PC restarting when playing games. Please help!

[murnurf]

Ok so this problem basically started about 6 months ago. I was playing a steam game, not to intensive when I think there was a power surge or power outage in my neighborhood. My pc shut down and then rebooted itself straight away. The short of it is this continued happening on the same game. It has been happening since then in just about every steam game I play. I recall it happening once or twice on a non-steam game although it has happened probably a hundred times on steam games (h1z1, rust, cs:go, heroes and generals, wasteland 2), non of which are particularly high-end games. I even took it into a computer store, they removed one of my anti-virus programs and told me it was a driver issue, they used a program called valley benchmark and apparently ran it over night with no hitch. Unfortunately the problem persisted and now the holidays have started I am at my wits end and I cant play my favorite games with my friends without this pain in the ass coming back to haunt me. I appreciate anyone reading all of this and if you could lend me your expertise I would be a very happy man. Also I should note, I have tried running mem-test with no obvious problems, I have tried using each ram stick separately, tried switching out my gpu and tried a variety of driver changes, non of which made any difference.

I have never done this before so I am unfamiliar with the process of listing specs but this is what I have from speccy. Also I should note that the majority of this gear is around 2.5-3 years old, except the gpu and one hard-drive which are around 1 year old.

Operating System
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit SP1
CPU
Intel Core i5 2500K @ 3.30GHz 38 °C
Sandy Bridge 32nm Technology
RAM
8.00GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 665MHz (9-9-9-24)
Motherboard
Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd. Z68M-D2H (Socket 1155) 34 °C
Graphics
Acer V233HL (1920x1080@60Hz)
23EN43 (1920x1080@60Hz)
Intel HD Graphics 3000 (Gigabyte)
2047MB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770 (Gigabyte) 44 °C
Storage
931GB Seagate ST1000DM003-1CH162 ATA Device (SATA) 24 °C
931GB Seagate ST1000DM003-9YN162 ATA Device (SATA) 27 °C
Optical Drives
TSSTcorp CDDVDW SH-222BB ATA Device
Audio
Realtek High Definition Audio

 

[MakoRuu]

Is your computer plugged into a surge protector or right into the outlet on the wall?

A power surge can fry the caps in your Power Supply Unit.

And when you game, your GPU starts to draw more power to it, which can cause an overload.

The PSU shuts down to prevent catching on fire.

The guys at your computer store are morons. Your computer virus program wouldn't cause your system to reboot during gaming.

I suggest monitoring your temperatures during a test gaming session. If they're getting to high the system will reboot.

http://openhardwaremonitor.org/

 

[Sam Defrond]

I agree with the above poster, its a bit hard to test I'm afraid. Is the board in warranty still? Then send back to supplier...

Would not be a virus ha, take a crack team of boys to pay a visit to that shop...

Can you check system event logs within Event Viewer after the reboots? Make sure they're specific and correct times and paste the updates here.

Thanks

 

[murnurf]

Is your computer plugged into a surge protector or right into the outlet on the wall?

A power surge can fry the caps in your Power Supply Unit.

And when you game, your GPU starts to draw more power to it, which can cause an overload.

The PSU shuts down to prevent catching on fire.

The guys at your computer store are morons. Your computer virus program wouldn't cause your system to reboot during gaming.

I suggest monitoring your temperatures during a test gaming session. If they're getting to high the system will reboot.

http://openhardwaremonitor.org/

At the time when this initially happened, it was plugged into a power strip, which was plugged into a surge protector. The surge protector was about 2 years old and it was a cheap one even when it was new, so it wouldn't surprise me if it did nothing. The guys at the store said because I had two anti viruses installed they were conflicting or something like that. I have installed HW monitor what temps am I looking for, cpu, gpu and what cores?. Sorry I am not very well educated on computer technicalities.

 

[MakoRuu]

Without actually being able to sit down and look through your PC I honestly couldn't tell you exactly what's wrong.

It could be a dozen things. But my gut is telling me it's the Power Supply. Try having someone take a look at it if you get the chance. Or change it outright if you can afford it.

 

[murnurf]

I agree with the above poster, its a bit hard to test I'm afraid. Is the board in warranty still? Then send back to supplier...

Would not be a virus ha, take a crack team of boys to pay a visit to that shop...

Can you check system event logs within Event Viewer after the reboots? Make sure they're specific and correct times and paste the updates here.

Thanks

Under event logs critical there is only 1 kind of error which is Kernal-Power
"The system has rebooted without cleanly shutting down first. This error could be caused if the system stopped responding, crashed, or lost power unexpectedly."

 

[murnurf]

Without actually being able to sit down and look through your PC I honestly couldn't tell you exactly what's wrong.

It could be a dozen things. But my gut is telling me it's the Power Supply. Try having someone take a look at it if you get the chance. Or change it outright if you can afford it.

Is there any way I could determine if this is the problem, I don't have much money to spend as I am a student, I cant even afford to take it back to a computer store

 

[MakoRuu]

I agree with the above poster, its a bit hard to test I'm afraid. Is the board in warranty still? Then send back to supplier...

Would not be a virus ha, take a crack team of boys to pay a visit to that shop...

Can you check system event logs within Event Viewer after the reboots? Make sure they're specific and correct times and paste the updates here.

Thanks

Under event logs critical there is only 1 kind of error which is Kernal-Power
"The system has rebooted without cleanly shutting down first. This error could be caused if the system stopped responding, crashed, or lost power unexpectedly."

Without actually being able to sit down and look through your PC I honestly couldn't tell you exactly what's wrong.

