I have gone through and updated any drivers.

Windows 7 64-bit
Intel i7-3770 @ 3.40GHz
Nvidia GeForce GTX 980
Gigabyte GA-P67A-D3-B3 Motherboard
2x4GB Corsair XMS3 DDR3 @ 1600MHz
Corsair TX750W PSU

I hope I didn't miss anything.

Nothing is overclocked and the computer is physically clean.

Others have said to run several benchmarks to see if some component is faulty but I have no experience with such software and would not like to damage any of the parts if I were to use the stress tests.

I don't know if these issues below are related, but it doesn't hurt to throw them in as well.

For one my computer won't shut down, it only says "Shutting down" but it's a dirty liar. Peripherals are still lit up and the monitor doesn't go black. When turning it off manually it never says that windows has shut down unexpectedly. It started a few days ago.

On some very rare occasions when booting it gets stuck on the bios startup screen, where you see the F hotkeys. No peripherals activate. To get past it I reset the Cmos I believe it's called by taking out and putting back in the battery and such which makes it boot properly. This has been going on for quite some time but hardly ever happens.

Please do ask if I've been unclear, it's been a rather frustrating time with these automatic restarts and whatnot!

 

[mykeloid]

The computer might be shutting down due to overheating, Even though you put a fan and take the side off the case. It doesn't mean that your temperatures are not high, Try downloading a software to monitor your CPU and GPU temperatures to be sure. If you have a spare GPU, try using that for sometime and see if it shutsdown too.

 

[Exxoc]

I thought that temperature was the culprit at first but it doesn't seem to make too much sense considering everything worked fine just over a week ago, unless something's gone defect.

On average the GPU temp is hovering around 50C - 65C depending on what settings i play on which is perfectly fine. I was going to test the CPU temp but as soon as I started the game now it instantly rebooted, it hasn't done it that quick before. Can't possibly be heat this time.

I've read that it could be the PSU as they perform worse the older they get, the one I have is 5-6 + years at this point. Is there any good way to check how well your PSU is doing?

 

[mykeloid]

A normal PSU tester won't test it under load. The testers that can test under load(what the good review places use) are expensive. In your case buying a cheap psu tester is a waste. Your only option is if you can get a Cheap PSU or if you can burrow one from a friend perhaps.

 

[Exxoc]

I made a system stability test were all components were put under stress for an hour, taking the CPU load to 100% and RAM to 85% for the duration of the test.

Temperatures went up to a consistant 75C - 80C for the CPU and 65C - 70C for the GPU.

It hummed on nicely with no crashes, so the hardware should be fine thankfully!

 

[mykeloid]

Nice, did you already replaced the PSU? try deleted the old drives too btw.

 

[ohiou_grad_2006]

Might want to run furmark. That will heat the video card up. If your power supply is 4 years old, your power supply could have degraded slightly. Maybe when you play a game it's making the video card pull enough power that your power supply can't handle anymore.

 

[Exxoc]

I was using the same PSU, and since this Windows install is only a few weeks old I don't think there'd be any old drivers laying around.

I could give Furmark a try, just hoping that it won't risk damaging any components.

 

[ohiou_grad_2006]

If you run furmark about 10-15 minutes should be sufficient.

 

[Exxoc]

Greetings,

A lot of things has happened since my last reply, and I believe that I have the solution. I restored my PC with an image I created after reformatting it to get a fresh start without any eventual faulty drivers, and it then manually shut down like it should. I don't know exactly what prevented the shut down but drivers or services is the only thing I can suspect.

It didn't fix the reboots however, and it did it again when browsing the internet and not while in game this time which was new. On top of that, I couldn't start it back up as the motherboard beeped complaining about the VGA. I refurnished my computer and placed my GPU in another identical PCI socket and there you go. One of them much have gotten defect over the years!

I have now been playing games for several hours without any issues and I sincerely hope it will stay that way. If anyone comes along here on a google spree with the same problem then it may work by relocating your graphics card, or getting a new motherboard.

Thanks for your replies, and merry christmas!

 

[ohiou_grad_2006]

Unfortunately I've worked on systems that acted like that, one i remember the guy had a high end Asus board too. It was one that had the armor plating on it.

 

[mykeloid]

Unfortunately I've worked on systems that acted like that, one i remember the guy had a high end Asus board too. It was one that had the armor plating on it.

I think you're referring to the ASUS gryphon or TUF series.

 

[ohiou_grad_2006]

Not 100% sure but it was supposed to be a good board. Seems like it was a black, brown sandstone color combo with the slots being a beige color.