[SOLVED] I Have a unique issue that might be due to the CPU,

[Adreankael]

I'm having a strange issue. My dad's PC powers off when he alt tabs from any game to Chrome with a youtube video playing. I tested it and you can alt tab to Chrome and have no issue unless you tab to a chrome tab with a video playing on youtube. You can launch the video and tab over to the game and still listen to youtube just fine, but if you tab back to the chrome tab that the video is playing in the system shut's down. However when the system powers off the power light stays on as if the board is still powered up but GPU fan, CPU fan and HDDs power down. While trying to trouble shoot it my first thought was software so I reinstalled the OS after formatting and installed the game and chrome and still it shut down. So I thought maybe CPU? I stress tested the CPU and it passed with flying colors so I thought maybe board issue? I replaced the board, still the same issue. I thought PSU so I replaced that, still same issue. I replaced the ram and still the same thing happens. I even went as far as to changed the HDD to a new SSD with a new OS and still the same issues. The only culprit I have left, as it's the only constant throughout all the tests, is a faulty CPU but why would it pass a stress test if it's faulty?
The system is an older one. As I said it's my dad's and he doesn't want to replace the whole thing because I built it for him for father's day. I told him I would build him another but he doesn't want that. It's an AMD FX8300 running on a biostar TA 970. If push comes to shove I'll order a CPU and test it but if anyone knows why this could happen and it would save me from buying a new CPU I would appreciate the help.

 

[PC Tailor]

Welcome to the forums my friend!

What is the full system spec including PSU make and model?
My initial thought on this was actually GPU or PSU.
When you say it powers off - does the whole system reboot or just black screen? Do you have to then hard reset it?

 

[Adreankael]

Thanks for the welcome.
Original full system spec is an AMD FX 8300 on a Biostar TA 970 running 16 gigs of Corsair vengeance DDR3 with a GTX 1050 TI. Original PSU is a Thermaltake TR2 600 with a WD 1TB HDD. Running windows 10 and Chrome browser. The Game he plays is Star trek Online. All the drivers are up to date. I've swapped out the PSU, the HDD for an SDD, and swapped the video card out and replaced the ram during testing but I'm still having the issues no matter what I put into it. Which is what is leading me to believe it's the CPU.
The system seems to completely power off all the fans including the PSU fan stop the screen goes black then the monitor going into sleep mode warning pops up but the power light stays on. If I try to press the power button nothing happens even if I hold the button down the light wont go off. I have to unplug the PSU from the UPS then I can power the system back on.

 

[PC Tailor]

Thanks for the welcome.
Original full system spec is an AMD FX 8300 on a Biostar TA 970 running 16 gigs of Corsair vengeance DDR3 with a GTX 1050 TI. Original PSU is a Thermaltake TR2 600 with a WD 1TB HDD. Running windows 10 and Chrome browser. The Game he plays is Star trek Online. All the drivers are up to date. I've swapped out the PSU, the HDD for an SDD, and swapped the video card out and replaced the ram during testing but I'm still having the issues no matter what I put into it. Which is what is leading me to believe it's the CPU.
The system seems to completely power off all the fans including the PSU fan stop the screen goes black then the monitor going into sleep mode warning pops up but the power light stays on. If I try to press the power button nothing happens even if I hold the button down the light wont go off. I have to unplug the PSU from the UPS then I can power the system back on.

What was the previous PSU? Did you swap it with the TR2? The TR2 are an awful quality power supply, so if the previous one was bad quality too, the issue could easily repeat.

This still sooner sounds like a power problem - have you also tried removing it from the UPS and going direct from an outlet?

 

[Adreankael]

The one that was in it when the problems started was a TR2 600. The one I'm using to test it is my corsair RM850x. I've tried it off the UPS, straight from the outlet and using a power strip. If the corsair is a bad PSU can you recommend a decent one?

 

[PC Tailor]

The one that was in it when the problems started was a TR2 600. The one I'm using to test it is my corsair RM850x. I've tried it off the UPS, straight from the outlet and using a power strip. If the corsair is a bad PSU can you recommend a decent one?

