Question PC Suddenly Shutting Down. . . Sometimes

[PardusTacitus]

Hello everyone,

I've got what seems to me like a weird issue. My PC is shutting down very suddenly. Unlike a usual shutdown, my fan lights stay on as they spin down, which seemed enough like a hint to me. Things that tend to trigger it:

1. Particular games. Unsure about why, but Insurgency: Sandstorm, 7 Days to Die, Fallout 76, and For the King have all caused this issue enough times to be annoying, while other games (tried dozens of them) have rarely, if ever, caused the issue.
2. Loading screens and Menu Transitions. Most of the shut-downs have occurred when I enter or exit a loading screen or when I intentionally cause abrupt changes in on-screen menus.
3. NOT during high-load events, such as firefights or particle-rich environments.
4. When it rains, it pours. Most days, I can run these games for hours with no issue. Some days, however, it shuts down 2-5 times in an hour.

I have run a couple of benchmark tests (Time Spy, Heaven) to see if I can re-create the issue, but no dice (I supposedly ran these quite well for my build). I have completely replaced my PSU and all associated cables, but my PC continues to shut down in similar situations at a similar frequency. I keep looking through my Event Viewer when this happens, but I'm not confident about the meaning of most of these events so I can't determine root cause.

In case it will help, here is my build:

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600X
• CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO V2
• Motherboard: Gigabyte B550 GAMING X
• Memory: Crucial Ballistix 32 GB (2 x 16 GB)
• GPU: XFX Speedster MERC 319 Radeon RX 6700 XT
• PSU (Old): SeaSonic FOCUS PLUS Gold 850 W
• PSU (New): EVGA SuperNOVA G7 850 W (80 PLUS Gold)
• Storage (SSD): TEAMGROUP MP33 512 GB
• Storage (HDD): Seagate Barracuda Compute 2 TB

I would really appreciate it if someone would walk me through the steps necessary to diagnose this issue, whether it be a hardware or software malfunction.

 

[rocktalkrock]

Has your motherboard been updated to the latest drivers and BIOS version?
Have you run CrystalDiskInfo to check the health of your drives?

 

[PardusTacitus]

Has your motherboard been updated to the latest drivers and BIOS version?
Have you run CrystalDiskInfo to check the health of your drives?

Here's what I just did:

1. Ran CrystalDiskInfo. It says that the health of each of my drives is "Good".
2. Updated my BIOS from Version F10 to Version F16c using a download from Gigabyte's website.
3. I can tell that my Realtek HD Audio Drivers are out-of-date. I downloaded the newest version from Gigabyte's website, but when I run the Install Wizard, it says that it is uninstalling my previous version, rebooting my PC, then loops back to step 1 of uninstalling, reboots, ad infinitum. So that's not working.
4. I ran the application file from the Chipset download from Gigabyte's site as well. That seemed to do it's job, but I got no confirmation window at the end of that install, so I don't feel certain.

Are there any other software avenues that I should pursue? Any additional drivers that I should have looked into? Is there a tool that you recommend to do a "full check" for these out-of-date drivers?

 

[rocktalkrock]

Here's what I just did:

1. Ran CrystalDiskInfo. It says that the health of each of my drives is "Good".
2. Updated my BIOS from Version F10 to Version F16c using a download from Gigabyte's website.
3. I can tell that my Realtek HD Audio Drivers are out-of-date. I downloaded the newest version from Gigabyte's website, but when I run the Install Wizard, it says that it is uninstalling my previous version, rebooting my PC, then loops back to step 1 of uninstalling, reboots, ad infinitum. So that's not working.
4. I ran the application file from the Chipset download from Gigabyte's site as well. That seemed to do it's job, but I got no confirmation window at the end of that install, so I don't feel certain.

Are there any other software avenues that I should pursue? Any additional drivers that I should have looked into? Is there a tool that you recommend to do a "full check" for these out-of-date drivers?

The audio drivers would not likely cause your PC to shut down so i would not worry about them. You can check all your drivers in "Device Manager", just check for any yellow warning signs. You can also do a clean install of your graphics card drivers. XFX Support seems to direct customers to the AMD website for any updated drivers. You can choose the "Auto-Detect and Install" option.

 

[Hellfire13]

A couple years ago, you helped me to build a new PC, and you seemed very knowledgeable about the risks of certain hardware. I saw that you are still active on this site, so I was wondering if you could help me with an issue that I have been encountering on that same PC. The thread is here: https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/pc-suddenly-shutting-down-sometimes.3812721/

Thanks again for showing me better parts for my build. It has been running quite well other than the issue outlined in the thread above.

Do you remember when this issue started and approximately what led to this issue?
Dont need to be precise but an estimated ballpark will work.

I keep looking through my Event Viewer when this happens, but I'm not confident about the meaning of most of these events so I can't determine root cause.

You can use this maybe...

Resplendence Software - WhoCrashed, automatic crash dump analyzer

WhoCrashed, automatic crash dump analyzer for Windows

www.resplendence.com

If I understand correctly, the above mentioned games loading screens and menu transitions are causing this issue. If that is the case, there might be some kind of code in these game APIs that is incompatible or clashing with the Windows process.

Typically, the best way to know it is reinstall Windows and install the game before installing any other software and check if it is replicated.

 

[PardusTacitus]

Do you remember when this issue started and approximately what led to this issue?
Dont need to be precise but an estimated ballpark will work.

The first time that this happened was only a few months after building the machine (I built this PC 2 years ago this month). I think it was the first time that I ran Insurgency: Sandstorm. I entered a loading screen between rounds. Since it was a fresh build, I was closely monitoring my framerates, and I remember being surprised by seeing approximately 2000 fps during the load. This originally led me to believe that my GPU was being overloaded (whether or not that was a rational assessment, I don't know). However, the issue persisted even after I turned on Vsync to cap at 144 fps, so I eventually gave up on that root cause theory.

Has your motherboard been updated to the latest drivers and BIOS version?

As an update, after updating my BIOS and drivers, I "stress-tested" my PC with one of the suspect games for a couple of hours. No shutdowns to report, which is promising, but the pre-change shutdown frequency was low enough where I'm still not certain that the issue is eliminated.

 

[Hellfire13]

The first time that this happened was only a few months after building the machine (I built this PC 2 years ago this month). I think it was the first time that I ran Insurgency: Sandstorm. I entered a loading screen between rounds. Since it was a fresh build, I was closely monitoring my framerates, and I remember being surprised by seeing approximately 2000 fps during the load. This originally led me to believe that my GPU was being overloaded (whether or not that was a rational assessment, I don't know). However, the issue persisted even after I turned on Vsync to cap at 144 fps, so I eventually gave up on that root cause theory.

As an update, after updating my BIOS and drivers, I "stress-tested" my PC with one of the suspect games for a couple of hours. No shutdowns to report, which is promising, but the pre-change shutdown frequency was low enough where I'm still not certain that the issue is eliminated.

Check the crash analysis next time and also let us know what all you tried.