Kernel-Power Event ID: 41 Task Category: (63): random restarts

[Avinoam73]

hi there gents, i need help!
i've built a new PC a few months ago and i've been getting these completely random restarts: basically i'm using my PC for whatever (playing games, watching videos, browsing the web etc) and sometimes i'm getting these weird crashes where my PC freezes and restarts itself. no BSOD, no warning, no nothing. i've checked the event log and got this:

level: critical. source: Kernel-Power. event ID: 41. task category: (63)

GENERAL:
The system has rebooted without cleanly shutting down first. This error could be caused if the system stopped responding, crashed, or lost power unexpectedly.

what does this means? that my PSU is malfunctioning? GPU? RAM?
every component is new and not OC'd so i don't really know what to do:

MOBO: gygabite GA-880GM-D2H
CPU: FX-8350
GPU: R9-290
PSU: Seasonic S12G 750w 80 plus GOLD
RAM: 8GB Team Elite (one stick)
OS: Windows 8.1 64 Bit Pro (Genuine and licensed)

 

[Msi_Junu]

I have the same problem. Build my PC as of late April. Been on this case for 2 weeks now. Did clean windows install, reseated everything and going to finally check my psu before taking it to best buy for diagnosis. Its just hard for me to believe that there would be anything wrong with hardware but I could be wrong. One thing I do know is that its voltage related. Don't have any heat issues and the pc works like a charm just shuts off at a completely random a** time. Sometimes a minute after login at idle, while browsing and while gaming (although rarely when gaming which is weird) other times i would let it run for the weekend and do all of that and no issues. Then I would turn it off come back 2 to 3 days later turn it on and it would shut off at idle after a minute. Its just Fu**king a**.... Anyways I will let you know how the diagnosis goes and perhaps you can relate to it and in the mean time if anybody had this issue pleeeeaase let us know what in the sh*t this is and if it could be a OS manufacturing BS or something like that...

UPDATE___________Or something related to the Intel Power Management and the chips that certain MB's have integrated......

 

[Paul NZ]

That can mean a faulty PSU yup

 

[Msi_Junu]

What code did you get if you could check in event viewer

 

[Msi_Junu]

I use to get blue screens and that IRQL which is related to drivers but after doing a clean install it seems like it went away and for the last few shut down I had no blue screens or anything just a kernel power 41 and parameter codes all zeros.

 

[Msi_Junu]

Well my diagnosis went fine and they said that it didn't have hardware or software related problems and it didn't turn off on them but they only tested it for one day. But just recently found out that my psu makes these high pitched screeching sounds even when playing a simple game such as chess titans and will usually now turn off my pc whenever I play anything. Although it did this before ( with the noise ) it wasn't nearly this bad and I used to think that it was my graphics card giving coil whine but it was in fact the psu and this doesn't sound like coil whine to me but my psu finally meeting its end. I just ordered a new higher end psu from corsair and will check/test it because its the best way to do so rather then using a multimeter because even though it might say that it past it doesn't necessarily mean that it did. If it is the psu i will rma the old one and get my money back from best buy! I thing kernel power event 41 will always be psu issues when you have a newly build system especially if you really took care in assembling it and there isn't any signs of bad capacitors, heat problems and your pc runs like a charm with no software issues like with drivers and such. I mean it could be ram issues too. But i think this is almost always the case with overclocking and i haven't yet come across anybody in the forums that had bad ram due to power related issues such as random shut downs with this Kernel Power Event 41 ( especially if your codes are all zeros in event viewer ). Anyways i hope im of any help and you can resolve your case soon........Regards I also doubt its your gpu if its not overheating and the fans spin properly because i used to think it was my graphics card too but now i thing my psu just can't handle the load.

 

[Avinoam73]

my PSU is brand new and kind of an overkill for my system. also, yesterday i found out my cpu is not compatible with my MOBO, so that sucks.
i'm gonna blame it on that until i get a new one. we'll see if that's really it.

 

[Msi_Junu]

Wow. Yeah. You are right about the incompatibility! Hopefully it should be all good once you get correct cpu. I just wonder how you managed to get it working with the wrong cpu?? If you already didn't know make sure to use pcpartpicker.com or some other websites for compatibility

 

[Msi_Junu]

That can mean a faulty PSU yup

I sincerely hope so and it has to be!

