[SOLVED] Why does my pc screen randomly turn off and fans speed up?

[DirtyDan1988]

I thought it was my videocard dying so I went out to buy another one and the issue seemed to have stopped but only to happen again now frequently.

The cpu temps in speed fan were normal but in HWmonitor it was 90-100c idle so I decided to check the thermal paste which was literally burnt off despite putting on a new coat some months ago.

Put on new thermal paste and the temps read fine around 30-40c and still black screens randomly happen while doing anything despite load. I can be watching youtube or playing a game. The game sounds will keep playing and it's as if nothing is wrong.The screen will turn off and fan's will speed up. Can't seem to find a fix for this so this is my last hope.

i7 4790k
had a gtx1060 and now gtx 1660ti
8 gigs of ram
Windows 10
600 watt cooler master b600 4 years old

 

[Ralston18]

Update your post to include full system hardware specs and OS.

What PSU is installed: make, model, wattage, age, condition?

 

[DirtyDan1988]

Update your post to include full system hardware specs and OS.

What PSU is installed: make, model, wattage, age, condition?

Updated.

 

[DirtyDan1988]

Replaced the ram and so far no crashes. The gold parts on the ram looked like it was scratched or something , I don't know if they're related or not.

 

[Ralston18]

I see a scratch on one contact but doubt that that scratch would interfere with or block connectivity.

But there may be damage to the connecting trace that is not directly visible.

Replaced RAM? Did you actually obtain and install new RAM modules or just pull and reinstall the original modules?

If the former, what are the specs for the original modules and what are the specs for the new modules?

Keep an eye on that older PSU. If the computer continues with random black screens and other issues the PSU may need to be replaced.

 

[JeffDaemon]

That is a pretty deep cleave on that one contact dead center, but since you still have a valid pad going all the way to the edge it should not cause a connection issue. Does not rule out bad RAM though. Black screen and max fans usually means a full system crash and the motherboard is in a reset state but not capable of rebooting itself. It simply put the fans in a default state. This is usually a hardware level problem (software crash would be caught by the OS and recovered or bluescreen).

You will need to do a lot of trouble shooting, either by removing components while testing, doing stress test like if games make it crash faster. Or if cpu benchmarks alone make it crash faster.

 

[DirtyDan1988]

I see a scratch on one contact but doubt that that scratch would interfere with or block connectivity.

But there may be damage to the connecting trace that is not directly visible.

Replaced RAM? Did you actually obtain and install new RAM modules or just pull and reinstall the original modules?

If the former, what are the specs for the original modules and what are the specs for the new modules?

Keep an eye on that older PSU. If the computer continues with random black screens and other issues the PSU may need to be replaced.

There's more than one gash on the ramstick, I don't know if that could be worse than a single gash.

I had another set of 8 gigs laying around that had different timings than the one I was using so I couldn't use both (originally planned to use both to have 16 gigs of ram) But so far no crashes. I was fairly convinced that it was either my motherboard or PSU but it could still be one of those two.

Time will tell but still no crashes and hopefully it'll stay that way.

 

[Ralston18]

No problem.

The images you provide are not really appearing all that clearly to me. E.g., the camera "flash" in the preceding image is likely hiding some of the gashes that you see.

Take the opportunity to "baseline" your computer by capturing as much operational information as possible.

If things go astray again compare the corresponding parameters to the baseline.

Being able to find some difference may help resolve a future problem.

 

[DirtyDan1988]

No problem.

The images you provide are not really appearing all that clearly to me. E.g., the camera "flash" in the preceding image is likely hiding some of the gashes that you see.

Take the opportunity to "baseline" your computer by capturing as much operational information as possible.

If things go astray again compare the corresponding parameters to the baseline.

Being able to find some difference may help resolve a future problem.

Three days later and still no crashes do you think it's safe to say problem solved? Also I have another question. How did my ram randomly start messing up and what possibly could have caused those gouges in the ram when it's been plugged in for pretty much four years at this point.

 

[Ralston18]

Per @JeffDaemon's observation it is likely the scratches were deeper and more severe than I recognized.

As computers heat up and cool down, everything expands and contracts. End result is that components creep loose and will need to be reseated every so often in order to prevent intermittent connection losses.

The source of the gouges - who knows. For the most part, like many things, RAM is being made as cheaply as possible. The gold conductors are both likely thinner and less "hardened". Easier to scratch.

PCBs are thinner and weaker. Traces as thin/skimpy as etchable.

Plus there is far less QA and just about anything will be shipped out the door aka "Buyer beware".

In general, the scratch may have been just cosmetic and the entire module just failed - early EOL.

 

[DSzymborski]

I would also take the opportunity to head off future problems by replacing the low-quality power supply.

 

[DirtyDan1988]

No crashes for a week so I think it's safe to say that replacing the ram fixed my issue.