PC shuts down unexpectedly while gaming, will not turn on unless unplugged for 30 min

[agentbob]

The Problem

When ever I am gaming, no matter what type of game it is like Civ or skyrim, after playing for around 30 min to 1 hour my computer will unexpectedly shut down. This is not like a restart, more like a complete power loss. The only way I can get it to start back up is if I unplug the power supply wire and wait around 30 min. Now what's weird about this issue, is that the BIOS internal timer resets after the shutdown. This is not because the CMOS battery is dead cause when I shut down my PC normally, the BIOS timer stays intact, it only resets when my PC unexpectedly shuts down. To test if it was a heat problem, I downloaded Core Temp. The CPU temp in normal conditions runs between 35 - 40 C and when I'm gaming it usually goes up to 65 - 75. Looking at my processor's specs, it seems that it can handle a temperature even as high as 100 so I doubt heat is the issue. So then I thought "it must be the PSU". I went out and upgraded my old 380 W to a new 450 W, booted up a game and then the exact same thing happened. I also ran memetest for like 2 hours and it came back clean. Maybe it's a motherboard problem? I am completely lost so if someone who has more expertise can tell me what to do I'd be extremely grateful. Thank you in advance.

SPECS

PSU : Corsair CX-M Series CX450M (80plus Bronze)

CPU: Intel Core i5 3450 @ 3.10GHz

Motherboard: Dell Vostro 270

GPU: AMD Radeon HD 7950

I think those are the relevant specs, the more complete list is in the speccy link: http://speccy.piriform.com/results/IlzEThuGMuQUOV4eJ0JR...

Other info

Bought the PC in October 2015, problem started around Summer 2017. Between that time, nothing remotely close to this issue ever occurred. Also this problem repeats itself without fail. Start up any game and if I continue playing it, it's a guarantee that my PC will shut down in the manner described.

 

[DarkEngine]

When it Crashes Reset your CMOS and see if it starts( instead of waiting) The part of having to wait 30 min is confusing to me. Check all the Power connection Pins on your mother board. Something may be shorting the motherboard.

 

[dextermat]

99 % chance it is your PSU.

Your gpu needs at least a good 500 w psu and your present one and the one tested are well beneath that.
Also Corsair CX-M Series CX450M are know to have issues under full load.
get a seasonic 500w

tom hardware source

Radeon HD 7950 - On your average system the card requires you to have a 500 Watt power supply unit.

From AMD site the required powersupply for 7950 is 500W.

 

[agentbob]

When it Crashes Reset your CMOS and see if it starts( instead of waiting) The part of having to wait 30 min is confusing to me. Check all the Power connection Pins on your mother board. Something may be shorting the motherboard.

Thx for the reply. When the crash happens i tried doing that but nothing happened, seems like the only way for the computer to turn on is to wait the 30 min. Fairly certain its the mobo now, especially considering the fact every time this happens the cmos timer is reset.

 

[agentbob]

99 % chance it is your PSU.

Your gpu needs at least a good 500 w psu and your present one and the one tested are well beneath that.
Also Corsair CX-M Series CX450M are know to have issues under full load.
get a seasonic 500w

tom hardware source

Radeon HD 7950 - On your average system the card requires you to have a 500 Watt power supply unit.

From AMD site the required powersupply for 7950 is 500W.

Thx for the reply. The thing is tho, the PC worked fine for like 2 years with a 380W PSU for some reason. I'm going to get a 500 W right now and test this. If it doesn't work, would u say its 100% the motherboard?

 

[DarkEngine]

99 % chance it is your PSU.

Your gpu needs at least a good 500 w psu and your present one and the one tested are well beneath that.
Also Corsair CX-M Series CX450M are know to have issues under full load.
get a seasonic 500w

tom hardware source

Radeon HD 7950 - On your average system the card requires you to have a 500 Watt power supply unit.

From AMD site the required powersupply for 7950 is 500W.

Thx for the reply. The thing is tho, the PC worked fine for like 2 years with a 380W PSU for some reason. I'm going to get a 500 W right now and test this. If it doesn't work, would u say its 100% the motherboard?

Its very likely it is the Motherboard. I would gently move the power connection up and down and see it it will power up. Its very odd that it takes 30 min for it to boot up again. We have to think " what is it waiting for?" Some event is preventing it from starting and 30min fixes the problem. Very strange. You have eliminated overheat issue. I would Try everything to get it started. Remove power wait/ clear Cmos wait couple min plug back it etc. Once its on will it shut off with no load at any point? I could be wrong it may just be PSU like the master said but it ran fine for a long time.

 

[agentbob]

99 % chance it is your PSU.

Your gpu needs at least a good 500 w psu and your present one and the one tested are well beneath that.
Also Corsair CX-M Series CX450M are know to have issues under full load.
get a seasonic 500w

tom hardware source

Radeon HD 7950 - On your average system the card requires you to have a 500 Watt power supply unit.

From AMD site the required powersupply for 7950 is 500W.

Thx for the reply. The thing is tho, the PC worked fine for like 2 years with a 380W PSU for some reason. I'm going to get a 500 W right now and test this. If it doesn't work, would u say its 100% the motherboard?

Its very likely it is the Motherboard. I would gently move the power connection up and down and see it it will power up. Its very odd that it takes 30 min for it to boot up again. We have to think " what is it waiting for?" Some event is preventing it from starting and 30min fixes the problem. Very strange. You have eliminated overheat issue. I would Try everything to get it started. Remove power wait/ clear Cmos wait couple min plug back it etc. Once its on will it shut off with no load at any point? I could be wrong it may just be PSU like the master said but it ran fine for a long time.

Since my post I've tried a few things. Firstly I got the 500 W and as expected, it made no difference so I'm 100% confident it's not the PSU since I've already tried 3 different ones. Then during the shutdown period of 30 - 45 min where it will not turn on no matter what, I tried a few things. First removed my GPU (my system has an integrated), and it made no difference so i can rule out overheating of GPU. I tried removing each stick of ram at a time (2 4gb sticks), no difference. Removed the CMOS battery and put it back in, made no difference. I also logged the mother board temps this time, my motherboard has 3 different temperature monitors and I got monitor 1: 41 C , monitor 2: 52 C and monitor 3: 68 C. Monitor 3 just turned turned out to be the CPU package temp and it was around the same temp as my cores so I highly doubt temperature of any kind is an issue. At this point I am fairly certain it is the motherboard, would you say the same? In another thread some guy mentioned it could be a voltage regulation issue do to a bad capacitor. Anything else I can test at this point? Or should I just go buy a new motherboard? Thanks for the reply btw.

 

[DarkEngine]

Unfortunately it cant be really be anything else. Like I said on my first post there is some kindo short on your board. You have done trouble shooting that has led you to the proper conclusion. Every object in the known Universe breaks. Good work, hope you like your new board.

 

[iamosamakamal]

i have the same problem for months and i don't know what to do
have you figured out the solution ?