[SOLVED] PC rebooting under load

May 18, 2021
35
2
45
Hey, in the last months i´ve been having a problem that couldn´t solve at the moment. My PC reboots in some load cases. I'll include all the information I've got about the issue and i would like you to carefully read all the post, thanks in advance.

I don´t play a big games catalog, and it has happened to me in certain cases and loads I'll describe below. Reboots are like when power goes out for a sec, it turns off totally without any software indication or crash, all leds and fans stop working and about 3 seconds later PC starts running again.

Let's start with Fallout 4, i downloaded this game and after playing some hours i got a reboot, didn't got another one until some days later, but it wasn't a major problem there, this was the first game in which I detected the error in first days of march, previously I wasn't playing heavy games because I was just starting in the world of PC gaming. Some days later, i was getting some moments of low FPS and I decided to deactivate the game VSync applied by default, this isn't an option in the game because it doesn't have actually a video settings menu, so i had to change VSync to 0 in the game documents. From there my GPU would be in 100% all the time, and it is one of the more power eating games, it uses about 105-110W of my GPU while most games use amounts in the range of 80s and 90s, and well, VSync off pulled my PC to a reboot every single time about 3 to 10 minutes in the game. I got realized that a small undervolt of about 50 mV (without underclock) eliminate this problem by complete, and haven't had a single reboot since there, this makes me think totally about PSU or maybe power strip (?) problem.

About Fortnite, first time I played it I got the issue after about 30 minutes playing, as i liked the game i was forced to live with the problem, it occured normally in the first game but sometimes would not happen in a game session. Using a undervolt and an specific GPU connector i feel it helped a bit, but problem was still happening. After some weeks, problem started happening always in the lobby or in the first minutes of play, even with major undervolts and underclocks. I decided to put a lower FPS limit and reduce graphics to medium, which would drop GPU usage to levels like 50%, can't remember exactly, that allowed me to play without problems for a while. One thing i have to say is that restarts happened in several times in the load screen: when exiting a match to the lobby or searching another one, GPU usage goes down in this screen, so maybe this is for a change in the computer load.

About stress tests, OCCT its a solid but weird example. With error detection on, test won't run and stop automatically 3 seconds after I press the start. With error detection off, GPU and PSU tests will instantly reboot my system, as if the test start button was an option to the shutdown one. I've seen this is normally indicative of a PSU problem.

AIDA64 gives me mixed results, it can reboot my PC in less than 15 minutes or just don´t do it. When the reboots doesn't occur, it is like a "good PC boot" and i can run it a lot of times and hours without restarting.
I've tested FurMark and Heaven Benchmark, they don't reboot my PC.

Returning to the games, I'll now talk about those games which aren't actually demanding but make the problem happen.

Euro Truck Simulator 2 started giving me restarts when i raised the settings a bit, including turning VSync off, this game gives transient loads to my computer, even with VSync off, GPU usage goes from levels like 30 or 50% to the 80-90% and sometimes arriving 100% when looking inside the cab (it's like looking to sky in other games ig). Restarts in this game are random, can occur after some minutes but more likely after playing for about an hour or more. I can prevent the problem dropping settings a bit as i said. I also got a restart once when finished a delivery and reward menu popped.

Battlefield V, i played some hours and got a restart when entered cinematic scene, i guess that modified the resources usage and maybe transient load made some protection jump?

Aim Lab, not a demanding game for training aim, made my PC restart once when i changed to Google Chrome for changing music, i guess it applied a different kind of load again, didn't alt + tab, just change trough home button + select chrome. Universe Sandbox², played it very short time, around 30 minutes the day I installed it, day after it, i got a restart while playing, it was a scenario with a certain load (fragment collision), it's also not a game forcing full GPU usage.

