[SOLVED] System Randomly Shutting Down / Tried Everything

[xbassdominatorx]

Im at a loss. My PC just started randomly shutting down for no reason last week. Nothing has changed. I haven’t played any games in months and I only really use it for YouTube lately. I’ve taken my computer completely apart and rebuilt it and even tried different GPUs, PSUs & also Ram. I took out CPU thinking it may have been overheating and put new thermal paste in it and still same thing.

Last thing I tried was different variations of having different components connected and disconnected. Not really sure where to go from here.
Thanks in advance for any help!

Specs:
Windows 10 64bit
AMD FX8350 Cooled With Thermaltake TH120 ARGB Rad Cooler
MoBo Gigabyte GA-970A-DS3P
Asrock PhantomGaming RX570 4G
Kingston HyperX DDR3 1600 4G x4
ToughPower Gold 750W

 

[Darkbreeze]

Let's be honest. Given the age of the system and the fact that you've already tried multiple different power supplies, graphics cards and memory, but still have the same problem, and given the age of the system, it's a very high probability that you simply have a failing or failed motherboard. Considering that was not an extremely high quality board to begin with and the additional fact that it's going on 13 years old, it's probably just time to bite the bullet and look at upgrading the platform unless you're willing to spend your time and money on finding a used replacement board that is likely as or nearly as old as what you already have and throwing good money after bad on one of those since anything out there that is new old stock or in very lightly used condition for that old platform is probably going to command some kind of premium because they always do.

The people who still have these old AM3/AM3+ boards in working condition know that people will pay way more for them than they are worth in order to avoid having to pay out for an entirely new board, CPU and memory, and they see you coming. It's simply not worth it except in the rarest of situations.

Before going that far into though it might be helpful to know EXACTLY what other hardware you've tried, especially the various power supply models (EXACT models please) and approximate age of both the Toughpower Gold and any other power supplies you've swapped in in an attempt to resolve the problem.

 

[xbassdominatorx]

That was the one thing I didn’t want to hear, lol. But if I had it coming, I had it coming!

The components I tried were from my wife’s build which is similar to mine. Same mobo, same cpu, same GPU. Ram is Crucial Balllistix Sport The power supply I used was literally brand new out of the box Thermaltake 600W smart series. My 750W psu is about 8 years old, but that wouldn’t have mattered because it was still doing it with the brand new one anyway.

I know all of her components work no problem because she rarely uses it and I had also fired it up before hand To make sure everything worked. Which I am now using in place of mine to watch YouTube Stuff with my kids.

If anything, thanks for responding and finally helping me see the light as this now gives me the reason to start my Ryzen build I’ve been waiting to do. (Until this one died)

 

[DSzymborski]

Oh lord, I hope you quickly returned the Thermaltake 600W Smart; the Smart series are some of the worst PSUs ever released by a familiar brand and whatever the resolution of this issue, that's not something you even want on-hand for an emergency.

I also fear that the motherboard is failing. It's very old and the AM3+ motherboards were typically poorly equipped to deal with the 125W AM3+ CPUs, even ones that were compatible, and a lot of AM3+ motherboards had premature deaths. That you got 13 years out of it is certainly well above the average.

 

[xbassdominatorx]

Yes, it is being returned!

 

[Darkbreeze]

Good thing. The only Thermaltake power supplies I recommend these days are for the most only those which are in some way a part of one of the Toughpower branches, and even some of those are somewhat questionable because unlike in the past where all the Toughpower series models were very good, they've realized that people realize that and now have both very mediocre up to very good Toughpower models. And the very mediocre ones are likely just repurposing platforms that are merely derivative of some of their weaker lines but are using the Toughpower branding to avoid instant distaste by those who will still assume "Toughpower" branding means a good unit.

These days, without going into some of the less obvious options, I'd generally recommend sticking to something (And these models are VERY specific, so don't assume something from the same series but having a different identifier is a safe bet. G5 for example is NOT the same as G2, G3, G6 or G7 when it comes to EVGA Supernova units. Just as one example. RM is not exactly the same as RMx or RMi, although the RM models aren't terrible either.) from the Corsair TX, RMx (Or RMi, even RM in a pinch) or HX series, Seasonic Core series (Preferably one based on the Focus Plus platform) or Seasonic Prime series, EVGA G6 or G7 series, Cooler Master V series, Super Flower Leadex Gold, Platinum or Titanium series (Leadex III or higher), Thermaltake Toughpower GF1, GF2 or Grand series (Preferably Grand. There are a couple of different iterations of some of the GF models and they are not necessarily exactly the same platforms depending on the actual model number) or the Antec High current gamer gold models.

