Computer has randomly shut off a couple of times in the past week

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smoothrunes

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Nov 29, 2014
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So recently, after putting in my busted laptop's hard drive into my desktop to run and act as a second drive, I've noticed a problem has been occurring, namely on 2 different occasions my PC has just shut itself off before immediately restarting again. The first time was just during a YT video with chrome open, maybe steam in the background and that's it, and the second time, just now, was during a game. Does anybody know what steps I should take first to get a bead on what the problem is?
 
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Unfortunately yes, it did crash again. I have since found that another cable was loose. I think it was the GPU fan possibly, it was a loose enough connection that wiggling the wire slightly caused yet another turn off/turn on scenario. Went back to investigate it and the connectors had come out completely. Might be why on some reboots after shutting down, the GPU fans were not booting up properly. Not happened as of yet, but it managed to go all of yesterday without incident so I still don't think I'm in the all clear. Whilst some crashes have happened whilst just browsing the internet, I'd say half/a majority have now been during a game, so it would make sense if the graphics card fans were not properly plugged in that they were just...
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smoothrunes

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CPU: i7 4790K @4.00GHz
GPU: GTX 980 4GB
RAM: 16 GB DDR3
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium
MB: Asus Z-97-A
PSU: SilverStone Strider Plus ST1000-P 1000W

I have not removed the laptop drive since, no.
 
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atomicWAR

atomicWAR

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Well if it happens again, i suggest you pull the laptop drive to see if it makes a difference. Also you don't have a very good PSU which could also be an issue. Yours is tier 4 and I don't encourage builders to use anything less the tier 1 or 2. Anything less can fry your rig and even burn your house down with you in it. The PSU is the heart of your system, never try to save money when it is concerned because it can break everything attached to it physically and electrically (say CPU/RAM/add-in card powered my motherboard). But I am also not assuming the PSU is at fault, yet. Have you checked you crash dump logs yet to see what the offending process might be?
 
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smoothrunes

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I'll have to remove it later on after I transfer the bulk of its contents onto an external drive. It seems like the most genuine candidate for the fault since it's the one change in hardware I've made and then the issue started happening, but then again I'm failing to see the logistics of how a second hard drive starts causing problems like this.

In the meantime, are there any tests/software I can run to check for failing hardware?
 
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atomicWAR

atomicWAR

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Could be the drive adding load to the PSU (unlikely but not impossible with a poor unit like yours)...more likely is it is a software issue. This was why I urged a check of your crash dumps. Or even a hardware conflict the new drive is causing. But your right the likely offender is the laptop hard drive as it is the new thing added to the equation.
 
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smoothrunes

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OK, back to report new findings. I removed the laptop hdd and things seemed to be going well, but nope, it suddenly happened again, only a bit longer this time. The previous offings have occurred around 5-6 hours after turning on, this one was about 9ish hours. It then happened again, twice during a game session, and I left it yesterday with the gpu not working properly, the fans wouldn't kick in at start up for some reason. Took a look at it just now when I got up, turned the desktop on it's side and after moving a seemingly inconspicuous unplugged cable coming from the psu out the way, the fans kicked in and the comp booted properly again. One thing to note was that during the hdd removal, the clip for the gpu slot on the motherboard broke off, though I'm not sure if that would cause the issue. So I may have possibly figured it out, the gpu fans may not have been working due to cable placement and so the computer would force shut down because the card was getting pipping hot with no way to cool down.

I am worried about that broken off clip on the MB though, would that also be cause for concern? Should I use a different slot, though that would take some rerouting of the power cables.
 
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atomicWAR

atomicWAR

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Honestly at this point I would be more suspicious of your PSU as stated before though have a clip break on your motherboard is not ideal. That said I have had clips break myself (24 pin clips, ram lock clips, PCIe lock clips, etc) Rarely did they cause any real issues though. So I would take a long hard look at your PSU if it were me. Even if you replace it and everything is still not working right...you'll know when you do find the bad part you'll be running a better PSU then the poor quality unit you have now. At which point then i might consider the mobo as the culprit.
 
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smoothrunes

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OK, I may have finally fixed the problem, and hoo boy, is it a doozy. You'll be forgiven if you laugh at my ineptitude since I probably deserve some type of Darwinism award. I do believe that the psu cable has not been plugged in properly this entire time. I had the tower laying on its side yesterday and when I went to move it vertically again, the shut off and reboot issue happened. So I fiddled around with the cable and suddenly the comp wouldn't power on at all. I then realized that is was extremely loose and not plugged in all the way. Haven't had an issue since then, so I'm not 100% sure I'm out of the woods yet, but still. Seems basic brain functioning failure is as bad as hardware failure.
 
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atomicWAR

atomicWAR

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So electro-migration. It is a pain and it can fit your symptoms well. Things warm and expand, especially when running games. The cable slowly works its way out making the voltage irregular and crash. Cools off quickly. Connection is a little better until it heats up again to do the same thing over and over and over again. Each time pushing the cable a little further out making it quicker to crash. Don't feel bad. While checking your cables should always be one of the early steps when troubleshooting...it is an easy one to forget. I do it myself and did it hear as well. Should have mentioned that in my first post. Regardless glad you found the culprit!! Or so we hope. LMK if it crashes again in the nearish future.
 
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smoothrunes

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Unfortunately yes, it did crash again. I have since found that another cable was loose. I think it was the GPU fan possibly, it was a loose enough connection that wiggling the wire slightly caused yet another turn off/turn on scenario. Went back to investigate it and the connectors had come out completely. Might be why on some reboots after shutting down, the GPU fans were not booting up properly. Not happened as of yet, but it managed to go all of yesterday without incident so I still don't think I'm in the all clear. Whilst some crashes have happened whilst just browsing the internet, I'd say half/a majority have now been during a game, so it would make sense if the graphics card fans were not properly plugged in that they were just shutting off and causing heat problems.
 
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egmccann

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After reading all that, I'd frankly just take the PC to the bench and go over everything (and clean it while you're at it, give every heat sink and fan a good cleaning, you don't mention how old the system is, but running a 4xxx chip it's got a few miles under its belt.) Make sure everything is secure, *carefully.*

As far as the broken GPU clip, if you're not traveling with the PC? Make sure it's in securely and the bracket's screwed down securely.
 
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smoothrunes

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The PC is pretty much stationary other than when time comes to clean it or fit new parts. The system age itself varies. Some of the components are from my old PC, but the MB, RAM and HDD are all <2 years old.
 
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