Now I should highlight that there are several games that aren't causing this issue in absolute, it's probably around the other half of my game catalog, but i can Resident Evil 3 and Forza Motorsport 7, I've played a very short time in those games but had no problem with them in that period, they pull 100% GPU usage. BeamNG.drive also pull almost all of the graphic resources and won't crash my system.

my specs:
CPU: Intel Core i5 9400
GPU: ASUS DUAL RX 5500 XT 4 GB Evo
MOBO: Gigabyte H310M M.2 2.0 (4 pin)
RAM: Mushkin MES4U266KF8G 2667 MHz CL19
OS Drive: WD Green 240 GB SATA SSD
Storage drive: Seagate Barracuda 1 TB SATA HDD 3.5" 7200 RPM
OS: Windows 10 Pro 20H2 and last recommended updates
CPU cooler: Intel stock fan
PSU: Thermaltake Smart 600W 80 Plus (white) SPD-0600P

Parts are between 8 and 9 months old, but problem was discovered/started about 4 months ago

Apart from the undervolt and mentioned things, I've carried out every software solution you can see in internet, like power options, remove overclocks, make scannows, etcetera, reseated connectors, GPU and RAMs, did memtest and cleaned PC, not with compressed air but with a brush. After exhaustive investigations, I decided to send GPU and PSU to warranty where I bought them since I bought them in the same place, they said they couldn't find any problem in them so I'm very frustrated for this, they said they tested them with a system similar in specs to which I described. I don't know if power supply should be the issue, it is my main suspicion but they say they couldn't find anything and that makes me lose a lot of hope, I also think it could be a thing in the VRMs, my Mobo isn't exclusively designed for gaming and its 4 pin, and transient load thing also makes me think about it.

By the way, after getting my parts back from unsuccesfully sending them to that store, i applied things i knew like undervolts, graphics settings and others for being able of play quietly, trying to forget about the problem for some time. I was able to play for about two weeks, but one day playing Cities Skyilines which never gave me problems before (instead once trying to increase graphics settings from low to medium), it restarted after about one or two hours, next two days i had restarts on Fortnite on medium graphics, so i lowered to low graphics, 2 or 3 days later i started getting restarts there, yesterday i tried to low a bit the Cities Skylines settings but anyways i got a restart after about 20 minutes in game, so it's rapidly getting worse and worse and i don't know what to do. Other more demanding games are still working as much as i can see, some minutes ago I got a restart in Minecraft Bedrock (haven't played for some weeks), so...

I live in Argentina so my possibilities are a bit limited economically, a Tier C PSU is the maximum i could buy but i should have to be sure for it, my budget for changing parts right now is practically zero, so please understand that.
I would appreciate any kind of idea or suggestion, i promise to answer as soon as I can and try anything for fixing this.
 
Solution
Hey, in the last months i´ve been having a problem that couldn´t solve at the moment. My PC reboots in some load cases. I'll include all the information I've got about the issue and i would like you to carefully read all the post, thanks in advance.

I don´t play a big games catalog, and it has happened to me in certain cases and loads I'll describe below. Reboots are like when power goes out for a sec, it turns off totally without any software indication or crash, all leds and fans stop working and about 3 seconds later PC starts running again.

Let's start with Fallout 4, i downloaded this game and after playing some hours i got a reboot, didn't got another one until some days later, but it wasn't a major problem there, this was...
Hey, in the last months i´ve been having a problem that couldn´t solve at the moment. My PC reboots in some load cases. I'll include all the information I've got about the issue and i would like you to carefully read all the post, thanks in advance.

I don´t play a big games catalog, and it has happened to me in certain cases and loads I'll describe below. Reboots are like when power goes out for a sec, it turns off totally without any software indication or crash, all leds and fans stop working and about 3 seconds later PC starts running again.

