PC Shuts down After 1 Hour

[Brainaic]

This is a relatively new problem for my PC, it only occurred in the last two days. The system starts fine and boots into Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit. After about an hour, almost exactly in fact it the system stops responding and I need to hold the power button to turn it off. For some reason I can still use the Task Manager if its open but it wont close any programs or allow me to shut down the computer.
Now... when this first occurred I had opened Cyberlink PowerDVD to watch a movie and it stopped responding, ever since it stops every hour.

So, I thought it was a software problem so I re-installed the OS with no luck, it still happens, I then tried Windows 8.1 64bit, still happens.
I also noticed that when the PC stalls the disk access rate jumps to 100%

I am now thinking its a Hardware problem, maybe the SSD
Heres my specs:
ASUS P5Q Pro
Intel Core Duo Core 2 Quad CPU QX9650
16GB OCZ Gold Edition Ram 8MHZ
Radeon HD 5770 1GB
Crucial M4 SSD boot drive
Windows 8.1 64bit, also occurs on 7 Ultimate 64bit
750W OCZ Silent stream

Anybody willing to help? If you need any more info let me know! Thanks for looking
Also to the moderators sorry if I posted this in the wrong place!

 

[Barney6262]

I strongly suggest running virus scans on your computer.
Also check temperatures when it shuts down. In thermal shutdowns the data is dumped onto the disk (causing the 100% hdd use) or it could be a virus trying to get access to things.
Sorry to say bit either of these situations are going to take alot of time and maybe some money to fix. I hope, for your sake, I am wrong...

 

[Brainaic]

I strongly suggest running virus scans on your computer.
Also check temperatures when it shuts down. In thermal shutdowns the data is dumped onto the disk (causing the 100% hdd use) or it could be a virus trying to get access to things.
Sorry to say bit either of these situations are going to take alot of time and maybe some money to fix. I hope, for your sake, I am wrong...

All temps for CPU, MOBO, GPU and drives are at or below 40c.. I use a fan controller, sometimes I would turn down but not off some fans to reduce noise levels but it also monitors the temps of the main components nothing goes high leading upto the freeze, also my Antivirus didn't throw up any red flags during a full scan.

I might try booting off a HDD, maybe I can get some new data for a diagnosis

Thanks for the input Barney6262

 

[Barney6262]

What anti virus are you using? I suggest getting another and using that aswell just to make sure ( I use avast)
Also have a look in task manager before it freezes see if there are any tasks that should be running or that say no permission when you try to close them down... There are valid processes like this but sometimes viruses pose as them so you cannot close them.

Only other reason I could think of would be overload of something that just gives up and shuts the system down...

 

[Sraggetty24]

Virus, not genuine windows, scheduled update gone wrong. Check all those

 

[Barney6262]

Oh wait...
Have a look at your psu. Is its fan being blocked or anything? People have similar problems and the solution was the psu exhaust fan was being blocked

 

[Brainaic]

Virus, not genuine windows, scheduled update gone wrong. Check all those

Im going to try Avast to do a more detailed scan but so far, no virus, im pretty careful and I 99% of the time to not get viruses.
I never had a problem with my Windows installs and updates are installing fine.

 

[Brainaic]

Oh wait...
Have a look at your psu. Is its fan being blocked or anything? People have similar problems and the solution was the psu exhaust fan was being blocked

Spotless inside the case, almost no dust or blockages anywhere
if this helps or fyi:
I left the system on after the freeze, heres what happened:

Freeze at 59mins 47secs uptime : reset 1st
Freeze at 59mins 40 secs uptime 2nd
-CPU utilization at 2%
-8% RAM utilization
-1:03mins 20secs: Disc 0{D:} drops from 100% use to 0%{normal}
-Disc 1 [m4 SSD], disappears from task manager, not recognized by system
-system reboots itself

 

[Sraggetty24]

Oh wait...
Have a look at your psu. Is its fan being blocked or anything? People have similar problems and the solution was the psu exhaust fan was being blocked

Spotless inside the case, almost no dust or blockages anywhere
if this helps or fyi:
I left the system on after the freeze, heres what happened:

Freeze at 59mins 47secs uptime : reset 1st
Freeze at 59mins 40 secs uptime 2nd
-CPU utilization at 2%
-8% RAM utilization
-1:03mins 20secs: Disc 0{D:} drops from 100% use to 0%{normal}
-Disc 1 [m4 SSD], disappears from task manager, not recognized by system
-system reboots itself

Okay so it seems whatever it is is very HDD intensive; the ram is normal... Perhaps move things like graphics card and ram to a new slot on the mobo.
Also reinstall all drivers to double check their ok. It's rare that components themselves on such a fixed time occurance

 

[Barney6262]

try changing over your sata cable for the ssd. it looks like either a fault ssd or wire... if your OS is on the ssd and then the ssd stops being recognised it is probly something to do with the ssd. try running some sort of performance scan on the ssd

 

[Brainaic]

Well, I have solved this problem

The problem was indeed the SSD as I suspected, I updated the firmware and reseated drive, its now running without crashes. The serial of the drive is M4-CT064M4SSD2 and the firmware was 0009 and is now 070H
Strangely simple

Powers of deduction are nothing without data and so a Thank You is due for Barney6262 and Sraggetty24 for helping with this problem.

To any moderator paying attention, you can close this thread

 

[Barney6262]

We are here to help 😉
Glad you got it fixed

 

[Sraggetty24]

Great you got it fixed😉