My computer keeps randomly turning off!

[Hardrock131]

I've been having this problem for a while now. It just turns off, then after a few seconds turns back on. At first I thought it was overheating or something, but it just did that while I doing my homework in notepad. I had chrome open playing a youtube video, and also steam and skype running, but thats it. It's getting annoying. Can anyone help me? I don't know if it's the hardware, or drivers, or software. Here are my specs:

Video card: Saphire 6870 1GB
CPU: Intel i5 2500k
RAM: 4 GB 1600 mhz

I don't know what else to put, I'm kind of a noob when it comes to this.

 

[gary1]

What are the rest of the specs?

 

[Hardrock131]

sorry, 1TB HDD, windows 7 64-bit, MSI military class 2 P67A-C43 motherboard 650w diablotek PSU. What else do you need? im not sure what to put.

 

[ngapple936]

Do you require a power strip to plug everything in to the wall? I had this same issue and it turned out that my computer wasn't getting enough power, because several components were plugged into a (rather cheap) power strip.

 

[zaho0006]

I've seen the power or reset buttons fail, which can cause random behavior with the computer powering off and on by itself.

If its not a heat or power issue you could try unplugging the reset button, and if that doesn't work you can connect the reset button leads to the power headers on the motherboard and use the reset button to boot.

Or just shaking the computer may be a way to test for this as well, but the changing the leads would likely be a more reliable test.

 

[gary1]

The Diablotek is incredibly bad. It could very well be the problem.

 

[funguseater]

Hi Hardrock

Can you download Everest Free edition or AIDA64 (if 64bit) they both have event viewers that will tell you exactly what happened when your PC shut down.

You can also access the built in Event Viewer through CONTROL PANEL > ADMINISTRATIVE TOOLS > EVENT VIEWER

Fungi

 

[rbspace454]

Hi there,

After checking obvious external things: make sure that power strips are not plugged into power strips, then plugged into the wall...I've seen bad power strips short out and shut down computers before. I would try that first to be sure. If not that, then most likely it is probably a bad power supply, which is not hard to replace. Make sure that your video card or processor is not drawing too much wattage for what you are using it for.

Here is one of many sites for determining how much wattage you need in your psu:

http://www.extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp

 

[Hardrock131]

Hi there,

After checking obvious external things: make sure that power strips are not plugged into power strips, then plugged into the wall...I've seen bad power strips short out and shut down computers before. I would try that first to be sure. If not that, then most likely it is probably a bad power supply, which is not hard to replace. Make sure that your video card or processor is not drawing too much wattage for what you are using it for.

Here is one of many sites for determining how much wattage you need in your psu:

http://www.extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp

Okay, so I definitely have enough power, and I am plugged into 1 power strip which is plugged into the wall. I did use my friends PSU for a little bit a while ago and I never had this problem, so it might be the power supply I guess. Or maybe I just have a cheap power strip haha. Thanks for that site also.