Pc Shutting down unexpectedly

[christopunch]

Hey all. So my PC keeps shutting down abruptly. I've tried to leave my PC on overnight many times recently and almost every time i wake up its off. Also when im gaming it will just shut off all of the sudden.(Its happened about 5 times now) I was previously thinking that the PC was going to sleep at night, but i ruled that out.(i wake up and its completely off, the sleep light is not flashing) Now ive gone online and seen some guides that told me that i might need to clean out my PC,(i clean regularly) that it might be an overheating issue,(i always watch my temps) also that it might be a setting in my windows power options, or that it might be a house power issue. (ruled that out cause i have other things that are plugged into the same power strip and they still stay on when my PC shuts off) Nonetheless ive made sure all those are not an issue. So i decided that i was going to RMA my power supply to see if that would fix the issue. The main reason being that ive had my EVGA power supply for 2 years now and it still has coil wine. And also the possibility that it might be defective and cutting the power off to my PC. After contacting them and replacing it. Its been 1 day since and i left in on last night and it was off when i got up this morning and i was just in a game this morning and it just shut off while i was playing. So what do you guys think?

As a side note i read that people are having this same issue with windows 10. I upgraded right when it came out. i had windows 8 before and it was perfect before i upgraded. So im unsure if that might be the issue or not.

I7- 4790k
Asus GTX 970
Maximus 7 hero mobo
8gb Ram
Windows 10/ was windows 8

Sorry for the paragraph. I just wanted to make sure i got my issue across correctly.
Thanks for any info that you guys might give.

 

[Darthutos]

what is your psu wattage?

 

[christopunch]

what is your psu wattage?

Its 1000 watt. Its a little overkill i know but, hey it was my first PC build and i wanted to be safe. LOL

 

[Chicano]

Might be Windows power options... it's true that it doesn't always act according to settings. I was having the shutdown after sleep mode on default settings... I set hibernation to never and it still shutdown but hybrid sleep was on so I set it to off and that solved it.

These settings are not related to shutdowns while gaming though... that may be caused by: Drivers, power issues, lose connections, ram issues.
1. Drivers; update motherboard drivers, GPU drivers.
2. [strike]power issues[/strike]
3. [strike]lose power connections[/strike]
4. ram issues; either installation error, bad ram, underpowered RAM voltage, dirty slot.. generally unnoticeable but even a small amount of dust or grime can affect RAM performance.

 

[christopunch]

Might be Windows power options... it's true that it doesn't always act according to settings. I was having the shutdown after sleep mode on default settings... I set hibernation to never and it still shutdown but hybrid sleep was on so I set it to off and that solved it.

These settings are not related to shutdowns while gaming though... that may be caused by: Drivers, power issues, lose connections, ram issues.
1. Drivers; update motherboard drivers, GPU drivers.
2. [strike]power issues[/strike]
3. [strike]lose power connections[/strike]
4. ram issues; either installation error, bad ram, underpowered RAM voltage, dirty slot.. generally unnoticeable but even a small amount of dust or grime can affect RAM performance.

Alright. After rechecking i had hybrid sleep enabled. So I disabled it. Hopefully that does it, ill update this thread if it does work. Ive never had an issue up until recently and i build my computer 2 years ago. So i dont think that its Underpowerd RAM, dirty slot, or install error, mobo update i checked and its current, Interestly i went to go check my graphic card drivers under Nvidia Geforce Exp. and its completely gone. So i guess im going to do the DDU and reinstall the driver. Do you think thats the issue?

 

[Chicano]

Depends what you mean by "completely gone"... if you mean missing, you should have noticed the display resolution changing unless the Windows default driver replaced it, but it obviously doesn't compare or Nvidia drivers wouldn't be necessary, and it's possible it is causing the shutdowns... I know Windows default drivers after recent installs can cause shutdowns because replacing them with motherboard drivers solves the shutdowns. You'll know for sure after you update to the most recent Nvidia driver.

 

[christopunch]

Depends what you mean by "completely gone"... if you mean missing, you should have noticed the display resolution changing unless the Windows default driver replaced it, but it obviously doesn't compare or Nvidia drivers wouldn't be necessary, and it's possible it is causing the shutdowns... I know Windows default drivers after recent installs can cause shutdowns because replacing them with motherboard drivers solves the shutdowns. You'll know for sure after you update to the most recent Nvidia driver.

Sorry for not being clear on that. So i went into my programs and found that Geforce exp. was not under installed programs, and couldn't access the program. I havent had a resolution change at all. But i do remember clicking the install update button on Geforce and then not seeing it and never thought about it again cause i figured it would install itself like it normally does. Every other Nvidia based program was still installed that is normally required. I found this thread https://www.reddit.com/r/nvidia/comments/52b17p/geforce_experience_disappeared/ and people were having the same issue where Exp. just disappeared after they installed the recent update 3.0 that happened in September. So i already went ahead and used DDU and uninstalled all the nvivda drivers. Then installed it fresh.

