[SOLVED] PC reboots while playing games/when plugging in USB

fongachris

Commendable
Jun 15, 2018
5
0
1,510
A few days ago out of nowhere my computer restarted itself while playing games and got sent into an infinite reboot loop where it clicked on and off every few seconds. I assumed it was an overheating issue and cleaned out all the dust filters, cleaned the fans as well as the cpu fan. I updated my BIOS and tried to play again but still crashed in game. I ran windows update, reseated my GPU, reset cmos, and put BIOS back to default settings but still had the problem of my PC turning off midgame.

When I first built my PC in September 2019, I had this problem where my PC would turn on visually, but then wouldn’t show any picture on my monitor through a displayport cord. But when I would boot with an HDMI cord, it would boot like normal with no issue. Then if I switched out the HDMI cord for a displayport cord it would continue to work even when I rebooted. This issue happened maybe 4-5 times since September of last year and I never thought much of it. Remembering this issue, I tried to play games with an HDMI cord instead of displayport and I was able to game for a few hours straight no problem. But I then had another issue where if I plugged in a USB drive into the back of my PC, it would shut off and reboot but then show no picture, no matter if I had HDMI or displayport plugged in. My event viewer shows a Kernel-Power critical error at each of reboots. Reliability monitor shows multiple “Windows was not properly shut down” messages.
I ran a test with OCCT that stresses your GPU/CPU for 30 minutes while on HDMI and with Displayport separately and had no shutdowns. Also ran the Heaven benchmark with no issues.

Just today I was browsing Reddit with minimal things opened and then it rebooted after opening a Vimeo video (although the computer has been on and in use for about 10 hours so far today). Tried to use the computer again right after and it rebooted quickly after just opening the task manager.

I’ve had this PC for about a year now and I developed this habit of turning off the power supply after shutting down everyday because leaving it on left little USB lights on my microphone and other USB devices I had plugged in. Could this be part of the issue that’s causing my shutdowns?

Specs:
i7-9700K
be quiet! Dark Rock 4 CPU Cooler
Gigabyte GeForce RTX 2060 Super 8GB
Gigabyte z390 PRO mobo
Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 CL15 Memory
Cooler Master 550W MWE Gold 80+
Samsung 970 Evo 1 TB M.2 NVME
 

fongachris

Commendable
Jun 15, 2018
5
0
1,510
Maybe your PSU cannot supply enough power to run the PC under heavy loads or if an external device that may use a bit of power is connected.

I was thinking the same thing that maybe my PSU isn't strong enough in the first place, but I've had this PC for over a year now and never have had the problem of it restarting when I plug in a USB device or when I play games. When I read other troubleshooting posts, no one seems to have both of these problems. They have either one or the other so I'm thinking it might be more serious?
 

James Eckmeder

Prominent
Oct 23, 2020
111
4
615
I was thinking the same thing that maybe my PSU isn't strong enough in the first place, but I've had this PC for over a year now and never have had the problem of it restarting when I plug in a USB device or when I play games. When I read other troubleshooting posts, no one seems to have both of these problems. They have either one or the other so I'm thinking it might be more serious?
Did you recently update the BIOS?