 

[Msi_Junu]

Yeah you have a gold seasonic psu which is great! Sry I overlooked that........I have the cheapest corsair CX750m bronze rated and really should have gone to a HX750 gold rated which is just under the top of the line AX Platinum rated series. Since all my components are high end it makes only sense to get an high end psu as well I guess.

 

[Achilles16]

I just made a thread about this as well. I have been getting the reboots about once a week. Have not been able to figure it out. I have read many "fixes" but nothing has worked so far.

The latest "fix" i read was from another forum where a guy said his audio drivers where to blame. He said it showed he had three so he disabled two of them and his issue went away. I checked my device manager and i also showed three so i disabled the ones for the GPU and kept the other one which i always use. Not sure if it will work, have to wait a few days and see.

Don't think it is my PSU in my case as i removed the one it had and installed another one and it did same thing. Strange thing is that for about three weeks it had stopped doing it and than it started again all of a sudden.

 

[Msi_Junu]

Can you give us the thread name for our info please. My pc used to run just fine for 2 months then it would do that just about once a week but now its gotten just worse and worse. It seemed to also start right after I installed a newer nvidia driver which I can' remember if i did a clean install on ( I probably did ) but especially after the 3rd install of the latest driver which I did do a clean install. I used to get BSOD's just prior to doing a clean install of windows 7 but now there's no blue screen no nothing just an instant turn off then would turn on again automatically. Also tried disabling Realtek Audio and only using Nvidia one but didn't fix it.

UPDATE________I have Nvidia and Realtek sound enabled and have no issues but could be different with other people.....

 

[Msi_Junu]

Got new psu and so far pc hasn't instant shut off on me. Its been a day and will report back in a week then a month.

 

[JobskeE]

Got new psu and so far pc hasn't instant shut off on me. Its been a day and will report back in a week then a month.

Hi, I know it hasn't been a month just yet but did the new PSU solve your problem so far? I'm kinda tight cash right now and I'd only really like to buy a new PSU if its necessary.

BTW I have the same problem as yours. Thanks.

 

[Msi_Junu]

Got new psu and so far pc hasn't instant shut off on me. Its been a day and will report back in a week then a month.

Hi, I know it hasn't been a month just yet but did the new PSU solve your problem so far? I'm kinda tight cash right now and I'd only really like to buy a new PSU if its necessary.

BTW I have the same problem as yours. Thanks.

Yeah so far so good I've been turning it on and let it run overnight each night and so far no instant turn offs. It would almost always turn off at idle about 30sec to a minute after cold boot before. I did play some iRacing too and didn't turn off but going to play some more games and it also never turned off while browsing.

UPDATE__________Been playing The Evil Within which is supposedly the most demanding game for the next gen on max settings with anti alliasing for a week now and no issues smooth as butter. The recommended sys req is an I7 four core or equivalent processor but I have an I5 4670k and runs no problem thankfully......

 

[Msi_Junu]

No instant power off's

 

[JobskeE]

No instant power off's

Just curious, what psu did you get? I was planing on a gold seasonic to replace mine.. Also did you change the wall socket you plugged into after switching PSUs? Thanks in advance!

 

[Msi_Junu]

No instant power off's

Just curious, what psu did you get? I was planing on a gold seasonic to replace mine.. Also did you change the wall socket you plugged into after switching PSUs? Thanks in advance!

I got a Corsair HX1050 gold rated and it has Japanese capacitors which are known for durability. Initially wanted to go for a HX860 or AX860 but got the 1050 for roughly the same price as the 860 of ebay brand new for 150$ with shipping. The HX is just under the top of the line AX series which are platinum rated. 750w would be enough in my case but planning on maybe doing sli and overclocking so the the additional head room is great. Seasonic obviously is a great brand and also makes a lot of corsair psu's but if you looking for something around 750w I personally would shoot for around a Benjamin. I learned not to skip on a psu and personally would downgrade on my gpu from a GTX780ti to a 780 or even 770 if it meant knowing I have a great quality psu something I didn't think of before. I thought as long as I have a name brand psu and enough wattage I'm good to go ignoring that it was a lowest end model.