 

[Chicano]

So it seems that Windows 10 removes GeForce Experience due to some conflict... and the only purpose of this software is to search for and install updated Nvidia drivers, but I've noticed that outdated drivers can cause shutdown issues.. so the absence of GeForce Experience may have been the main cause. If I understand correctly you did not reinstall this software and updated the drivers manually?... That should work just check for driver updates regularly to prevent future issues. And if you installed GeForce Experience, and it later gets uninstalled by Windows, again check regularly on your own for updated drivers.

 

[christopunch]

So it seems that Windows 10 removes GeForce Experience due to some conflict... and the only purpose of this software is to search for and install updated Nvidia drivers, but I've noticed that outdated drivers can cause shutdown issues.. so the absence of GeForce Experience may have been the main cause. If I understand correctly you did not reinstall this software and updated the drivers manually?... That should work just check for driver updates regularly to prevent future issues. And if you installed GeForce Experience, and it later gets uninstalled by Windows, again check regularly on your own for updated drivers.

Thanks so much again for your help. Ill need some time before i know for certain if it solved the issue or not. Ill update this thread accordingly. FYI After switching the hybrid sleep to "disabled" it hasn't turn off since. So that question is solved.

 

[christopunch]

So it seems that Windows 10 removes GeForce Experience due to some conflict... and the only purpose of this software is to search for and install updated Nvidia drivers, but I've noticed that outdated drivers can cause shutdown issues.. so the absence of GeForce Experience may have been the main cause. If I understand correctly you did not reinstall this software and updated the drivers manually?... That should work just check for driver updates regularly to prevent future issues. And if you installed GeForce Experience, and it later gets uninstalled by Windows, again check regularly on your own for updated drivers.

So after a week the problem is still occurring. My PC doesnt shut off at night anymore so i think that problem is fixed. I was just watching youtube and all the sudden it turned off. What should be the next step?

 

[Chicano]

So after a week the problem is still occurring. My PC doesnt shut off at night anymore so i think that problem is fixed. I was just watching youtube and all the sudden it turned off. What should be the next step?

1. Did you install the Nvidia GeForce Experience?

2. Did you install the Nvidia GTX 970 Drivers?

3. Don't think I mentioned the PSU before(?)... so that would also have to be tested. Try a different PSU or if possible try your PSU on a different computer to see if it doesn't cause the same issue.

4. Install SlimDrivers to scan the computer for outdated drivers, and update them as necessary (remove SlimDrivers afterwards). Something I've noticed is that Windows starting from Vista, when newly installed, running on Windows default drivers, it can shutdown without warning... Once I have updated drivers the shutdowns stop... this was not once or with one OS... it happened right after every installation and always stopped after updating drivers... your system may not be recently installed, but it may by now have outdated drivers.

 

[christopunch]

So after a week the problem is still occurring. My PC doesnt shut off at night anymore so i think that problem is fixed. I was just watching youtube and all the sudden it turned off. What should be the next step?

1. Did you install the Nvidia GeForce Experience?

2. Did you install the Nvidia GTX 970 Drivers?

3. Don't think I mentioned the PSU before(?)... so that would also have to be tested. Try a different PSU or if possible try your PSU on a different computer to see if it doesn't cause the same issue.

4. Install SlimDrivers to scan the computer for outdated drivers, and update them as necessary (remove SlimDrivers afterwards). Something I've noticed is that Windows starting from Vista, when newly installed, running on Windows default drivers, it can shutdown without warning... Once I have updated drivers the shutdowns stop... this was not once or with one OS... it happened right after every installation and always stopped after updating drivers... your system may not be recently installed, but it may by now have outdated drivers.

I did install Geforce Experience. I did not install 970 drivers, when i did the DDU does that wipe the 970 dirvers too? Also Just installed slim drivers and it found 7 things that where out of date. The updates where from 2015.. I made my PC in 2014. Most of it was PCI- PCIe updates. One was interesting it was an intel cpu update. I dont know if that could cause the issue or not. After updating, i uninstalled it like you said.

 

[Chicano]

If by DDU you mean Display Drivers Uninstaller, yes that would uninstall the GeForce GTX 970 drivers... but the GeForce Experience program should install them automatically or pop up telling you an updated driver is ready for download. If it installed automatically it should have also installed the Nvidia Control Panel... you can find it in the Control Panel.. you can also find the driver in the Device Manager as follows:
a) click on Start > Computer right click > Manage > Device Manager > Display Adapter or...
b) Win 10, click on Start > File Manager right click > More > Manage > Device Manager > Display adapter

Depending on which GeForce driver is installed:

1. If the GPU is running on the Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 driver, it should have installed the Nvidia Control Panel along with it.
2. If the GPU is running on Windows default drivers for the GTX 970, it will not have installed the Nvidia Control Panel. If this is the installed driver, the display may not be on it's default resolution.
I have seen the CPU in Device Manager that had a yellow icon that did not affect its performance but it was not the only driver with issues. Check the device manager for other drivers with yellow exclamation marks.

