PC randomly rebooting/freezing under load since June ONLY at my place

radioactivejawa

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Aug 16, 2018
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Hello everyone, I'm really at the end of my wits here. Since late June, my PC has been acting up for random periods of time only under load (graphically-demanding games, video editing) and sometimes if I open programs too fast after booting up. It either freezes or reboots itself. Sometimes it takes a few (automatic, short) tries after the automatic shutdown to boot back up. I have brought it to two different stores two times, and it works perfectly fine (GPU tests, CPU stress tests, HDD and SSD tests...).

I have also changed the PSU to no avail. It has often randomly worked fine for periods as long as two weeks before acting weird again. It seems completely random, but it has never happened during browsing or doing light tasks. Also tried unplugging my peripherals one by one bar the PS2 keyboard (I will borrow my sister's tomorrow in order to try it out). It's always a hard reboot or freeze, with no BSOD or error screens whatsoever. Temps are perfectly fine.

At this point, seeing how it only happens at my place and even under minimal peripherals connected, I'm looking at external factors such as the wall socket (also tried out different multipliers and power plugs/chords). I'm running out of options and the situation is just frustrating.

Please help.

Here are my specs (my new PSU is an EVGA 650W BQ Bronze):

Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64-bit
CPU
Intel Core i7 4790K @ 4.00GHz 44 °C
Haswell 22nm Technology
RAM
16,0GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 1066MHz (9-11-11-31)
Motherboard
ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. Z97-A (SOCKET 1150) 34 °C
Graphics
M237WD (1920x1080@60Hz)
2047MB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB (ZOTAC International) 45 °C
Storage
111GB KINGSTON SA400S37120G (SSD) 36 °C
1863GB Seagate ST2000DM001-1ER164 (SATA) 38 °C
930GB Western Digital WD My Book 1110 USB Device (USB (SATA)) 41 °C
Optical Drives
HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GH24NSB0
WD Virtual CD 1110 USB Device
Audio
Razer Surround Audio Controller
 

radioactivejawa

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Aug 16, 2018
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Modem, router, phone booth/charger, HDTV (I use it as a monitor), an external HDD and my PS3 spread across two strips than go into a multiplier which is connected to the wall socket. I don't have more devices connected than before, that's for sure. The number hasn't changed at all, and it should be far from surpassing the maximum wattage. The wall socket could have gone bad after a summer brownout, that's a possibility. I'll probably try the whole setup in another room of the house and see what happens once I have the time.



Yeah. Also passed the tests without breaking a sweat.
 

radioactivejawa

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Aug 16, 2018
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Nvm that, I just tested it on a whole different room in the house directly plugged to the wall and with entirely different monitor, mouse and cables. Behaves exactly the same and reboots after 1-2 minutes of Prime95.
 

radioactivejawa

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Aug 16, 2018
18
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Update: tried switching from the usual XMP OC profile for my RAM sticks to default settings in the BIOS and manually setting DRAM to 2133mhz. No reboots or freezes after an hour of gaming and editing. I will test it further and come back with the results. Dunno if I'm just lucky, as this issue has often vanished for more than one week only to pop back up.

EDIT: nvm, just rebooted again shortly after writing this.
 

scout_03

Titan
Ambassador
you did not post your psu specs so use occt to stress test it and if it pass test i would keep os drive only in and boot if result is good no reboot i would had a hdd and redo test for boot if there is not shuthing down i would had the other ssd for same test and see .
 

radioactivejawa

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Aug 16, 2018
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PSU and both SSD and HDD have been tested throughouly. Also this is a brand-new PSU (EVGA 650W BQ), as I thought the previous one (Talius Gaming Modular 700W) was defective.
 

radioactivejawa

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Aug 16, 2018
18
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520


Everything looks fine. Cables, capacitors and other mobo components. Could the VRM be malfunctioning?
 

radioactivejawa

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Aug 16, 2018
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Update (good news, I think): testing each RAM module with Prime95's Blend test gave seemingly conclusive results:

- Stick 1 alone: reboot/freeze after 2-3 minutes.
- Stick 2 alone: no problems, left running for over an hour.
- Stick 1 + 2: reboot/freeze after 2-3 minutes.
- Stick 2 alone (second round): no problems again, left running for another good hour.

They're G.Skill RAM sticks, so I'll try to use the lifetime warranty. I'll keep you updated.
 

radioactivejawa

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Aug 16, 2018
18
0
520
I can confirm that the RAM kit replacement solved all my problems. Have been slamming the PC hard for two weeks now with games, editing and anything else. Rock solid once again. Thanks everyone, this was a tough nut to crack!