Computer Started shutting off under heavy load while playing a computer game.

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CuriousGamer2014

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Apr 11, 2014
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My computer started shutting off while playing either a computer game ( heavy graphics, powered by Radeon HD5770 ), or when making music using a DAW like Reason. Then it started to shut off randomly out of the blue. I thought this might have been a PSU issue, so I went out and got a brand new PSU, previous one wasn't even 6 months old yet. Which was a Thermaltake TR2 600W, and the new one is a logisys 575w. When I switched the PSU that seemed to correct the problem, until a few minutes later when the computer shut off again. Then I started the computer back up again, and my graphics card ( Radeon 5770 ) Starts to spin at a very high rate like its under a heavy load during post/bootup. So I restart once more and this time I switched out the graphics card. Nothing is being displayed now, after the card was just working ( spare pci-e graphics card ) Which I believe to be equal to the nvidia gs series. non powered. But like I said before, now when I try to boot the pc, completely black screen, displays nothing, not even post. Does not have any noticeable beeps. PC powers up just fine, no clicks, clanks, ca-lunk-alunk's, or anything of that nature. I was leaning towards a fresh install of windows thinking I caught a nasty little bug until she stopped even booting up. Now she just powers on and just sits there with a completely black screen. Is anyone else out there having this same issue? Or know how to resolve it? PC isn't even 2 years old.

Just to give you an idea.

Custom PC:

Windows 7 64bit
AMD FX-8120 Processor
gigabyte GA-970A mother board
Logisys 575w PSU
Mid tower ( not like it matters )
Corsair XMS3 DDR3 16gigs ram
WD 500G HD Sata2
Masscool 7WA868 heat sink/fan
Basic 24x/20x sony dvd writer

Those are the basics to help identify a potential problem.

But again like I stated. At first it would start shutting off under heavy load, or it was just a strong coincidence. Then it stopped letting me use the HD5770 video card. So i replaced it with a back up. Both used PCI-E. Was working for a few minutes with back up. Actually I let it sit overnight and it never shut off until I got back on it. And that's when it wouldn't boot back up. The pc turns on and can respond to a forced shut off just fine. But nothing is displayed on the screen no matter which PCI-E port I use. Any help? And please have some years of experience with computers before responding. I have 15+ years. Now a simple fix is buy a new mobo and graphics card. But im asking for all available options besides the obvious which wont be cheap. But if that's my only option, feel free to voice it. All comments are welcome ( that have worked for you, or others with this similar problem )
 
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You bought a new PSU and downgraded..... Seriously, buy good parts! That logisys is meant for computers from 2003 with its -5V rail and high current 5V rail, it isn't meant for a modern system that is heavy on the 12V rail. The Thermaltake TR2 you had before was better suited but with its passive PFC it was still a PSU from an old generation, but this time only ~2007 era.

All your statements point to the PSU cutting out when underload and the low level PSUs make me lean towards this option.
 
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I get what you all are saying. I found out the PSU was low quality after purchase. Budget didn't allow for a more expensive one. But as I stated before even with you saying the other PSU was better suited, it still shut off even with the psu that was better suited , point blank, so it isn't better suited if it's the one that started giving issues. Not jumping on your case, just putting info out there to be better understood. And as far as the question about all the fans spinning? Yes they all spin fine.
 
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It sounds like a motherboard issue. Wanky fan activity and black screen means the mobo is even failing to post. If it was the memory or processor it would give you an error. In this case it seems that the motherboard is likely.

Personally I like to strip down the issue system and swap out suspect components with ones I know work until the issue is found but I don't know if you have that luxury. Did you already try removing the psu power cord and the motherboard battery for 15 min.?
 
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Your logic is unsound.

A unit which had been running for 6 months stopped working, could have been a random failure or an overworked unit no way to know, it was replaced with a unit that almost certainly cannot power that system long term, the problem seems briefly resolved until the unit kicks the bucket and makes the situation worse.

Replacing something which may be a culprit with something that will definitely be a culprit actually hinders your ability to learn stuff. You need to find a known good unit to test your system with, something that can actually power it for the long term.
 
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To thor, I'm leaning towards a mb issue. And I used to have that luxury when I had more spare parts. I dont have as many anymore. I used to have old systems I built laying around for parts as I stopped using them. No longer are they available. And to Hunter. The only reason I purchased that was due to my budget at that time. I understand your thought process. If I had the available parts or an equal unit to test on I would have done that. But for the moment it's looking like 2 issues then. the MB since it's not even booting into post at all. And another PSU. smh
 
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Thor, the only thing I hadn't done yet was remove the battery. I just did that, I doubt it will correct the issue as it's not even showing the post screen....but we will see. I wish I could post videos or pictures up here. I'd show you what exactly is going on.
 
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Ok, Thor, good news is it boots up now, bad news is it just keeps shutting off. Now what I've learned is that under guest account the computer will stay on longer than if I log in under my own account. The minute I try to log into my own account the comp restarts or shuts down. Leaving me to have to switch the PSU off for a few seconds to kill the power feed, then start it up again for another attempt. So it looks to be shutting off during windows boot now. So I'm wondering if something has hidden itself in the boot time files.
 
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What if you switch back to the Thermaletake?
 
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Shuts off just like it did before. And now it's shutting off again. I was trying to install a fresh version of windows, and not even 2 minutes into booting up the setup cd it shut off again.
 
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And also, it was in DOS while it shut off. I had the windows cd inside the drive and it was loading the files from the cd. It got half way finished then just shut off on me. It will get to the loading files screen, and get close to 80 - 90% and just either shut off or restart on it's own. This is becoming a huge headache! I even tried with the previous PSU again. ( pointless ) but I just wanted to see if it does it at the same point as the new one. And yes indeed. But at least it booting up to post again. But danget wth this is an annoying issue.

