[Scared!] Computer turning off 'randomly'

[Sethhe]

I recently (3 months ago) built an £750 PC. Sometimes, while in game or just browsing it has tendencies to turn off randomly (this has only occurred in the past 2 days or so).
Now, 9 out of 10 times when it turns on, all of the leds will turn on, graphics card, fans. It will then turn off again. Sometimes I am able to use it for an hour or so but the chance of it turning off makes me not want to use it.
I am really scared and have tried reinstalling the RAM. Can someone please reassure me that I have not just burnt a lot of money! I am really scared!
Specs:
Intel i5 4690K
GTX 970 MSI
MSI Z97-G55 SLI
750M Corsair PSU
1TB Caviar blue HDD
PLEASE HELP ME

 

[hillmanant]

You haven't listed your RAM memory here but I assume you have 2 sticks try 1 stick at a time in each slot then try the other in the same fashion. If the problem goes away at any point odds are you have a bad stick or a bad slot on the mobo. Obviously if it fails with both sticks in a single slot its a bad slot RMA the mobo. If it fails with one stick in all slots and works fine with the other you got a bad stick, RMA the Memory. Alternatively you could run Memtest86 if it will stay on long enough, run it over night if its possible. If none of this works let us know and we can try something else.

Edit: Is this machine OC'd at all? Is the GPU OC'd? Have you tried running default settings in BIOS?

 

[Sethhe]

You haven't listed your RAM memory here but I assume you have 2 sticks try 1 stick at a time in each slot then try the other in the same fashion. If the problem goes away at any point odds are you have a bad stick or a bad slot on the mobo. Obviously if it fails with both sticks in a single slot its a bad slot RMA the mobo. If it fails with one stick in all slots and works fine with the other you got a bad stick, RMA the Memory. Alternatively you could run Memtest86 if it will stay on long enough, run it over night if its possible. If none of this works let us know and we can try something else.

Edit: Is this machine OC'd at all? Is the GPU OC'd? Have you tried running default settings in BIOS?

None of this seemed to work, GPU is not OC'd unless by default (which it isn't I'm sure).
Here's what it looks like:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23pUS09BPIE&spfreload=10
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3it4j8oayQQ&spfreload=10
As you can see it stays on for a bit but, by the fans slowing doown once or twice in the video and my GPU LED turning off you may notice that my computer does turn off randomly.
Please inform me if this is a major issue or if I could be at a £300 burden

 

[hillmanant]

Can you get it to boot in safe mode? Does it POST/beep once on startup? Could be a hardware issue try uninstalling the video card and running with the onboard video on the motherboard see if it starts

 

[Sethhe]

Can you get it to boot in safe mode? Does it POST/beep once on startup? Could be a hardware issue try uninstalling the video card and running with the onboard video on the motherboard see if it starts

Im sending this from my computer, sometimes it starts fine. At the moment I think it's ok it will turn off though. How do you boot in safe mode, I will try it next time. Also a video card issue would surely not cause a spontaneous shut down?

 

[p_nut_uk]

Assuming it's windows keep tapping F8 on startup, safe mode with networking will allow you to use the Internet.

Unlikely but also check the CPU and GPU temperature.

 

[hillmanant]

Can you get it to boot in safe mode? Does it POST/beep once on startup? Could be a hardware issue try uninstalling the video card and running with the onboard video on the motherboard see if it starts

Im sending this from my computer, sometimes it starts fine. At the moment I think it's ok it will turn off though. How do you boot in safe mode, I will try it next time. Also a video card error would not cause a shut down would it? Also a video card issue would surely not cause a spontaneous shut down?

Sorry I thought it was to the point of not starting at all.

I asked this before do you have a case speaker installed? Is it giving any beep codes when it fails to start?

Have you installed any new updates to windows that may have started the problem, like do you remember an update when the issue began at all?

When you go into device manager do any of the devices show a yellow exclamation point?

When you view event logs are there any critical errors listed, if so what are the event codes?

I would start by updating all Mobo drivers and Bios see if this helps. Random issues like this can be problematic to diagnose. Run Memtest 86 tonight see if it passes.

 

[Sethhe]

Can you get it to boot in safe mode? Does it POST/beep once on startup? Could be a hardware issue try uninstalling the video card and running with the onboard video on the motherboard see if it starts

Im sending this from my computer, sometimes it starts fine. At the moment I think it's ok it will turn off though. How do you boot in safe mode, I will try it next time. Also a video card error would not cause a shut down would it? Also a video card issue would surely not cause a spontaneous shut down?

Sorry I thought it was to the point of not starting at all.

I asked this before do you have a case speaker installed? Is it giving any beep codes when it fails to start?

Have you installed any new updates to windows that may have started the problem, like do you remember an update when the issue began at all?

When you go into device manager do any of the devices show a yellow exclamation point?

When you view event logs are there any critical errors listed, if so what are the event codes?

I would start by updating all Mobo drivers and Bios see if this helps. Random issues like this can be problematic to diagnose. Run Memtest 86 tonight see if it passes.