At 8 years old, your existing Toughpower unit (Whether it IS or IS NOT the current problem) is a ticking timebomb. That unit only ever had a five year warranty or less to begin with and at 8 years old even the best of power supplies is either past or approaching the point where it is even trustworthy anymore in terms of being a danger to any hardware you place any continued value upon.

In terms of the current system, does it still power on and run, but simply shuts down at some point? Regardless that you changed the paste, have you actually MONITORED the thermal status of the CPU (And you can't just use any regular monitoring software. The FX series units don't work that way. You MUST use AMD Overdrive or Core Temp and which both allow or require you to use "thermal margin" or "distance to TJmax" for monitoring of core temps since normal methods are not applicable to this architecture. In Core Temp you must make the settings change in the advanced options to enable "use distance to TJmax in temperature fields" for it to work correctly.

Given the also probable age of your existing liquid cooler, and the additional fact that with only a 120mm radiator it was never really capable enough that it should have been used with that CPU in the first place, there is every probability that you might be facing either a loss of the pump RPM signal, blockage resulting in a lessening or complete lack of cooling within the loop, permeation (Loss of coolant in the loop over time due to evaporation through the rubber lines) or an air bubble that isn't allowing the proper flow of coolant through the loop. All of which, or any of which, could absolutely result in thermal trip which would send the system into instant shut down.

 

[xbassdominatorx]

My Liquid cooler is fairly newer. Only been using it for a little more than a year and since I’ve had it running…I actually have not even been gaming at all since I bought it or have even been using my computer that often. Had a baby and that took over my life along with the job etc, etc.

My computer wont even stay on long enough to monitor any readings either.
Yes it does run, but no more than 5 minutes at best.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Ok. On to Ryzen.

I'd bet 10-1 on the motherboard.

 

[Yarblako]

Have you installed any new drivers lately? I had a similar issue and it turned out to be the sound driver being the cause. Dark Breeze is probably right, though. Don't mean to get your hopes up.

 

[Crosslhs82x2]

My son's Gigabyte 970 SLi really didn't like the Fx8350 on it but ran Fine with a Fx6300.
I still have all those parts,I was going to put them on Fb marketplace or FleeBay , Craigslist but feel it almost to late now with win 10 reaching EoL next year.

 

[xbassdominatorx]

Well, turns out it was my Thermaltake Liquid Cooler. It somehow was shorting (?) my computer out.

Found this out after putting my CPU and the liquid cooler into my wife's tower. It shut off before it could boot...maybe thought it was my CPU at that point so I placed her CPU back in with my Liquid Cooler on it....shut off after 4 minutes.
Sat here and thought to myself there is no way its my cooler having only had it since 2021 and light use. I removed the cooler and put her cooler back in with my CPU and voila, no shutdown. So now I basically have all of my components minus the cooler in her tower and it runs fine.

Of course I'm going to put everything back into my tower with her liquid cooler and see what happens.

I'm going to try to get the cooler replaced as they have a 3Yr warranty on PC Coolers. Wish me luck!

 

[Darkbreeze]

Not sure how you determined it was "shorting out" your computer, but I did say:

Given the also probable age of your existing liquid cooler, and the additional fact that with only a 120mm radiator it was never really capable enough that it should have been used with that CPU in the first place, there is every probability that you might be facing either a loss of the pump RPM signal, blockage resulting in a lessening or complete lack of cooling within the loop, permeation (Loss of coolant in the loop over time due to evaporation through the rubber lines) or an air bubble that isn't allowing the proper flow of coolant through the loop. All of which, or any of which, could absolutely result in thermal trip which would send the system into instant shut down.

And if the pump was froze up that could absolutely cause the current draw to the board to pull too many amps and act like it was "shorted out", aside from the other possibilities of thermal trip. Same for it's fan. Anything pulling too many amps because it's not working properly can trigger the protections.