My Computer Turned Off By Itself, what's damaged?

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brookies1910

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Hey guys, I went out last night, but when I left, my computer was on, when I got home, it was off and wouldn't come on, so I moved it to the lounge and plugged it in and it tripped the whole house, then when I plugged it in in the games room, it came on, so I turned it off and moved it to my room again, now it's working properly.

Was this a once-off thing? I think it may be my cheap power supply, I was going to upgrade my GPU, so should I replace my power supply, buy a new case in case it was a heat issue and fans, or carry on and buy a GPU? The GPU is the GTX 960

My computer consists of:

i5 4570 at stock speeds 3.2GHz
HD 7770 1GB stock
2 HDD's
Combo Drive
550W PSU

My PSU is a Cooler Master Extreme Power Plus 550W and my case is some rubbish old case that I just used.

So what must I replace? My PSU or case? Or something else?

EDIT: The whole house tripping was down to a faulty plug point. Could it be a heat issue then? I only have my CPU fan, HD 7770 fan and a tiny fan on the back, and my computer is very noisy. Would you suggest a new case then? And fans

Thank you
 
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BrandonYoung

BrandonYoung

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I'm jumping to a lot of assumptions here, but maybe it wasn't "off" maybe it was sleeping, and clicking the power button did not bring it back, as perhaps it expected a mouse click, or keyboard click instead. Removing the power from the wall caused the computer to truly be off, so when you plugged it back into the faulty outlet (assuming this is the case) caused the breaker to break (this is scary, house fires are not nice). When you plugged it into a functional outlet, it powered on as normal.

Turn your computer on, put it to sleep, wait a few minutes and click the power button and see what happens, does the PC turn on? If not this is perhaps what happened, to wake your PC try clicking or double clicking your mouse, or hitting esc or enter on your keyboard.

After testing, my PC wakes from sleep from a power button press.

If this is not the case, perhaps your PSU is out of wack. If you think your temperatures could be an issue, I would strongly suggest getting some form of temperature monitoring software, "RealTemp" is not bad and provides CPU and GPU temperatures assuming you have the sensors required to do so.
 
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MarkW

MarkW

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Dec 7, 2009
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Wow! It tripped the circuit breaker for the whole house? That is some nasty short. I don't think I would ever want to power that thing back up. Its not like a shorted out power supply is ever going to fix itself.

I would suggest getting a high quality power supply, and replacing that thing you have now. Cooler Master is not what I would call a good power supply maker. In part because the do not make them, but the ones they have made that have their name on the sides vary from good units to pretty bad units. I don't even see a Cooler Master Extreme Power Plus model on our power supply list here.

Im going to list a few units here. These are all top of the line power supplies. The prices are what pcpartpicker.com was showing as recently as this morning. But prices on some PSU's change frequently, so click the links to check the prices.

EVGA 110-B2-0750-VR 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply $79.99 - $20 mail in rebate = 59.99

SeaSonic S12II 520W 80+ Bronze Certified Non-Modular ATX Power Supply $57.99

SeaSonic M12II 520W 80+ Bronze Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply $65.99

SeaSonic S12II 620W 80+ Bronze Certified Non-Modular ATX Power Supply $64.99

SeaSonic M12II 620W SLI Ready 80+ Bronze Certified Full Modular Active PFC Power Supply $82.99
 
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brookies1910

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Hello MarkW, I realised that the plug socket is faulty, but even then, why did my computer go off the first time? I am assuming it was heat because my PC goes off automatically if my PC hits a certain temperature, so I think I'll buy a decent case, I was looking at the Corsair Graphite 230T. But I don't want to waste money on a case when the problem is the PSU, and I don't want to buy a PSU when it's a heat related issue
 
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MarkW

MarkW

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Download Hwinfo, and have it running while you play your games. When you are done playing, take a look at the CPU core temp entries, and see what the highest temp was while you played. If the temps are over 65c, you probably need better cooling. If they are 65c or lower, and the power goes out, its more likely to be the power supply.
 
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brookies1910

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Well, idling, my CPU is around 35c, so do you think it's the PSU? But since last night it hasn't happened again, so could it have been a once-off thing?
 
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brookies1910

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Hey, I played GTA V with LSPDFR (mod) and the max temperature was 51c, do you think it's the PSU then?

 
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BrandonYoung

BrandonYoung

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Was your computer idle when you left it on the other night? If it was, this is probably not a heat issue. I would also suspect your PSU to be quite underloaded during idle moments as well. Have you investigated your operating systems logs to determine if it was turned off hard, or perhaps had some other issue that would be in the log.

What did the computer say when it finally came back on? "Windows has experienced a problem..." ? Could a pet have bumped the power cord/ circuit breaker switch?

Going back to the possible heat issue, have you cleaned out your CPU/GPU fans/heatsinks in the past few months?

Could this be related to the faulty/poorly wired electrical outlet in the other room that took the whole house out? Sometimes PSUs like to protect themselves a little too much in case of surge or power outages, to the point of not wanting to come back on until you fully unplug them and give them a minute for the electricity to fully drain.

If you get the sense that I am grasping at straws, you're correct! If everything is currently working as it was previously, and your temperatures are within safe operational margins, I would assume everything is fine. If you can't find anything about your PSU's quality (or lack there of) I would STRONGLY urge you in replacing it.

Cheap PSU's can destroy anything they are connected to (including your house).
 
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MarkW

MarkW

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Idling is not going to tell you anything useful. Go play the games. When you are done playing, or even after you have been playing for awhile, look at HWinfo, and see what the highest temps on your CPU cores and GPU have been.
 
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brookies1910

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Hello, yes, it was idling when I left, I never checked any logs, I'm not sure how to do that actually. When my computer came back on, it never said anything, it just loaded up to the desktop, there were no alerts or anything.

I don't think it's heat related anymore, I think it's my PSU, so I'm going to buy a new one and get rid of this one. How urgently must I replace it though? In a few days or weeks? Or is it safe til like Christmas?
 
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BrandonYoung

BrandonYoung

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How long would you like to play Russian Roulette? The longer you have a cheap PSU, the more likely it will prove its worth to you at some point.

I'm not trying to be overly dramatic (mostly), but the PSU is in my opinion the most crucial component of a computer.
 
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