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PC randomly shutting off

SteevLSteevL What can I do for you?Registered User regular
Today my PC randomly froze up while I was browsing the internet. Just before this happened, I heard one of hard drives revving up (not abnormal behavior), and then a sudden blast of white noise from my speakers for about 1 second. That's when I noticed the cursor wasn't responding to my mouse. I tried to power it down, and it did not immediately respond...but eventually it did and booted up OK. Then it happened again.

This time, when I tried to turn it on, the HD access LED and the fans in the front (and their LEDs) repeatedly powered on and off every few seconds. Eventually it stabilized and booted up. But it still would freeze up and shut down without warning.

I took it outside and blew out a year's worth of dust, thinking it was maybe an overheating problem, but no. Still having issues. I'm actually surprised it's stayed up for the last half hour.

Specs:
CPU: Intel i5-750 @ 2.67 GHz
Motherboard: Gigabyte Z68XP-UD3P
PSU: Corsair HX520W
Memory: 4 GB
Video card: AMD Radeon 5850
Running Windows 7

I'm suspecting it's the power supply. Most of the components are almost 5 years old at this point, but a few are a little newer than that. It's all been running pretty well for the most part. If anyone has any suggestions, though, I'd appreciate it.

Thanks!

Posts

  • HandgimpHandgimp R+L=J Family PhotoRegistered User regular
    edited July 2015
    If you have a voltmeter, you can jumper pins 15+16 of the 24 pin connector and use a voltmeter to test each of the rails. Might need to attach a fan to power to get the power supply to actually supply power.

    E: That won't help if you're just getting really bad droop due to poor voltage regulation, you'd need to find some test points on your motherboard.

    Handgimp on
    PwH4Ipj.jpg
  • SteevLSteevL What can I do for you? Registered User regular
    Thank you. Sadly, I have no experience with using a meter, but fortunately my wife has a multimeter! Guess I have some learning to do!

    Also, my PC has not yet shut off/rebooted since I made the OP.

  • HandgimpHandgimp R+L=J Family PhotoRegistered User regular
    Black lead on common/ground, red on the pin to test. http://pinouts.ru/Power/atx_v2_pinout.shtml

    Everything external to PS is safe but DO NOT go into the power supply.

    PwH4Ipj.jpg
  • wunderbarwunderbar What Have I Done? Registered User regular
    This kind of thing is almost always the power supply.

    XBL: thewunderbar PSN: thewunderbar NNID: thewunderbar Steam: wunderbar87 Twitter: wunderbar
  • SteevLSteevL What can I do for you? Registered User regular
    Two days later, and the problem has not resurfaced since I last posted in here. But I'm probably on borrowed time. I haven't run any tests yet. I believe the power supply is still just barely covered by Corsair's warranty - maybe I should try to take advantage of it.

  • nexuscrawlernexuscrawler Registered User regular
    SteevL wrote: »
    Two days later, and the problem has not resurfaced since I last posted in here. But I'm probably on borrowed time. I haven't run any tests yet. I believe the power supply is still just barely covered by Corsair's warranty - maybe I should try to take advantage of it.

    Yeah they're good on replacements. PSUs are like hard drives once one starts having problems its a slow road to total death. And it might take your motherboard with it when it goes.

  • UselesswarriorUselesswarrior Registered User regular
    I just had something very similar happen to me. in my case it turned out to be the graphics card causing the issue.

    I wouldn't assume it is the PSU. if you are lucky enough to have an spare graphics card lying around you can test that real quick. I would also try pulling out things, ram, hard drives, etc, from the motherboard and see if that affects anything.

    In my case I was glad I didn't have to replace the PSU (which was my initial thought as well) because of much work it is to rewire everything.

    Hey I made a game, check it out @ http://ifallingrobot.com/. (Or don't, your call)
  • SteevLSteevL What can I do for you? Registered User regular
    I just had something very similar happen to me. in my case it turned out to be the graphics card causing the issue.

    I wouldn't assume it is the PSU. if you are lucky enough to have an spare graphics card lying around you can test that real quick. I would also try pulling out things, ram, hard drives, etc, from the motherboard and see if that affects anything.

    In my case I was glad I didn't have to replace the PSU (which was my initial thought as well) because of much work it is to rewire everything.

    Well, since I last posted, I must admit I've not really messed around with my PC to test anything. Strangely enough, the issue has not reared its head since then either. I suppose I'm just waiting for the other shoe to drop.

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