I had to change wall outlets to put my pc on a table and work in and around it but still had instant power off's.......Hmmmm but I use a different outlet now since I have my router, modem and TV in the one I used before with the pc and now reluctant to use it because of the 1050w psu even though its only suppose to use around 450w at the highest...also have the PC and TV connected to a power surge protector from one outlet and the router, modem and another TV connected without a psp from another outlet.

 

[Msi_Junu]

I just made a thread about this as well. I have been getting the reboots about once a week. Have not been able to figure it out. I have read many "fixes" but nothing has worked so far.

The latest "fix" i read was from another forum where a guy said his audio drivers where to blame. He said it showed he had three so he disabled two of them and his issue went away. I checked my device manager and i also showed three so i disabled the ones for the GPU and kept the other one which i always use. Not sure if it will work, have to wait a few days and see.

Don't think it is my PSU in my case as i removed the one it had and installed another one and it did same thing. Strange thing is that for about three weeks it had stopped doing it and than it started again all of a sudden.

I wonder if it also has something to do with the Intel "Power" "Management" and the certain MB's that have those chips integrated to use it.

 

[TheMasterpass]

So I think I may have just solved this for myself, not saying this is a catch-all but it definitely worked for me after trying to :

1) Diagnose my power supply
2) RMA my motherboard
3) RMA my RAM and GPU

Needless to say, I was tearing my hair out until my dad (who's ancient BTW) came up with a blindingly obvious statement: "It's the power, right? Why are you looking at the electronic doodads"?

The point is this: I replaced my power strip and had an electrician come out to the house to check the outlet I was plugged into. The ground was *just barely* loose, but enough that there was a tiny loss in power that essentially cascaded, dropping first from the power supply, then from the strip, then the PSU, then finally the computer. From the research that I've done, this is a generic error and Microsoft refuses to work with most cases, given that 99% of the time it has nothing to do with the OS, so there are many, many possible fixes, but this one took me from a crash ever hour to zero. Haven't had a problem on over 2 weeks. Check *everything*, not just the actual computer itself. Anything involving power is suspect with this error.

 

[Msi_Junu]

So I think I may have just solved this for myself, not saying this is a catch-all but it definitely worked for me after trying to :

1) Diagnose my power supply
2) RMA my motherboard
3) RMA my RAM and GPU

Needless to say, I was tearing my hair out until my dad (who's ancient BTW) came up with a blindingly obvious statement: "It's the power, right? Why are you looking at the electronic doodads"?

The point is this: I replaced my power strip and had an electrician come out to the house to check the outlet I was plugged into. The ground was *just barely* loose, but enough that there was a tiny loss in power that essentially cascaded, dropping first from the power supply, then from the strip, then the PSU, then finally the computer. From the research that I've done, this is a generic error and Microsoft refuses to work with most cases, given that 99% of the time it has nothing to do with the OS, so there are many, many possible fixes, but this one took me from a crash ever hour to zero. Haven't had a problem on over 2 weeks. Check *everything*, not just the actual computer itself. Anything involving power is suspect with this error.

I have no ground at all......at least that's what my surge protector is telling me. I have a nine year old monster surge protector that I payed around 100 $ for and it still has light indication for protection but no ground. My whole house has tree pronged outlets but none has ground ........

I agree with you on checking everything. The one outlet I had the pc connected to is slightly out of shape looking but have my router, modem and tv connected to it and no issues. I know that not having ground is a danger in case of surges but can they really happen even if there's no thunderstorms and is it relevant to have ground for stable power current?

 

[TheMasterpass]

So I think I may have just solved this for myself, not saying this is a catch-all but it definitely worked for me after trying to :

1) Diagnose my power supply
2) RMA my motherboard
3) RMA my RAM and GPU

Needless to say, I was tearing my hair out until my dad (who's ancient BTW) came up with a blindingly obvious statement: "It's the power, right? Why are you looking at the electronic doodads"?

The point is this: I replaced my power strip and had an electrician come out to the house to check the outlet I was plugged into. The ground was *just barely* loose, but enough that there was a tiny loss in power that essentially cascaded, dropping first from the power supply, then from the strip, then the PSU, then finally the computer. From the research that I've done, this is a generic error and Microsoft refuses to work with most cases, given that 99% of the time it has nothing to do with the OS, so there are many, many possible fixes, but this one took me from a crash ever hour to zero. Haven't had a problem on over 2 weeks. Check *everything*, not just the actual computer itself. Anything involving power is suspect with this error.