Let's start with Fallout 4, i downloaded this game and after playing some hours i got a reboot, didn't got another one until some days later, but it wasn't a major problem there, this was the first game in which I detected the error in first days of march, previously I wasn't playing heavy games because I was just starting in the world of PC gaming. Some days later, i was getting some moments of low FPS and I decided to deactivate the game VSync applied by default, this isn't an option in the game because it doesn't have actually a video settings menu, so i had to change VSync to 0 in the game documents. From there my GPU would be in 100% all the time, and it is one of the more power eating games, it uses about 105-110W of my GPU while most games use amounts in the range of 80s and 90s, and well, VSync off pulled my PC to a reboot every single time about 3 to 10 minutes in the game. I got realized that a small undervolt of about 50 mV (without underclock) eliminate this problem by complete, and haven't had a single reboot since there, this makes me think totally about PSU or maybe power strip (?) problem.

About Fortnite, first time I played it I got the issue after about 30 minutes playing, as i liked the game i was forced to live with the problem, it occured normally in the first game but sometimes would not happen in a game session. Using a undervolt and an specific GPU connector i feel it helped a bit, but problem was still happening. After some weeks, problem started happening always in the lobby or in the first minutes of play, even with major undervolts and underclocks. I decided to put a lower FPS limit and reduce graphics to medium, which would drop GPU usage to levels like 50%, can't remember exactly, that allowed me to play without problems for a while. One thing i have to say is that restarts happened in several times in the load screen: when exiting a match to the lobby or searching another one, GPU usage goes down in this screen, so maybe this is for a change in the computer load.

About stress tests, OCCT its a solid but weird example. With error detection on, test won't run and stop automatically 3 seconds after I press the start. With error detection off, GPU and PSU tests will instantly reboot my system, as if the test start button was an option to the shutdown one. I've seen this is normally indicative of a PSU problem.

AIDA64 gives me mixed results, it can reboot my PC in less than 15 minutes or just don´t do it. When the reboots doesn't occur, it is like a "good PC boot" and i can run it a lot of times and hours without restarting.
I've tested FurMark and Heaven Benchmark, they don't reboot my PC.

Returning to the games, I'll now talk about those games which aren't actually demanding but make the problem happen.

Euro Truck Simulator 2 started giving me restarts when i raised the settings a bit, including turning VSync off, this game gives transient loads to my computer, even with VSync off, GPU usage goes from levels like 30 or 50% to the 80-90% and sometimes arriving 100% when looking inside the cab (it's like looking to sky in other games ig). Restarts in this game are random, can occur after some minutes but more likely after playing for about an hour or more. I can prevent the problem dropping settings a bit as i said. I also got a restart once when finished a delivery and reward menu popped.

Battlefield V, i played some hours and got a restart when entered cinematic scene, i guess that modified the resources usage and maybe transient load made some protection jump?

Aim Lab, not a demanding game for training aim, made my PC restart once when i changed to Google Chrome for changing music, i guess it applied a different kind of load again, didn't alt + tab, just change trough home button + select chrome. Universe Sandbox², played it very short time, around 30 minutes the day I installed it, day after it, i got a restart while playing, it was a scenario with a certain load (fragment collision), it's also not a game forcing full GPU usage.

Now I should highlight that there are several games that aren't causing this issue in absolute, it's probably around the other half of my game catalog, but i can Resident Evil 3 and Forza Motorsport 7, I've played a very short time in those games but had no problem with them in that period, they pull 100% GPU usage. BeamNG.drive also pull almost all of the graphic resources and won't crash my system.

my specs:
CPU: Intel Core i5 9400
GPU: ASUS DUAL RX 5500 XT 4 GB Evo
MOBO: Gigabyte H310M M.2 2.0 (4 pin)
RAM: Mushkin MES4U266KF8G 2667 MHz CL19
OS Drive: WD Green 240 GB SATA SSD
Storage drive: Seagate Barracuda 1 TB SATA HDD 3.5" 7200 RPM
OS: Windows 10 Pro 20H2 and last recommended updates
CPU cooler: Intel stock fan
PSU: Thermaltake Smart 600W 80 Plus (white) SPD-0600P

Parts are between 8 and 9 months old, but problem was discovered/started about 4 months ago

Apart from the undervolt and mentioned things, I've carried out every software solution you can see in internet, like power options, remove overclocks, make scannows, etcetera, reseated connectors, GPU and RAMs, did memtest and cleaned PC, not with compressed air but with a brush. After exhaustive investigations, I decided to send GPU and PSU to warranty where I bought them since I bought them in the same place, they said they couldn't find any problem in them so I'm very frustrated for this, they said they tested them with a system similar in specs to which I described. I don't know if power supply should be the issue, it is my main suspicion but they say they couldn't find anything and that makes me lose a lot of hope, I also think it could be a thing in the VRMs, my Mobo isn't exclusively designed for gaming and its 4 pin, and transient load thing also makes me think about it.

