PC has emotional switch-off crisis

[ryanj252]

Hey Guys

I've seen this problem appear alot lately but from what I've read, no one seems to have a proper hand on the solution.

What's happening, is that my machine has started switching off by itself (like someone pulled the plug) after 3 years of perfection. It does this randomly, during my editing sessions, while gaming, while logging on, while still restarting. It just cuts out and then after like 2 seconds, it starts up again. It gives no error upon log on.

My Diagnosis so far:
- I know that its not an overheating issue, I've run prime95 for 30min with no errors. CPU's peaked at 58deg Celcius with no freezing, BSOD or switch off.
- It cant be memory. I edit large Full HD files and pre-render footage with no errors.
- It cant be my GPU either because I can still do gaming, watch hi res videos, edit in PS and AE with GPU performance enabled and so on.
- It cannot be the OS either, because the switch-off sometimes happens before the Windows loading screen.
- There's no bulging capacitors either, I've checked. Aswell as spring-cleaned my chassis and parts from all dust.

Oh yes, forgot to add that I also already turned off Automatic Restart under "System Failure"

I've narrowed it down to some weird virus, the PSU, or (and I hope not) something BIOS related. But even if it IS the PSU...why is it so random? I could go for days with no switch-off, and then suddenly 5 switch off's in one hour.

Please if you know of any possible solution - Share it with me.

My Specs:
Intel i5 2500 Quad Core 3.30Ghz - (Cooled with Coolermaster Hyper TX3 RR-910)
P8H67-M EVO Rev-B3
G.Skill Ripjaw 2x 4Gb DDR3 1600Mhz (Running at 1333Mhz)
nVidia Geforce GTX 260 GDDR3 448bit
2x WD 500Gb Sata 6Gb HDD
1x Seagate Barracuda 1Tb 6Gb HDD
Cooler Master 550W 12V PSU

 

[rgd1101]

surge protector? ups? could be a short somewhere.

 

[ryanj252]

surge protector? ups? could be a short somewhere.

Checked in the BIOS that the board comes with Anti-Surge Protection. I dont have a UPS installed either.
I know that will fix the switching off problem. But it will still annoy me not knowing exactly what was causing the problem in the first place.

 

[rgd1101]

Since you already do all those tests and it passed. It tough to figure out what is wrong if it only happened once in a blue moon.

 

[thenh813]

It could be the PSU can you check the voltages of the PSU rails while booted?
Could you do as I have said in another post? I ave quoted it below.
Please report back with those readings.

This will help rule out PSU if the MB will not power up/keep powering off.
It is very likely the PSU and I would reccomend using the paperclip trick:
http://aphnetworks.com/tutorials/psu_paperclip_trick

Please try the test and post back the voltages on EVERY wire.
You will need a analog or digital voltmeter to check these values.
Good voltages:
Orange to black: 3.3v [3.0v-3.7v]
Red to Black: 5v [4.5v-5.5v]
Yellow to black: 12v [11v-13v]
Grey to black: 5v [4.5v-5.5v]
The grey wire tells the CPU to start up.
Blue to black: -12v [-11.5v--13v]
Purple to black: 5v [4.5v-5.5v] (with paperclip removed)
The purple wire powers the MB when it is in standby of off.
Black to black: NOTHING [-0.100-+0.100]

If the voltages are not within the mentioned ranges, something is wrong.
If they are OK at no load without anything plugged in, add a load
like a medium size 12v electric motor or 50W Halogen headlight to the 12v rail
and retest all values, if any are off the limits the PSU is JUNK and should
never be attached to hardware again. If the values are close to the limits,
leave it running for a hour and retest again, if any are off the limits it is dead.

 

[bryonhowley]

Well a couple things stood out to me in your post "after 3 years" and "Cooler Master PSU". The PSU would be my first guess as to the cause of your issues.

 

[ryanj252]

Hey guys

Thanx for the replies. Im going to have a try at what you suggested @thenh813.

@bryonhowley - Whats wrong with a CM PSU and a machine thats 3 years old?

 

[ryanj252]

Hey Guys. Just thought I'd notify you that the problem still pesists. Im considering upgrading my motherboard and PSU soon. what brands do you recommend?

 

[thenh813]

For a MB: Asrock or Gigabyte. Intel is very stable also, but has less BIOS features.
For a PSU, I would recommend Corsair, Seasonic, Antec or Rosewills's higher end models (Rosewill dosent have the best low end models).

 

[ryanj252]

For a MB: Asrock or Gigabyte. Intel is very stable also, but has less BIOS features.
For a PSU, I would recommend Corsair, Seasonic, Antec or Rosewills's higher end models (Rosewill dosent have the best low end models).

For a PSU, I would recommend Corsair, Seasonic, Antec or Rosewills's higher end models (Rosewill dosent have the best low end models).[/quotemsg]

Hey Guys so my PC is running perfectly now. Replaced the H67 motherboard with a H61 and everything is fine. Strangely though, i had the damaged H67 motherboard replaced with a H67 new one and when I tried fitting the new H67 mobo, the same switching off problem occurred. So...i have no idea what now.

 

[thenh813]

Hmmm... I think that the board might have been shorting to something from the looks of it. Odd indeed. At least it is fixed now. I am assuming that you used the standoffs on the H67. You did, right? It is definitely not the PSU if it works perfect with a similar board series and was installed correctly.