PC turning off randomly (Fried PSU?)

[Dave is a Minor Threat]

Hello everyone,

I'm having a problem with my computer randomly shutting down while in use.

Build:
Mobo: MSI Z87M Gaming
RAM: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2x4GB)
Video Card: EVGA 02G-P4-3757-KR
PSU: Corsair CX500M
CPU: Intel Core i5-4460

I was using my computer today when a thunderstorm came on suddenly (New England in the summertime, right?). I didn't think much of it, until the power flickered. It didn't go out, mind you, just a quick flash, not even enough to turn off my computer. Still I decided to shut down, and I also hit the power switch in back. Looking back, I should have also unplugged it. When the storm passed, I turned my computer back on, and it lost power partway through starting up. On my second attempt, it started up, but died again shorty after I got online. This time as opposed shutting down, it attempted to restart itself. It sounded like the power kicked on for a second, fans started whirring etc., then died again. It did this a few times, then managed to power on. Since then it's been doing that randomly. There's no consistency to when it loses power, sometimes it will do it a few times in a row, and sometimes it likes to wait just long enough that I think maybe it sorted itself out.

My main concern is: Is my PSU fried?

This may also be of interest, a thread from when I had a similar problem when I first built the PC. I'd be thrilled if the fixed ended up being as simple as a BIOS update, but I feel like that's probably not the case. http://

Thanks for your time and assistance,
Dave

 

[C12Friedman]

In between the time of the first start attempt and it finally getting up and running, did it give a POST beep other than the very last attempt? I'm thinking possible memory issue here, is XMP enabled and have you run Memtest86? If not, I'll suggest doing that to see if any errors show

http://www.memtest86.com/

 

[THUNDERHAWK]

It seems unlikely that it is your PSU. Plug a Differnet one into your rig to check. I'm agreeing with the other guy, make sure your XMP isn't turned on. Xmp can really screw some things up.

 

[Dave is a Minor Threat]

In between the time of the first start attempt and it finally getting up and running, did it give a POST beep other than the very last attempt? I'm thinking possible memory issue here, is XMP enabled and have you run Memtest86? If not, I'll suggest doing that to see if any errors show

http://www.memtest86.com/

Sorry, I hate to be "that guy" but how do I check if XMP is enabled?
Of note is that I haven't had any random shutdowns since the 16th (the day after I originally posted).

 

[C12Friedman]

XMP (Extreme Memory Profile) is set in BIOS, it's a setting that can get your memory to it's spec'd speed rather than the default. If you haven't enabled it, it'll be off by default.