It could be a dozen things. But my gut is telling me it's the Power Supply. Try having someone take a look at it if you get the chance. Or change it outright if you can afford it.

Is there any way I could determine if this is the problem, I don't have much money to spend as I am a student, I cant even afford to take it back to a computer store

The Kernel error is just a generic message when the Operating system is unexpectedly cut off.

It doesn't tell you anything specific other than Windows was not shut down properly.

The only way to determine what's wrong is to keep swapping parts out until you fix it.

Unfortunately that's costly as hell. I doubt it's a problem with the motherboard. The computer would most likely not post if something where wrong with it.

The fact that it only happens during gaming leads me to believe one of three things.

1. The graphics card is faulty, which would not normally cause a reboot. It would only create screen effects like gray lines or the rainbow of death.

2. The power supply is overloading.

3. A memory capacitor on the CPU is shot and when accessed for extension addresses in gaming, causes a stack overflow that resets the operating system.

 

[murnurf]

I agree with the above poster, its a bit hard to test I'm afraid. Is the board in warranty still? Then send back to supplier...

Would not be a virus ha, take a crack team of boys to pay a visit to that shop...

Can you check system event logs within Event Viewer after the reboots? Make sure they're specific and correct times and paste the updates here.

Thanks

Under event logs critical there is only 1 kind of error which is Kernal-Power
"The system has rebooted without cleanly shutting down first. This error could be caused if the system stopped responding, crashed, or lost power unexpectedly."

Without actually being able to sit down and look through your PC I honestly couldn't tell you exactly what's wrong.

It could be a dozen things. But my gut is telling me it's the Power Supply. Try having someone take a look at it if you get the chance. Or change it outright if you can afford it.

Is there any way I could determine if this is the problem, I don't have much money to spend as I am a student, I cant even afford to take it back to a computer store

The Kernel error is just a generic message when the Operating system is unexpectedly cut off.

It doesn't tell you anything specific other than Windows was not shut down properly.

The only way to determine what's wrong is to keep swapping parts out until you fix it.

Unfortunately that's costly as hell. I doubt it's a problem with the motherboard. The computer would most likely not post if something where wrong with it.

The fact that it only happens during gaming leads me to believe one of three things.

1. The graphics card is faulty, which would not normally cause a reboot. It would only create screen effects like gray lines or the rainbow of death.

2. The power supply is overloading.

3. A memory capacitor on the CPU is shot and when accessed for extension addresses in gaming, causes a stack overflow that resets the operating system.

Another interesting point to consider is the fact that it mainly happens with steam games. Last night, being extremely frustrated I entirely removed steam then re instlalled it and my games. I was able to get a good 5 hours gameplay after just restarting earlier. I though I had solved the problem although I just experienced a restart about an hour ago when I launched the game.

 

[MakoRuu]

Test it with other games that don't use steam, then.

Or download Prime and run that over night. See if it reboots, then.

I don't use steam, so much. So I don't know all it's bugs and glitches.

 

[murnurf]

Ok I will try Prime. I am going to assume (and I could be wrong) that if it doesn't restart on a stress test then it must be some kind of software issue. I hate to be a pain, but would you be able to help me with the prime? How do I use it and were should I get it from?

 

[MakoRuu]

Ok I will try Prime. I am going to assume (and I could be wrong) that if it doesn't restart on a stress test then it must be some kind of software issue. I hate to be a pain, but would you be able to help me with the prime? How do I use it and were should I get it from?

I have no idea how to use Prime. lol

I just know it's super CPU intensive.

If you're stress testing the GPU and the CPU you could download one of several free benchmarks.

I suggest 3DMark11.

http://www.3dmark.com/

 

[westom]

What determines when it can power on and off? Power controller. How many never even mentioned it when recommending a solution? Even the front panel power button is only another input to the controller. That controller even determines when the CPU can operate.

Apparently something is causing the power controller to cut off power - as also noted by the Event log. To say anything more that is useful, use a meter, some requested instructions, and minutes of labor. Your replies will only be as useful as those numbers you provide.

A second option exists. Just start replacing hardware until something works. Many computer techs do that starting with a PSU. Those are your only two options. Find the defect before replacing anything. Or just start shotgunning.

Surge protector did nothing. If you had a surge, then the computer is damaged - does not boot. Unfortunately, the protector you have described can even compromise superior protection already inside your computer.

Power outage is not a surge. Those are two completely different anomalies that only share one common factor. They are both electrical anomalies.

Provided is how to empower the fewer who really know this stuff. Provide numbers that say what actually exist. Even Prime says nothing about what controls power. Otherwise, just start replacing parts by shotgunning.

 

[murnurf]

Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately im not entirely sure what you are saying. I understand the second option you have told me, although Im not sure what you mean by the first. Is there some quantitative method of determining the problem using a meter? Thanks.

 

[westom]

Unfortunately im not entirely sure what you are saying. I understand the second option you have told me, although Im not sure what you mean by the first. Is there some quantitative method of determining the problem using a meter?

Yes. That means posting information so that the better informed can provide assistance. First method was defined by one sentence:

To say anything more that is useful, use a meter, some requested instructions, and minutes of labor.

What folows are replies without "it could be ..." or 'maybe it is ...". IOW identify the problem. Fixing it (without speculation) comes next.

 

[matheusep]

Hey bro! I'm getting almost the same problem of you and I'm looking for some information. If you could to see my post just to confirm that I'll be so glad!
After at all, did you find the solution? It was the PSU?
Thank you!!

My post link: http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-3013400/restarting-playing-games-fifa16-cities-skylines.html