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PC restarts both in Windows 7 and in DOS

Tags:
  • Windows 7
  • Computers
  • Components
  • Shutdown
Last response: in Components
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August 23, 2014 7:00:28 AM

Hey guys.

I need some advice. A couple of days ago my computer suddenly shut down and restarted. This happened without any significant stress. Since then it shuts down and restarts from time to time, but especially if I start a game and sometimes when I'm working in Lightroom or Photoshop.

I decided to let Avast do a boot-time scan to check for Virus. Doing the scan, the computer shut down and restarted again. I have tried running Prime95 for 45 mins (I know it's not a long time) while monitoring temps with HWMonitor. CPU hits 80-81 degree celsius, but didn't go up any further. The computer didn't restart either.
Then I decided to try Mem86+, launched it before I went to bed and this morning the computer had restarted again.

I am suspicious of my PSU but is there any way of testing it? I have a digital multimeter but I'm unsure of what to measure. Any other suggestions to find the cause of this problem?

Specs:
i7 960 3.2 GHz
Asus Sabertooth X58
Corsair TX850W PSU
Sapphire ATI Radeon HD5870
Corsair Hydro Series H70
Corsair Vengeance 3x4096 MB DDR3 1600 MHz

Thank you in advance.

Best regards,
Kenneth

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August 23, 2014 7:04:17 AM

Sounds like classic flaky PSU behavior. You could futz around with the meter trying to catch it in action but your best bet is to pull up a youtube video or visual guide for how to do that. But the easiest thing may be to simply replace the PSU and if that does not fix it return the PSU to the store.

It could be a bad motherboard, it could be a shorting wire somewhere, it could be a lot of things but it sounds like it's not software since it happened during memtest. I feel strong about the PSU being culprit number 1.
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August 23, 2014 7:10:49 AM

Fraid it sounds like your PSU, that being said i wouldn't rule out a memory fault, i would advise trying everything with just 1 stick of vengeance in the first Dimm, most technicals will say its definitely not that but its better to rule it out than to buy a new PSU for an error which is much easier fixed.

Also its more likely to be your PSU unfortunately, friend of mine recently upgraded to an AX860 because his TX started randomly shutting down his PC and causing performance drops, guess if your still under warranty i would RMA it , otherwise its probably best to look for a new one, of which i advise the AX860 (Not the i, the corsair link increases the price dramatically for some reason on that model).

Wish you all the best with your computer, also its almost identical to the rig im running xD which i only just built yesterday,

i7 950, 12gb corsair dominator, Sabertooth x58. Im loving it so far, only problem is that the GPU's get toasty :/  if i run SLI.
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August 23, 2014 10:25:45 AM

Thank you for your replies. I will try to rule out the memory first as advised and if that doesn't help I'll try with the PSU (I'll look for the AX860). Appreciate your effort :) 

And thanks, I've been really happy with my computer. I built it back in January 2011 and it's the first issues I've had with it.

Cheers
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September 9, 2014 6:10:40 AM

Just to confirm, I have replaced the PSU with the recommended AX860 and have been running my system for 14 days without issues. Thank you for your help (both of you), it's much appreciated.

Cheers
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