I don't have a case speaker

I think maybe I installed a windows 8 update that could have started the whole shabang

No yellow exclamation points on device manager

In events logs there are 52 of these:
Critical 08/02/2015 17:16:35 Kernel-Power 41 (63)

Why does memtest86 want me to install it onto a bootable drive?6

 

[hillmanant]

An incompatible Windows update could very well be the culprit. You could start in safe mode to eliminate hardware as the issue, this shows you how. At the same time pointing the finger at software as the issue.

Memtest runs on startup you need to make a usb drive or burn a disk then run it on startup, outside the Windows environement.

I would get a case speaker it could tell you exactly whats going on or at least get you going in the right direction or do nothing at all except beep once and let you know its posting properly.


Kernel Power errors are flighty to figure out could be a simple minute undervoltage in the ram or cpu or I've had it happen when I let the timings be set to auto for some Memory Sticks could try setting the voltage and ram timings rigid in the BIOS instead of machine defaults.

Another thing to try is bump up Ram Memory or DRAM a bit (If 1.5v is the sticks requirement bump it up to 1.55 , .01 at a time) some like a little bit of an overvoltage.

Also could turn up the vcore voltage a bit your chip requrires 1.33v you could bump that up to 1.34 safely .005 at a time see if it stabilizes but keep an eye on your temps with CoreTemp when doing this don't want the chip to get too hot.

I'm just throwing things at the wall here and see what sticks as sporadic problems are often the hardest to nail down.

 

[Guest]

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[Sethhe]

An incompatible Windows update could very well be the culprit. You could start in safe mode to eliminate hardware as the issue, this shows you how. At the same time pointing the finger at software as the issue.

Memtest runs on startup you need to make a usb drive or burn a disk then run it on startup, outside the Windows environement.

I would get a case speaker it could tell you exactly whats going on or at least get you going in the right direction or do nothing at all except beep once and let you know its posting properly.


Kernel Power errors are flighty to figure out could be a simple minute undervoltage in the ram or cpu or I've had it happen when I let the timings be set to auto for some Memory Sticks could try setting the voltage and ram timings rigid in the BIOS instead of machine defaults.

Another thing to try is bump up Ram Memory or DRAM a bit (If 1.5v is the sticks requirement bump it up to 1.55 , .01 at a time) some like a little bit of an overvoltage.

Also could turn up the vcore voltage a bit your chip requrires 1.33v you could bump that up to 1.34 safely .005 at a time see if it stabilizes but keep an eye on your temps with CoreTemp when doing this don't want the chip to get too hot.

I'm just throwing things at the wall here and see what sticks as sporadic problems are often the hardest to nail down.

Currently running a memtest(86), its on pass:4/4 and has encountered 0 errors so far; it's 5hours in and so has not turned off in 5 hours. Surely this eliminates the possibility of short circuiting. When it is finished I will tell you if I encounter another turn off. I will run it in safe mode and see what happens. Until then thanks for the continuous help!

 

[Sethhe]

UPDATE: Got about 10 hours into memtest, ran out of time and had to turn off my PC. Up to then there were no errors. Uninstalled latest windows updates from when the problem started and it is still turning off randomly. Started it in safe mode and it lasted 2 hours so I assumed it worked in safe mode.

 

[hillmanant]

UPDATE: Got about 10 hours into memtest, ran out of time and had to turn off my PC. Up to then there were no errors. Uninstalled latest windows updates from when the problem started and it is still turning off randomly. Started it in safe mode and it lasted 2 hours so I assumed it worked in safe mode.

Hardware is obviously not the issue if Memtest and safe mode are operational. So its narrowed down to a software issue do you have a system restore point you could restore to to see if the problem persists?

Have you installed any programs recently around the time of the start of this?

Have you updated all your mobo drivers and BIOS, this would be my first move.

Have you installed new hardware like another storage drive or even printer?

 

[Sethhe]

UPDATE: Got about 10 hours into memtest, ran out of time and had to turn off my PC. Up to then there were no errors. Uninstalled latest windows updates from when the problem started and it is still turning off randomly. Started it in safe mode and it lasted 2 hours so I assumed it worked in safe mode.

Hardware is obviously not the issue if Memtest and safe mode are operational. So its narrowed down to a software issue do you have a system restore point you could restore to to see if the problem persists?

Have you installed any programs recently around the time of the start of this?

Have you updated all your mobo drivers and BIOS, this would be my first move.

Have you installed new hardware like another storage drive or even printer?

Have not installed any software recently. In fact the last time I even downloaded something through chrome was a picture for graphics and that was in February. I will update my BIOS soon.
No hardware has been recently installed, regardless of what it is

 

[Sethhe]

Updating my bios seems to be an issue. Inside the MSI update folder there are no runnable .exercise files (the only .exercise file 'cannot be found' when I try to run it). I have tried using a USB to update it but I could not use the file system (e.g. fs4). I would not let me select my device. I am hopefully going to contact someone who can fix it in the next couple days. I will post the solution here when the time comes. If not I will still require help

 

[hillmanant]

To update bios most times you have to do it from in bios not the windows environment, some UEFI Bios have an easy update function build in, plug flash drive with bios update from their website on it and start up, just hit bios update or bios flash and select the flash drive the bios update is on and update.