Computer is shutting down

kuhlmeye

So, last night, there I was watching a youtube video, and my computer completely shuts down. Like, screen goes black, then the tower turns off. No beebs, no BSoD, no warning. Completely powered off. Tried restarting it once, no go. Tried a second time after about 5 minutes, and it turns back on. I then went on to play about 2 hours worth of Crusader Kings II.

Fast forward to this morning, I was watching a Extra Credits episode, and it does the same thing. I didn't try restarting it yet since I had to leave for work. It seems to me like maybe an overheating issue, but then I wonder why I was able to play games last night for a while without incident. Anybody have any ideas?

minirhyder

Get some software that tells you what your temperatures are to see if it's a heat issue (ex: HWMonitor).
If it isn't, it might be a failing power supply. I had the same symptoms until my power supply died completely.

Artereis

My first guess would be the power supply, especially if there's no warning beep.

Figgy

Almost absolutely your power supply.

Any other failing hardware will usually show some other sign as well, aside from instant, warningless shutdown*. For example, bad RAM usually results in restarts, BSODs, etc. Overheating usually includes other symptoms besides shutdown, like video artifacts or simply a restart. I would buy a power supply to swap it out and see if that fixes it. If not, you can either return the PSU or just feel good knowing that's been ruled out and is fresh.

*Except when they don't. Computers are fucking annoying sometimes when you want to troubleshoot.

kuhlmeye

Yeah, the no warning signs is what threw me off. I have an older PSU in my basement I believe, but it doesn't put out quite as much power.

Have any recommendations for a new one that isn't super duper expensive?

Draken50

It's hard to make a recommendation without wattage of your current. Additionally, just in case. Have you added any new hardware to the box recently. As I have seen that issue with someone dropping a higher wattage requirement graphics card into a tower with a super low wattage PSU.

kuhlmeye

Nope, nothing has been changed since I put in a new graphics card about 11 months ago.

Here's what I have in there currently, bought pretty much a year ago from newegg.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371015

Looks like there's a 3 year warranty?

godmode

Well, warranties are good! Or I would just go into the Power Supply section of Newegg and sort by best rating. There's lots of summer sales going on so you can probably catch a good deal.

(I agree that the power supply is PROBABLY the culprit, by the way)

minirhyder

Look for Corsair, Antec, or Seasonic PSU's with similar wattage and good reviews and you should end up with one in the $70-100 range.
Get your current one replaced and have it handy on the side, or sell it I guess.

AgentBryant

Before you start looking for a new power supply, monitor your CPU temperatures for awhile. I know it may seem strange that it would shut down for a youtube video and not a game, but you have to consider which uses the CPU more intensely. Flash can be fairly CPU intensive, while a game may better transfer the work to the GPU. For example, my laptop gets very hot when flash is involved, but when playing some games the CPU temperatures hardly rise at all. The behavior you described reminds me very much of what happened to me a few years ago. My PC would randomly shutdown after a few hours, though not every time I used it. The refusal to boot immediately afterward was because the CPU was still too hot, so the fact that it worked five minutes later makes me lean in that direct. I had no warning signs as well, which is what I'd expect if your CPU doesn't throttle down when reaching a certain temperature threshold. For me, it turned out that the connector for the CPU fan had been knocked loose somehow, and I was shocked that it was able to last as long as it did without it.

tl;dr: Check for high temperatures or other issues before spending money.

kuhlmeye

So, before I took the "extreme" route, I tried checking the temps like AgentBryant suggested. Found my GPU was idling at 94degC. Uhhh... cant be good. So I opened it up, cleaned it up a little bit. My cables from my PSU currently were a pretty big mess and occupying a significant portion of the front part of my case. I need some zipties, but I bundled them as best I could and tucked them in the space between my HDD and DVD drive, hopefully allowing better airflow. Also, my video card still had the plastic cover on the heat sink/fan, so I took that off.

Plugged everything back in, now it's idling around 55degC. Watched some videos, jumped to about 60. Played some games, jumped to about 70. No problems. Hopefully this is solved.

Draygo

Just a general note though, artifacts dont always mean heat issues, and heat issues dont always cause artifacts. Cards and cpu's are supposed to shut down the computer instantly in an overheat situation before dangerous things like artifacting happens.

Telnaior

Draygo wrote: »

Just a general note though, artifacts dont always mean heat issues, and heat issues dont always cause artifacts. Cards and cpu's are supposed to shut down the computer instantly in an overheat situation before dangerous things like artifacting happens.

This is why you should always check the CPU temperature first, as a lot of computers just go straight for the warningless shutdown when they overheat. (Mine included, I had an issue identical to this last year)
If the temperature isn't getting abnormally high (80°C+), then the power supply is the obvious next choice.

Underwhelming

Yeah, it's a good bet that was your problem and you've already created your solution.

Before that, I wouldof said it was probably a power issue since there were no warning beeps.

If it does turn out to be power, something you can do is unplug unnecessary USB devices, which draw power. If you're desperate, you can switch to onboard video, assuming your motherboard has it, to save a lot of power. Video cards are generally big drains on the PSU.

While you're cleaning up inside, if you have canned air or a mini air compressor for electronics, it wouldn't hurt to blow out the dust. Dust on a heat sink and in a fan will eventually cause overheating.

minirhyder

It is just so satisfying to fix your computer issues and see the immediate results, isn't it?