Again. Old PSU 600w
New 575

Yes, I KNOW. I downgraded. But still. it's shutting off/restarting before I even get to choose the install path or select which version of windows 7 to install. Doesn't even get that far. Shuts down/reboots at the loading files screen.
 
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I think you are going in circles. I would suggest breadboarding your pc, mobo - TR2 - 1 stick of ram - cpu & cooler - pc speaker and that's it. If it posts and remains on, start adding stuff, 1 component at a time, rebooting after each and waiting a while to see if you get shutdown. Personally I'd save the gpu for next-to-last and the hdd for last. It's entirely possible you have something as simple as a short in a cable, causing the over-current / over-voltage protections in the psu to trip, which can cause immediate shutdowns . The TR2 has these protective circuits, even that boat anchor logisys has some, so I feel this would be a good place to start. Worst case scenario, it shuts down at the very beginning, with just the mobo and cpu and ram on a piece of cardboard outside the case. If it does, swap out the ram, change the psu. If it still shuts down, then either the mobo or cpu is the culprit. It's not very often that a cpu goes bad.

Good luck.
 
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To Thor220, I looked at the event log, and there are a bunch of Critical Error's, and Warnings, and Error's.

Service Control manager - Error
Kernel-Power - Critical
Event Log - Error

That was just for today. And the rest are the same for other days.

And to Karadjgne I will try that. Also to everyone else. Almost everything else has been replaced. Only things left that hadn't been are the hard drive, and the ram. PSU ( replaced, and still shut down so I returned it and am using my original 600w ), Processor has been replaced, bought new fans for extra cooling and exhaust ( making sure it wasn't over heating and shutting down as a fail safe ), new wires and new graphics card ( old one died ), Only the ram and HD are left. Now I had someone run a diag on it, and they claim what the test says is that the hd is failing. But I've dealt with bad drives over the years, and I've never had a pc shut down on me because the hd was going bad. If anything it would freeze, and make that annoying dying drive sound due to bad clusters ( phew...taaaaniiiinnnnnnnnggggggg )This one does not. It's a sata drive. Basically I've damn near rebuilt it trying to find the exact problem. And it seems to happen during game play/video playback more than anything. Again. Brand new parts. Only thing that hadn't been replaced...again...is the HDD, and RAM. I even formatted the drive and reinstalled windows to make sure it wasn't a virus that my anti virus didn't detect to be on the safe side.

As of now.

Processor - AMD Fx-8320 ( Old one - Fx-8120 )
Motherboard - Sabertooth 990Fxa-ud3 ( Old one - gigabyte Ga970a )
Graphics card - Radeon R7 240 ( Old one - Radeon HD 5770 *stopped working* )
PSU - the original 600w TR2 I listed
120mm fan mounted on the side of the case pulling cool air onto the processor to help air flow on/around it
Old heat sink - Zalman CNPS7X ( New one - Masscool 7WA868 )

Just giving you guys an idea of exactly whats been replaced, and with what. The heatsink is just because I wanted a different one that had better reviews on cooling.


Getting it to turn on isn't the issue now. It's getting it to stay on. Seems to shut off more when im playing a game or watching video. Which leads me in a few directions. A short, as of one you suggested because of more current needing to be pulled. Or Over heating. Which is why the extra fans are in place.
 
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Watching a video usually doesn't lead to shutting down....are you getting a BSOD or does the video "crap out" - or is it restarting? Since it is both the video/game play, I would believe that there is a driver issue. Make sure you have the most current drivers for the mobo chipset and GPU....
 
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I dont have any portable versions to answer your question Thor. And Ronin, no reboot. It shuts down. I have to flip the switch on the back to kill power feed for about 10 seconds then flip it back to the on position. If I do not it will not power back on.
 
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Try bread boarding the system. That is, take all the parts out of the case and onto an anti-static surface and run it from there. I just want to eliminate the possibility of shorts.
 
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Breadboarding, start with absolute minimums, 1 stick of ram, cpu and cooler, psu power connectors and pc speaker and that's it. No kb, no hdd, no mouse, nothing. Jumper the on button (15+16 on 20+4 pin, Google it) wait for post beep, then wait more, long past when it would normally have shut down. If it lives then add the other stick of ram and reboot. Do this for every single added component, even for the actual on button, 1 at a time.

What ever happens, sooner or later it will fail, remove the last component installed and try again.
Make sure to wiggle every cable installed, punch every kb key when installing that etc. It's not unheard of that a shorted mouse/keyboard cable will activate the over current protections in the psu, turning it off, and needs a hard turn off to reset.
 
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Didn't find out much with breadboarding, because the issue happens at will. There is no certain time limit. The only 2 things left unreplaced in this build are the ram and the hard drive. I even went out and bought a new heatsink/fan The Phantek PH-TC14PE I read up on it and it's basically like the Noctua D14-D15. In which I read up on it and looked at review. It was supposed to be good for keeping temps down, which is what I figured had to be the problem due to not being able to physically find an issue. I was of course unsuccessful. The computer still shuts down at random times. Again, the only two things left are the hard drive and the ram. Then this system would have been completely rebuilt...aside from the case. Still the same case. Also...before the pc would boot with no video, it's now showing video of course, I had to get another video card. But the shutting off issue still persists. Again. it's completely random. It has happened 3 times today alone. Twice during watching video and once just while I was browsing the net.
 
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I tested the Hard Drive, the memory, and the cpu temps with BurnIn Test. It passed everything. But shut down minutes after it was finished. It even shut down while I was writing this reply, and nothing was running in the background. It was a fresh boot. I have no idea what the heck is going on....this is frustrating to the max.

Here is the info from the crystal program..
crystalss.jpg
 
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