PC freezing/crashing at random times.

mjc993

Commendable
Aug 10, 2016
1
0
1,510
Hey guys, I've been having some random crashes and i could use some help. It seems to crash at completely random times, no blue screen or sounds. I've checked Event Viewer and the error message i receive on shutdown is (Event ID 41 - Kernel Power). This started about 6-8 months ago. Sometimes it goes weeks before a crash happens, but it is happening a lot more frequently now. Even as much as every 10-20 minutes until I shut down my PC for the day. Temperatures seem to be okay; I just recently changed thermal paste on my CPU, dusted it out with compressed air and replaced the fan on my PSU, reduced overall temp but did not help with the crashes.

These things usually occur during crash/freeze:
Screen is still on
The light on my mouse and keyboard usually turns off, but not always
Most of the time it just freezes, but sometimes it shuts down completely (one time it restarted), when it freezes i have to turn it off manually on the power switch.
It won’t turn on again unless i flip the PSU switch off and on after the crash.
If it's freezing and not crashing, the PC is technically still on (i guess?), the fans and motherboard lights are still on.
It has happened when I’m afk, watching movies, browsing, playing games etc. So it seems to be completely random.
PC seems to turn on slower after a freeze/crash, (I’m not 100% sure on this).

Also something to note, I built this PC about 5 years ago. A week afterwards it kept crashing similar to this, but there would be a buzzing sound in my headphones. I suspected it was either my PSU or motherboard, just as I was about to borrow a friends old PSU, the crashes stopped. And now 4 and a half years later this problem occurs.

So I’m here now looking for some advice on what to do next. I have tried resetting BIOS to factory settings.
And am I right to think that the problem is the PSU, and it needs to get replaced?

My specs:
Motherboard: MSI P67A-C45
CPU: Intel Core i5-2500k 3.3Ghz
GPU: AMD Radeon HD 6950
PSU: Antec VP550P 550W
RAM: 16GB(4x4) DDR3 1333Mhz
HDD: Seagate Barracuda ST31000524AS 1TB 7200 RPM

I appreciate everyone taking the time to help me. Thank you.
 
Solution
Event ID 41 is pretty vague (https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2028504) but my best guess would be a faulty power supply.
That unit got decent reviews back in 2011, but it could be showing its age. With no MOV on some critical parts, noise and ripple may start to have amplified above the systems tolerances.

arges86

Distinguished
Event ID 41 is pretty vague (https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2028504) but my best guess would be a faulty power supply.
That unit got decent reviews back in 2011, but it could be showing its age. With no MOV on some critical parts, noise and ripple may start to have amplified above the systems tolerances.
 
Solution