Ah no, the RMx is a good line (depending on how long you've had it) - but should be good for years.
Just followed the normal expectation that most start off with something like the TR2 and swap it for another one!

If the RMx isn't working either, then you can probably rule the PSU out, especially if it is running your rig normally.

So to clarify:

• You reinstalled windows and issue persisted?
• You've swapped RAM and issue persisted?
• You've swapped PSU and issue persisted?
• You've swapped storage drives and issue persisted?
• You've swapped GPU and issue persisted?
• You've moved it out of UPS and issue repeated?

Has anything changed recently? hardware / software? Do you encounter any other issues?
Wild shot, but just checking the CMOS battery may also help, I doubt it will make any difference, but i have noticed a faulty CMOS cause some strange problems in the past.
Have you also tried removing all other peripheral devices and storage devices not needed (even a different keyboard)?
Have you been able to test the motherboard itself?

 

[Adreankael]

Yes reinstalled, swapped the ram, the PSU even the HDD. Swapped the GPU and tried it with and without the PSU. I can't really say if anything has changed, doesn't look like it and my dad swears all he's done is played his game and watched youtube and checked his email. That's about all he does on the PC. The only other peripherals connected to his machine is the mouse and keyboard which I use my own when I tested it. I'd like to try and test the motherboard by itself but I don't know how to do that without putting another CPU into it and I don't have another one that'll fit the board. I'm probably just gonna have to buy a new one anyways so it maybe that's my only option at this point. I was hoping it would be software related or a bios setting I overlooked (I'm not an expert in anything PC related just know how to insert tab A into slot B really lol). But it's probably a good idea just to order another 8300 and see if it works.

 

[PC Tailor]

Well resetting your CMOS will clear any potential BIOS implication.
But sooner sounds like a component problem. Very strange behaviour.

Personally I would clear the CMOS / reset BIOS and following that, a CPU or new MB may be your only options to verify. You could always buy a very cheap Athlon processor to test.

 

[gggplaya]

Does it still crash if he plays borderless full screen window mode and he alt-tabs? If not, then just buy him a second monitor, extend his desktop and keep it like that.

 

[Adreankael]

Thought I would update this because this just got weirder.
I took the PC over to a friends house who had a test bench and another AMD processor last night. We put the MB on the test bench and kept seeing the same issues as before and nothing we swapped out helped until we swapped out the CPU. It worked without a problem for all of 10 minutes then the CPU fan started pulsing. It would run from 1500 rpm for a second then amp up to 8800 rpm then back down. It repeated this every 2 seconds for about 20 minutes. So I got an idea and I replaced the cooler with an aftermarket one and it ran fine for an hour during a stress test. We swapped back to the old cooler and fan and it started giving the same problems.
I eventually swapped back in the old CPU with the new cooler and it works fine now. It's been running all day without any problems at all. I'm not sure what was causing the issue but it seems to have been something wrong with the fan. I was thinking maybe the system thought the fan had died and powered off to save the processor? I don't know. I thought I would update this and let everyone know the issue seems to be resolved now.

 

[PC Tailor]

Thought I would update this because this just got weirder.
I took the PC over to a friends house who had a test bench and another AMD processor last night. We put the MB on the test bench and kept seeing the same issues as before and nothing we swapped out helped until we swapped out the CPU. It worked without a problem for all of 10 minutes then the CPU fan started pulsing. It would run from 1500 rpm for a second then amp up to 8800 rpm then back down. It repeated this every 2 seconds for about 20 minutes. So I got an idea and I replaced the cooler with an aftermarket one and it ran fine for an hour during a stress test. We swapped back to the old cooler and fan and it started giving the same problems.
I eventually swapped back in the old CPU with the new cooler and it works fine now. It's been running all day without any problems at all. I'm not sure what was causing the issue but it seems to have been something wrong with the fan. I was thinking maybe the system thought the fan had died and powered off to save the processor? I don't know. I thought I would update this and let everyone know the issue seems to be resolved now.

Very interesting. Not often come across a CPU cooler causing a shutdown like that.
Guess it could have been causing a short somewhere, or faulty connection.

I've known it to cause problems, just not in the way you've described before. Thanks for the update my friend! Glad you got it sorted.