By the way, after getting my parts back from unsuccesfully sending them to that store, i applied things i knew like undervolts, graphics settings and others for being able of play quietly, trying to forget about the problem for some time. I was able to play for about two weeks, but one day playing Cities Skyilines which never gave me problems before (instead once trying to increase graphics settings from low to medium), it restarted after about one or two hours, next two days i had restarts on Fortnite on medium graphics, so i lowered to low graphics, 2 or 3 days later i started getting restarts there, yesterday i tried to low a bit the Cities Skylines settings but anyways i got a restart after about 20 minutes in game, so it's rapidly getting worse and worse and i don't know what to do. Other more demanding games are still working as much as i can see, some minutes ago I got a restart in Minecraft Bedrock (haven't played for some weeks), so...

I live in Argentina so my possibilities are a bit limited economically, a Tier C PSU is the maximum i could buy but i should have to be sure for it, my budget for changing parts right now is practically zero, so please understand that.
I would appreciate any kind of idea or suggestion, i promise to answer as soon as I can and try anything for fixing this.
Hi

Going from your explanation, two things are probable, either your PSU is failing or your GPU is failing

(i realize that you have already sent them in for repairs)

what i would do:
test your GPU in another pc
test your PSU in another pc

Breadboard your system
 
Solution
May 18, 2021
35
2
45
Hi

Going from your explanation, two things are probable, either your PSU is failing or your GPU is failing

(i realize that you have already sent them in for repairs)

what i would do:
test your GPU in another pc
test your PSU in another pc

Breadboard your system
Supposedly both worked in other systems when i took them to revision in the store I bought them, they did same tests as i. GPU can pass FurMark and Heaven which are exclusively designed for graphics and have no problems.
 
Going from your explanation, two things are probable, either your PSU is failing or your GPU is failing
... or system is overtheating (cpu and/or gpu)
or cpu/gpu undervolted too much.

I'd suggest:
remove all undervolting,​
watch cpu/gpu temperatures, improve case cooling,​
get a better cooler for cpu,​
reduce gpu overclock to AMD reference clocks,​
and get a better PSU.​
 
May 18, 2021
35
2
45
... or system is overtheating (cpu and/or gpu)
or cpu/gpu undervolted too much.

I'd suggest:
remove all undervolting,​
watch cpu/gpu temperatures, improve case cooling,​
get a better cooler for cpu,​
reduce gpu overclock to AMD reference clocks,​
and get a better PSU.​
As i said, temperatures are fine, and restarts can happen after 5 minutes in a game. Removing undervolt doesn't help and GPU downclock doesn't either
 
Supposedly both worked in other systems when i took them to revision in the store I bought them, they did same tests as i. GPU can pass FurMark and Heaven which are exclusively designed for graphics and have no problems.
nevertheless i would still do it - frankly said i do not trust the store

I know from experience that a gpu might not budge on heaven but will crash on gaming

I would also try the breadboard
 
May 18, 2021
35
2
45
Well, it restarted in Fallout 4 with the undervolt now :( so i can confirm this is getting worse day per day. Now I'm scared of playing absolutely everything because I don't know when a reboot can occur.

I am not able to breadboard to other system. I'm thinking in buying a new PSU which would be a Corsair CV-650, it's not the best thing but my country's economic situation isn't good. I guess I could afford it with my "passive income" in some weeks and see if it works or return it if it doesn't. Thoughts?
 

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