TL;DR - Computer died while I was AFK, noticed a bad smell, wasn't PSU, wasn't RAM, began to function after removing my GPU, but now my CPU runs way too hot. Tried reseating my CPU, still hot.
Hello all. This is my first time posting on these forums after using the countless resources here for troubleshooting my PC over the years. I never thought I would have to be making my own thread with my specific problem that I could not solve on my own.
Yesterday, I started my day like any other, booted up my PC, opened up a Twitch stream in the Twitch app, opened Discord, and a couple tabs of Google Chrome. I left my room for a short while to use the restroom after my PC had already been running for about an hour or so, only to return to my monitors in the "sleep" mode and my speakers still on, but my PC was off. (With this info I know the problem does not stem from my outlets/power strip)
At first I thought, I didn't have any updates queued, did I? So I pressed the power button, but nothing happened. Fear started to set in. I got low to my PC and instantly noticed a smell that should not have been there (burning, melting?). I quickly unplugged my tower and took just my PSU cable and my tower to a new outlet in the house to see if it could have been my room's wiring. I plugged in the PSU, pressed the on button, and got 1 half second of my LEDs kicking on and fans beginning to spin, only for it to stop instantly.
I started my google searches. A lot of posts led me to believe my PSU was shot. Hell, I've had the PC for 4 years now, maybe that's something that could have gone out. (my PSU is a
Corsair - Builder 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply) Luckily, I had a spare PSU that had -100W than my previous, but could still fit my needs. I put in the new PSU, booted the computer... only to have the same issue. I was concerned. It must not have been my PSU then, because I got the same half-second LEDs and fans turning on.
Next I tried unplugging my GPU, perhaps that got blown out. (My GPU is a ZOTAC GeForce® GTX 1060 3GB) After unplugging and removing the GPU entirely, the PC booted! I was happy, but also concerned. I knew the problem wasn't the PSU. I put my old PSU back in and the PC booted fine again. Okay, my 4 year old PSU is okay. Good. I figured the problem lied within the Graphics card. I contacted my manufacturer of my GPU and confirmed that I am still under warrantly and able to swap out my GPU with a new one if needed If I removed the card and the PC worked fine now, it must be that simple! I was wrong.
I put my old GPU (my old GPU is a Sapphire - Radeon R9 280X 3GB Dual-X Video Card) in my PC to hold me over until I got my new GPU (haven't sent it in yet), and installed the drivers, restarted my computer, and tried to run some tests by playing games and watching media. I instantly noticed that when I used Google Chrome to watch YouTube videos in 1080p or try and stream anime from Crunchyroll in 1080p, my browser would stutter and the media was nearly unwatchable. I tried playing COD 4 and some Dolphin games, and I got major stuttering in those games too, something that should not happen even with my old card. I watched some media I had downloaded that was in 1080p, and my computer had no problem playing video I already had on local access, no stuttering, no audio cut outs, crystal clear. With these tests done, I figured there could have been an issue with my RAM, granted that Google Chrome and games eat up RAM like nothing. I checked my sticks physically and ran the Windows Memory Diagnostic - nothing.
At this point I'm feeling defeated. The problem I thought to have isolated was not the problem at all. My computer was still acting up, and it had no reason too. I made a System Performance report using the built in program, and the only issues I got back were bad drivers for my Xbox wireless controllers, something I've always had.
I opened up Speccy next and WHAM! My eyes instantly were drew to a fat red number. 98°C on my CPU. Not right. Not right at all. MY CPU had been running so hot this whole time! I unplugged my PC again and inspected the CPU and heat sink. No visible burns or anything out of the ordinary. I reapplied thermal paste to my CPU and reseated my heatsink and turned on my PC hoping this would do the trick. Yet here I am, using Firefox to avoid high temps, making my first forum post to a tech help website. Right now I'm idling at 64°C while using only Firefox.
