Computer shuts off unexpectedly

[slusks]

Hi!

So I built a computer in about November and it has run great ever since (specs below). Suddenly about a month ago I started getting unexpected shut downs while gaming. It happened once, the computer shut down and all the fans maxed out, so i flicked the power on the psu, let it sit and it turned back on, booted up fine, everything was great. About a week later it started doing this once a night, and after the first or second night it wouldn't stay on for more than 10 or 15 minutes of video streaming before it shut down.

My first instinct was the psu, so i replaced my 600W Corsair with an 800W corsair, computer worked great and then about 4-5 hours into gaming it shut down and i was back to square one.

took it to geek squad and after about 2 hours of stressing it, the comp stopped booting all together. checked the CPU in another computer and it worked fine so we concluded it was the motherboard. Ordered an new ASUS M5A97, installed it and everything seemed to work great for about a week.

A couple of days ago it happened again, so i bought a new cpu fan/heatsink and another case fan. Was just running the computer for about 20 minutes in a starcraft2 replay and it shut off on me. No idea what could be the matter at this point as that was the one time I didn't open CPUID Monitor.

Specs:
- AMD FX-4100 Zambezi 3.6GHz
- SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 6870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card
- CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX650M 650W ATX12V v2.31 / EPS12V v2.92 80
- PNY Optima 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666)
- ASUS M5A87 AM3+ AMD 870 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
^ Replaced with ASUS M5A97 AM3+ AMD 970 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard with UEFI BIOS
- Seagate Barracuda Green ST2000DL003 2TB 5900 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
- Rosewill CHALLENGER Black Gaming ATX Mid Tower Computer Case, comes with Three Fans-1x Front Blue LED 120mm Fan, 1x Top 140mm Fan, 1x Rear 120mm Fan, option Fans-2x Side 120mm Fan

I also traded out a rosewill wireless internet pci card for a tpi link card but i dont think that matters

All said and done the cpu/gpu idle temps are about 34C/40C and i dont overclock or do anything fancy with any of my hardware. Games i play are pretty much exclusively League of Legends and Starcraft2

 

[jerreddredd]

run memtest86+

make a cd from the iso and boot it. run for a few hours or until error is found. this will rule out bad ram

http://www.memtest.org/

 

[slusks]

run memtest86+

make a cd from the iso and boot it. run for a few hours or until error is found. this will rule out bad ram

http://www.memtest.org/

I dont have an optical drive, will running it from a usb work? do i need to do anything to format the usb drive?

 

[slusks]

that was a stupid question, i have it running right now, what am i looking for while i run memtest?

after a run memtest does anybody have an idea of a next step

i recently turned it on to try gaming and it shut off after about 15 minutes. the i turned it on again and it shut off as the game was loading.

 

[slusks]

memtest says it passed, not a RAM issue.

 

[jerreddredd]

memtest says it passed, not a RAM issue.

is there anything in your system event logs (besides "system shut down unexpectedly")?

you could try stressing the CPU with prime95 and see if it shuts down, then stress the GPU with FurMark. then both at the same time to stress the PSU.

you can also check for heat issues during these tests
http://download.cnet.com/Prime95/3000-2053_4-192895.html
http://www.geeks3d.com/20120510/furmark-1-10-1-gpu-burn-in-stress-test-videocard-geforce-radeon/

 

[slusks]

is there anything in your system event logs (besides "system shut down unexpectedly")?

you could try stressing the CPU with prime95 and see if it shuts down, then stress the GPU with FurMark. then both at the same time to stress the PSU.

you can also check for heat issues during these tests
http://download.cnet.com/Prime95/3000-2053_4-192895.html
http://www.geeks3d.com/20120510/furmark-1-10-1-gpu-burn-in-stress-test-videocard-geforce-radeon/

My computer shut off after about 33 minutes of running prime95. It happend of course in the 2 seconds i walked away from it so idk if there were/should have been any error displays. I would just assume it shut off in the manner that it usually does.

does a 33 minute run of prime 95 indicate anything? When i tried booting up the computer this morning it was really slow to load. Am i seeing the slow painful death of a processor here? My next course of action is to test the GPU with FurMark.

 

[jerreddredd]

My computer shut off after about 33 minutes of running prime95. It happend of course in the 2 seconds i walked away from it so idk if there were/should have been any error displays. I would just assume it shut off in the manner that it usually does.

does a 33 minute run of prime 95 indicate anything? When i tried booting up the computer this morning it was really slow to load. Am i seeing the slow painful death of a processor here? My next course of action is to test the GPU with FurMark.

were you monitoring the CPU temp? what was it?

 

[slusks]

CPU temp was around 60 degrees

As an update, i tested the GPU with furmark and it earned a score of like 1600 or something, didn't cause excessive heat, didn't shut down.

I also ordered and tried to install another processor (same make) and after booting past the bios it stayed on for maybe 30 seconds and then turned off, then the computer wouldn't turn on with the new processor (but would with the old). When i try to boot with the new processor the little red LED on the motherboard lights (the one under the RAM, dont remember what it's called) and it gives me a beep code (1 long and 3 short) that supposedly indicates a failure in the graphics card... a part that i'm pretty confidant is still good.

Thats where i'm at. thanks for all your help

 

[jerreddredd]

wow... let me think on this one.