Computer does hard shutdown/restart on it's own

[deskbound]

Approx. 6 months ago, my computer began shutting down (like flipping the power switch off on PS) and rebooting on it's own. It was fairly infrequent, mainly while my son was playing games. It became more and more frequent and began doing it every few minutes, even during non-gaming. Finally, it would recycle constantly, never really powering on completely, but hard off, begin to reboot, hard off, etc. it was broke.

During this period (before the "end" when it wouldn't boot totally), I replaced the PS with a stronger, more expensive one. No dice. same prob. I had two 4850s running crossfire. took them both out, tried each individually..same prob. spent lots of time cleaning and even replacing fans. no dice.

Finally, after the "broke" period, I bought a new MB, new RAM and CPU cooler, but kept my I7-920, PS and everything else. Ahhhh, finally, it worked. for about 3 months. Now, it's all happening again. the crashes are getting more and more frequent and happen more often than not (but not strictly) during a game or while running photoshop. it's the randomness of the shut-offs that are confusing....along with the fact that the PS, Memory and MB were swapped out.

I'm starting to think it may be the processor OR the video card. I'm running with one 4850 now, but the way it crashes doesn't seem like a VC.

anyway, I have the I7-920
WD 750 tb at 7200
GIGABYTE GA-X58-USB3 LGA 1366
Kingston HyperX Blu 4GB x 2
Windows 7 64 bit

thanks for any advice and sorry if I've asked something already answered. I read tons of posts but didn't see anything exactly like mine.

Thanks in advance!

 

[rolli59]

That really indicates power problems which would be either PSU or motherboard. What exact PSU's have you been using?

 

[deskbound]

That really indicates power problems which would be either PSU or motherboard. What exact PSU's have you been using?

Thanks, Rolli...

PS was my first choice, too. after it happened for a few weeks, I bought a nice, expensive Antec 800 or 850, convinced it was the problem. 10 minutes after I connected....same thing. sent it back to Newegg. Then, I did the major overhaul, as stated above. New MB, memory, CPU fan. No dice.

Just had a thought. I'm working on a new costco computer now. intended to keep it but the more I think about it, the more I want to save the old one...better CPU, ram, etc. Anywho....I was sitting here typing this and i heard a little click...sorta like a very small power come from the speakers. didn't effect this computer, but I'm wondering if it might affect the other computer differently. I confess I don't have a nice power surge controller. my system is just plugged into a cheap strip. could it be a power from the WALL issue rather than a system issue?

thanks again!!!

 

[rolli59]

Can be but most of us live with stable power most of the time. What is your old PSU? Maybe it is slowly killing motherboards if the voltages are incorrect.

 

[deskbound]

good thought. It's a COOLMAX CTI-700B 700W. If the PS could degrade the MB, that would explain the identical behavior with a new PS on the old MB, and the beginning of the problem again with my new MB and other components. I'll test out a new PS and hope that my new, much more expensive MB isn't permanently damaged.

I'll post later.

Thanks again!!! happy fourth

 

[deskbound]

ok, went to Best Buy and fortunately they had nice Corsair 700 Gamer on sale for 79 bucks. it's been in for 4 hours or so and I told my son to play his heart out on the highest res games he could find, especially team fortress II, the usual for sure killer.

so far, not a hitch. I went through a ton of fireworks pictures just now, scrolling very fast through them and, also, no issues YET.

I'll give it a few days but it normally would have failed by now, so it appears to have been the power supply being bad and somehow corrupting the old MB.

Thanks and i hope I'm not on here in a few days feeling depressed. I just saved 800 bucks...taking my replacement system back to costco tomorrow.

cheers!!!!

 

[deskbound]

seems all good after 24 hours of hard use. thanks, Rolli, for inspiring a recheck.

 

[deskbound]

Best answer selected by deskbound.