My thoughts at this point are either a fired motherboard or a fried CPU, but my knowledge on these subjects is only so limited. I've done nearly everything I can think of on my end, and because of that smell I am led to believe I will be needing to replace something rather than downloading a couple programs or reseating an item or two. ZOTAC has approved my request to send in my GPU, but I'm unsure as to whether or not that is the issue, granted my PC is running so hot without the card.
The only thing I could think of that recently changed within my PC within the past few days before my crash, was I took my PC out back to give it huge spray-down with air using my air compressor I have out back. I don't think this could have done anything to the PC but I just wanna keep every possible factor to this issue within my brain.
I'm at a loss as to what to do/what to replace/what is even wrong with my PC at this point and this is my last chance at fixing this machine with sound knowledge before I just start buying new parts and slapping them in until it works.
Here is a list of the parts in my PC as of right now via Speccy:
Operating System
Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit SP1
CPU
Intel Core i5 4570 @ 3.20GHz 61 °C
Haswell 22nm Technology
RAM
12.0GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 799MHz (11-11-11-28)
Motherboard
MSI H81M-P33 (MS-7817) (SOCKET 0) 48 °C
Graphics
2367 (1920x1080@60Hz)
2367 (1920x1080@60Hz)
3072MB ATI AMD Radeon R9 200 Series (Sapphire/PCPartner) 41 °C
Storage
238GB Crucial_CT256MX100SSD1 ATA Device (SSD) 33 °C
931GB Western Digital WDC WD1002FBYS-18A6B0 ATA Device (SATA) 39 °C
3726GB Seagate ST4000DM004-2CV104 ATA Device (SATA) 30 °C
Optical Drives
DTSOFT Virtual CdRom Device
ASUS DRW-24F1ST b ATA Device
Audio
ASUS Xonar DGX Audio Device
P.S. Should I still send in my GPU for a replacement?
If you have read this far I honestly owe you my life, any help is greatly appreciated and will be acted upon.
TL;DR - Computer died while I was AFK, noticed a bad smell, wasn't PSU, wasn't RAM, began to function after removing my GPU, but now my CPU runs way too hot. Tried reseating my CPU, still hot.
Hello all. This is my first time posting on these forums after using the countless resources here for troubleshooting my PC over the years. I never thought I would have to be making my own thread with my specific problem that I could not solve on my own.
Yesterday, I started my day like any other, booted up my PC, opened up a Twitch stream in the Twitch app, opened Discord, and a couple tabs of Google Chrome. I left my room for a short while to use the restroom after my PC had already been running for about an hour or so, only to return to my monitors in the "sleep" mode and my speakers still on, but my PC was off. (With this info I know the problem does not stem from my outlets/power strip)
At first I thought, I didn't have any updates queued, did I? So I pressed the power button, but nothing happened. Fear started to set in. I got low to my PC and instantly noticed a smell that should not have been there (burning, melting?). I quickly unplugged my tower and took just my PSU cable and my tower to a new outlet in the house to see if it could have been my room's wiring. I plugged in the PSU, pressed the on button, and got 1 half second of my LEDs kicking on and fans beginning to spin, only for it to stop instantly.
I started my google searches. A lot of posts led me to believe my PSU was shot. Hell, I've had the PC for 4 years now, maybe that's something that could have gone out. (my PSU is a
Corsair - Builder 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply) Luckily, I had a spare PSU that had -100W than my previous, but could still fit my needs. I put in the new PSU, booted the computer... only to have the same issue. I was concerned. It must not have been my PSU then, because I got the same half-second LEDs and fans turning on.
Next I tried unplugging my GPU, perhaps that got blown out. (My GPU is a ZOTAC GeForce® GTX 1060 3GB) After unplugging and removing the GPU entirely, the PC booted! I was happy, but also concerned. I knew the problem wasn't the PSU. I put my old PSU back in and the PC booted fine again. Okay, my 4 year old PSU is okay. Good. I figured the problem lied within the Graphics card. I contacted my manufacturer of my GPU and confirmed that I am still under warrantly and able to swap out my GPU with a new one if needed If I removed the card and the PC worked fine now, it must be that simple! I was wrong.