I have no ground at all......at least that's what my surge protector is telling me. I have a nine year old monster surge protector that I payed around 100 $ for and it still has light indication for protection but no ground. My whole house has tree pronged outlets but none has ground ........

I agree with you on checking everything. The one outlet I had the pc connected to is slightly out of shape looking but have my router, modem and tv connected to it and no issues. I know that not having ground is a danger in case of surges but can they really happen even if there's no thunderstorms and is it relevant to have ground for stable power current?

Honestly, I don't know how you would be effected, electrical engineering isn't what I do. I'd really just say try another power strip, even for a short time, mine had every appearance of being perfectly fine as well, but as soon as I replaced it and had the outlet looked at, I tried the original power strip again and almost immediately got an error. If I had to hazard a guess, I've read other threads where it's been hypothesized that the common link between all these generic errors is a registry entry that controls how much of a system tolerance there is for a voltage drop...not something that the other devices you described would have an issue with.

 

[Msi_Junu]

So I think I may have just solved this for myself, not saying this is a catch-all but it definitely worked for me after trying to :

1) Diagnose my power supply
2) RMA my motherboard
3) RMA my RAM and GPU

Needless to say, I was tearing my hair out until my dad (who's ancient BTW) came up with a blindingly obvious statement: "It's the power, right? Why are you looking at the electronic doodads"?

The point is this: I replaced my power strip and had an electrician come out to the house to check the outlet I was plugged into. The ground was *just barely* loose, but enough that there was a tiny loss in power that essentially cascaded, dropping first from the power supply, then from the strip, then the PSU, then finally the computer. From the research that I've done, this is a generic error and Microsoft refuses to work with most cases, given that 99% of the time it has nothing to do with the OS, so there are many, many possible fixes, but this one took me from a crash ever hour to zero. Haven't had a problem on over 2 weeks. Check *everything*, not just the actual computer itself. Anything involving power is suspect with this error.

I have no ground at all......at least that's what my surge protector is telling me. I have a nine year old monster surge protector that I payed around 100 $ for and it still has light indication for protection but no ground. My whole house has tree pronged outlets but none has ground ........

I agree with you on checking everything. The one outlet I had the pc connected to is slightly out of shape looking but have my router, modem and tv connected to it and no issues. I know that not having ground is a danger in case of surges but can they really happen even if there's no thunderstorms and is it relevant to have ground for stable power current?

Honestly, I don't know how you would be effected, electrical engineering isn't what I do. I'd really just say try another power strip, even for a short time, mine had every appearance of being perfectly fine as well, but as soon as I replaced it and had the outlet looked at, I tried the original power strip again and almost immediately got an error. If I had to hazard a guess, I've read other threads where it's been hypothesized that the common link between all these generic errors is a registry entry that controls how much of a system tolerance there is for a voltage drop...not something that the other devices you described would have an issue with.

Thankfully I don't have errors or random instant power off's anymore since replacing my psu about a month ago. I did change outlets without surge protector with the old psu but still had instant power off's. I did take my system for diagnosis and there were no issues to be found but I heard the only real and sure way to test a psu is with a known good one. Knowing that I had a good brand psu but low end, I went ahead and took a gamble, bought a high end model and crossed my fingers exhausted of all options.......On another note glad you found your culprit

 

[Achilles16]

Well i think i fixed my issue as well. I haven't had a random reboot in over a month. In my case i think it is my PSU no longer being able to handle my GPU. I am thinking some updates to GPU made it use more watts or something. Anyways ever since taking out the PSU i have no longer had this issue at all.

I am going to buy a new PC in a week or so and will add the GPU to it and will see if all works well. If i get random reboots that i guess it was the GPU after all wasn't it.

 

[Msi_Junu]

What psu did you have? Yeah I have a hunch it could be as far as psu not able to handle a gpu with updates. This might be a coincidence but if I remember correctly my PC worked fine until updating drivers for gpu and then it would get instant power off about once a week then slowly escalating to 2-3 times a week to about almost everyday. Had a low end corsair cx750m psu handling a 780ti. The 750w is more then enough but thought that while having high end components might as well update to a high end psu no? I have a hx1050 now and all is well as off mid October.