 

[christopunch]

If by DDU you mean Display Drivers Uninstaller, yes that would uninstall the GeForce GTX 970 drivers... but the GeForce Experience program should install them automatically or pop up telling you an updated driver is ready for download. If it installed automatically it should have also installed the Nvidia Control Panel... you can find it in the Control Panel.. you can also find the driver in the Device Manager as follows:
a) click on Start > Computer right click > Manage > Device Manager > Display Adapter or...
b) Win 10, click on Start > File Manager right click > More > Manage > Device Manager > Display adapter

Depending on which GeForce driver is installed:

1. If the GPU is running on the Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 driver, it should have installed the Nvidia Control Panel along with it.
2. If the GPU is running on Windows default drivers for the GTX 970, it will not have installed the Nvidia Control Panel. If this is the installed driver, the display may not be on it's default resolution.
I have seen the CPU in Device Manager that had a yellow icon that did not affect its performance but it was not the only driver with issues. Check the device manager for other drivers with yellow exclamation marks.

Ill start off by saying as a side point. Since i did the DDU any videos i watch on any website have black pixelation on them for the first maybe 10 seconds of the video, then gradually go away.

So yes. By DDU, I mean Display Drivers Uninstaller. I just checked and it seems that all i have installed by Asus (my graphics card brand) is GPU tweak. So i apparently dident reinstall them. There was no pop up telling me it updated the asus drivers or anything. Now i looked for the Nvidia control panel and its not installed either. Just Geforce EXp.

 

[Chicano]

Black pixilation can be due to anything like memory, power, gpu driver, and drivers make the GPU efficiently use power and memory, so there's a good chance the updated Nvidia driver will get rid of it. I have experienced large black pixilation temporarily when my system went unstable for a while and was acting like running short of memory... it soon disappeared and that was that. My guess is it was due to running to many browser tabs at the moment.. many of them youtube tabs.

See if this is the driver you need
http://www.nvidia.com/download/driverResults.aspx/110603/en-us

Or select the specifications here to download the right driver
http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us

Or find your card model here and next click the support > Downloads > drivers
https://www.asus.com/us/Graphics-Cards/NVIDIA-Series-Products/

 

[christopunch]

Black pixilation can be due to anything like memory, power, gpu driver, and drivers make the GPU efficiently use power and memory, so there's a good chance the updated Nvidia driver will get rid of it. I have experienced large black pixilation temporarily when my system went unstable for a while and was acting like running short of memory... it soon disappeared and that was that. My guess is it was due to running to many browser tabs at the moment.. many of them youtube tabs.

See if this is the driver you need
http://www.nvidia.com/download/driverResults.aspx/110603/en-us

Or select the specifications here to download the right driver
http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us

Or find your card model here and next click the support > Downloads > drivers
https://www.asus.com/us/Graphics-Cards/NVIDIA-Series-Products/

Alright. So I Downloaded, Game ready driver which came with Geforce Exp/Nvivda control panel.
Then i downloaded the updated verion of GPU tweak from Asus.
So far i still have the black pixelation. I notice it doesnt happen on youtube but it does happen on Videos on Imgur/Gify via reddit posts. But i need to wait longer until i know if my system still turns off or not.

 

[Chicano]

Any diference if you play the Imgur/Gify videos directly at the respective websites?

 

[christopunch]

Any diference if you play the Imgur/Gify videos directly at the respective websites?

Nope. Also as a side note now i have this black dialog box pop up for half a second and then goes away.

 

[Chicano]

I suppose the message is to quick to read... see if you can capture it with the Print Screen key, save it to Paint file as png or jpg, and post here what it says, or upload the image file to tinypic.com or postimage.org and paste here the link for forums with included BBCode to post as image.

 

[christopunch]

I suppose the message is to quick to read... see if you can capture it with the Print Screen key, save it to Paint file as png or jpg, and post here what it says, or upload the image file to tinypic.com or postimage.org and paste here the link for forums with included BBCode to post as image.

Alright. So after fiddling for a while with setting and such. Also researching online i found that the Black Pixelation is happening to a lot of people right now. http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-3234853/black-pixelated-blocks-videos.html So with that issue out of the way. Basiclly im back to 2 issues.

1. Shut downs (it hasent happened for a while since i have the appropriate drivers) Ill have to continue to monitor this and update this thread when i know.

2. That dialog box. (I havent had it pop up in a while) So again with that i have to wait it out.

 

[christopunch]

I suppose the message is to quick to read... see if you can capture it with the Print Screen key, save it to Paint file as png or jpg, and post here what it says, or upload the image file to tinypic.com or postimage.org and paste here the link for forums with included BBCode to post as image.

Alright. So its been 1 week since i did everything. The shutdowns have stopped! Also Nvidia came out with there latest driver and it fixed the Black Pixelization issue!
Also the dialog box hasent popped up since.
When i reinstalled the drivers the first time around i dident do the custom install and i think that was part of the issue i was having. Instead of putting in new fresh files it was using the existing ones even after using the DDU.

I could not be happier.
Thank you so much Chicano. I was lost and you helped so much. Thanks again!