I put my old GPU (my old GPU is a Sapphire - Radeon R9 280X 3GB Dual-X Video Card) in my PC to hold me over until I got my new GPU (haven't sent it in yet), and installed the drivers, restarted my computer, and tried to run some tests by playing games and watching media. I instantly noticed that when I used Google Chrome to watch YouTube videos in 1080p or try and stream anime from Crunchyroll in 1080p, my browser would stutter and the media was nearly unwatchable. I tried playing COD 4 and some Dolphin games, and I got major stuttering in those games too, something that should not happen even with my old card. I watched some media I had downloaded that was in 1080p, and my computer had no problem playing video I already had on local access, no stuttering, no audio cut outs, crystal clear. With these tests done, I figured there could have been an issue with my RAM, granted that Google Chrome and games eat up RAM like nothing. I checked my sticks physically and ran the Windows Memory Diagnostic - nothing.
At this point I'm feeling defeated. The problem I thought to have isolated was not the problem at all. My computer was still acting up, and it had no reason too. I made a System Performance report using the built in program, and the only issues I got back were bad drivers for my Xbox wireless controllers, something I've always had.
I opened up Speccy next and WHAM! My eyes instantly were drew to a fat red number. 98°C on my CPU. Not right. Not right at all. MY CPU had been running so hot this whole time! I unplugged my PC again and inspected the CPU and heat sink. No visible burns or anything out of the ordinary. I reapplied thermal paste to my CPU and reseated my heatsink and turned on my PC hoping this would do the trick. Yet here I am, using Firefox to avoid high temps, making my first forum post to a tech help website. Right now I'm idling at 64°C while using only Firefox.
My thoughts at this point are either a fired motherboard or a fried CPU, but my knowledge on these subjects is only so limited. I've done nearly everything I can think of on my end, and because of that smell I am led to believe I will be needing to replace something rather than downloading a couple programs or reseating an item or two. ZOTAC has approved my request to send in my GPU, but I'm unsure as to whether or not that is the issue, granted my PC is running so hot without the card.
The only thing I could think of that recently changed within my PC within the past few days before my crash, was I took my PC out back to give it huge spray-down with air using my air compressor I have out back. I don't think this could have done anything to the PC but I just wanna keep every possible factor to this issue within my brain.
I'm at a loss as to what to do/what to replace/what is even wrong with my PC at this point and this is my last chance at fixing this machine with sound knowledge before I just start buying new parts and slapping them in until it works.
Here is a list of the parts in my PC as of right now via Speccy:
Operating System
Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit SP1
CPU
Intel Core i5 4570 @ 3.20GHz 61 °C
Haswell 22nm Technology
RAM
12.0GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 799MHz (11-11-11-28)
Motherboard
MSI H81M-P33 (MS-7817) (SOCKET 0) 48 °C
Graphics
2367 (1920x1080@60Hz)
2367 (1920x1080@60Hz)
3072MB ATI AMD Radeon R9 200 Series (Sapphire/PCPartner) 41 °C
Storage
238GB Crucial_CT256MX100SSD1 ATA Device (SSD) 33 °C
931GB Western Digital WDC WD1002FBYS-18A6B0 ATA Device (SATA) 39 °C
3726GB Seagate ST4000DM004-2CV104 ATA Device (SATA) 30 °C
Optical Drives
DTSOFT Virtual CdRom Device
ASUS DRW-24F1ST b ATA Device
Audio
ASUS Xonar DGX Audio Device
P.S. Should I still send in my GPU for a replacement?
If you have read this far I honestly owe you my life, any help is greatly appreciated and will be acted upon.
TL;DR - Computer died while I was AFK, noticed a bad smell, wasn't PSU, wasn't RAM, began to function after removing my GPU, but now my CPU runs way too hot. Tried reseating my CPU, still hot.
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