Computer restarts when playing games and doing specific things

jondan97 · May 17, 2017

Hello!
I've had the PC for about 2 years and the problem suddenly appeared the last 4 months. Whenever I play CS:GO, throw a smoke and enter it, my computer reboots. I've tried this under different circumstances, for example without bots where it takes about 4-5 smokes for the computer to reboot, with bots which takes 1 smoke, and with 32 players on the server, which also takes 1 smoke. Also, whenever the PC reboots after entering a smoke, if I immediately launch the game and throw a smoke again, it reboots no matter the circumstance, unless I let it cool down for about 5 minutes. This also happens in games like Overwatch or The Witcher 3 after playing for about 3 to 5 hours or so.

At first I thought it was an overheating problem, so I applied new thermal pastes on both my GPU and CPU and checked again. However the temperatures seem normal with the GPU ranging from 65 to 70 degrees.

I've also tried edging the computer by having a 4K video playing on my 2nd monitor, and Overwatch on max settings on my other and yet, it does not reboot even though I notice fps drops from 300 fps to around 100. Running the 3D Mark Benchmark - Time Spy a couple of times also does not reboot my computer. Moreover, turning auto-shutdown off from the UEFI does not help, since it still reboots.

I have no idea what's wrong with it, and I have no idea what more to do. I've tried to be as detailed as possible, for you guys to have an idea of what's happening and be of assistance to me. Thanks in advance!

PC Specs:
i7-4790K Processor
Corsair Vengeance 16GB (2x8GB)
Asus GeForce GTX970 4GB Strix OC
ASRock Z97 Anniversary

PS. Overwatch sometimes reboots when I have TeamSpeak 3 on and queue for Competitive Play which totally makes no sense.

jensrobot · May 17, 2017

You did the right things, and its very well described

What a weird problem. First i'd think hardware fault, initially overheating, but you ruled that out. It might still be your GFX, do you have another GFX card? Maybe an onboard one?
Even though you might get extremely low fps, its still worth testing. This way you narrow it down - if it runs without reboots you at least know its isolated to the graphics card.
You could also put your GFX in another pc if available, and see how it runs on there.

Personally, i would just reinstall windows if none of the above yields results. But i reinstall windows more often that normal - i like a fresh install, and it have saved me hours and hours of troubleshooting errors. A reinstall of win10 takes under 1 hour, and is more or less automated all the way. I'm not necessarily saying this is a solution for you, but if you determine the error is not hardware related, it can be a huge time saver... if youre using win10 its very easy to do a reeinstall, you don't even need a product key, thats automatic now. It will recognize you pc and activate itself.

jondan97 · May 18, 2017

jensrobot :

You did the right things, and its very well described

What a weird problem. First i'd think hardware fault, initially overheating, but you ruled that out. It might still be your GFX, do you have another GFX card? Maybe an onboard one?
Even though you might get extremely low fps, its still worth testing. This way you narrow it down - if it runs without reboots you at least know its isolated to the graphics card.
You could also put your GFX in another pc if available, and see how it runs on there.

Personally, i would just reinstall windows if none of the above yields results. But i reinstall windows more often that normal - i like a fresh install, and it have saved me hours and hours of troubleshooting errors. A reinstall of win10 takes under 1 hour, and is more or less automated all the way. I'm not necessarily saying this is a solution for you, but if you determine the error is not hardware related, it can be a huge time saver... if youre using win10 its very easy to do a reeinstall, you don't even need a product key, thats automatic now. It will recognize you pc and activate itself.

Hey! Thanks for the quick answer. I reinstalled windows 10 today morning and deleted everything. Unfortunately, it did not work. Although it takes a bit more effort before it actually reboots.

jensrobot · May 18, 2017

Hey Jondan, well you basically ruled out a software fault this way, so now it's at least narrowed down to hardware i'd say.
When i face hardware issues i focus on one module at a time. In this case i'd say your GFX or Motherboard is the cause. Stretching it further - it might be ram related. So you gotta test these modules out. Best and easy way is - as i described earlier, to simply try things out in another machine if you have the option.
So this is what i would do.
1. Run a memtest (memtest86) to check your ram right away.
2. Put GFX in another pc and test it.
3. Use another GFX or onboard GFX in your current pc.

If test (2) goes fine in another machine, it's probably you main mobo that has a fault. You could also try a bios upgrade to see if it helps (but you had it running 2 years good so i doubt it will change anything)
If test (3) goes fine it's most definitely your GFX that is broken.

olin9 · May 18, 2017

What PSU do you have? Is the PSU fan running. Your PSU could be overheating when your GPU needs more power.

Lower the eyecandy on the game and then toss some smoke.

ralphfaith · May 18, 2017

jensrobot :

I read his post and then your smart replies sir. Yes there is an issue with the GFX, and both tests seems to be legit. There is a greater chance that there is some issue with GFX not mother board. But still, go for both tests and do report the outcome please.

I had such issue long time back and the issue was resolved by changing the GFX. It's port was a bit bruised.

jondan97 · May 18, 2017

jensrobot :

Hello, I replaced my GPU which is PCI 3.0 with an older card which is PCI 2.0 and after testing for about the same time, I concluded that it does not reboot. This indicates that indeed my GPU is perhaps, malfunctioning. Is there any way to 100% confirm this though? Like some diagnostics or something?

jondan97 · May 18, 2017

olin9 :

Hey, not sure what my PSU is, and the fan is running, yes.

jensrobot · May 18, 2017

most gpu tools i know of is basicly benchmarking. there are different all round solutions thatwill tell you this and that, but the fact is that it is really hard to troubleshoot a restarting bug, but i wont leave it out, maybe someone else can help with that.
one thing tho. i think it COULD be a power supply issue as smartly pointed out by olin9. if your old gfx is consuming less power, and your psu only acts out at high power usage.
but yeah its most likely the gfx sorry ;(

jondan97 · May 18, 2017

jensrobot :

Surely this might be a PSU problem , but wouldn't it be obvious when I start 'edging' the computer? Playing on max settings and with a 4K video on my other monitor requires a lot of power, does it not? I just think there is something wrong with my GPU as it seems.

jensrobot · May 18, 2017

I mean, considering it used to run fine in the same heavy load scenario, it would have to be a wear on the psu of some sorts if in fact it is the PSU's fault. It's a slim chance yeah, its waay more likely your gpu - but all in all, the possibility is there i think.
And yes more workload - more power needed hehe

But lemme get it straight. You DID use to be able to run all this at once yes?

jondan97 · May 18, 2017

jensrobot :

Yup, and I still can with no apparent effects as far as the initial circumstances are concerned. Just retested, it takes the same amount of smokes either way: by running only CS:GO and by running CS:GO, youtube music in the background, 4K Video in full-screen on 2nd monitor and 720p livestream at the same time

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