My PC randomly shuts off when idle (solved)

mwoodj

Weaksauce
Joined
Jun 25, 2002
Messages
125
I am having this problem and I'm scratching my head trying to figure it out. I run Linux on my computer. It runs without issue for days at a time. I can game, work which involves large compiles, run VMs, anything. Then I'll leave my PC and return later to find it has shut off. USB peripherals are still powered. The motherboard RGB is on (it is on even if the computer is powered down). The LAN LEDs are flashing. Hitting the power button does nothing. I have to flip the power off on the PSU and wait for the motherboard to discharge. When all of the lights turn off I can turn the PSU back on and power on the machine. Everything comes up fine and the machine will run for days again. The machine only shuts off when I'm away so it seems to be a problem that occurs when it is idle. It has never happened while I have been using the machine and I have never witnessed it. Here is the relevant hardware:

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 5900X 3.7 GHz 12-Core Processor
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15 chromax.black 82.52 CFM CPU Cooler
Motherboard: Asus TUF GAMING X570-PRO (WI-FI) ATX AM4 Motherboard
Memory: Crucial Ballistix 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory
Storage: Samsung 980 Pro 2 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 1070 8 GB FTW2 GAMING iCX Video Card
Power Supply: SeaSonic PRIME TX 850 W 80+ Titanium Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply

The BIOS has been updated to the latest version. In order to determine if it was a problem occurring in the OS I have opened remote shells on another machine to monitor the system log, top, and the hardware sensors. The final state of all three is completely normal. No high temps or crazy voltages. No process running amuck. No unexpected system log messages. In fact nothing is logged at the moment the problem occurs. It does leave my SSD filesystem in a changed and uncommitted state so in the long term this is not good for my system. Fortunately I haven't run into any filesystem corruption yet. When it comes to the hardware I have run numerous overnight memory tests and I have not had a single error. I am not running an overclock. The BIOS is set to standard configuration with the correct DOCP profile selected for my memories timings. I have disabled the RAM power down mode. No change. Any ideas? This is driving me nuts.

Edit: The problem was a faulty PSU which has been replaced by Seasonic.
 
Last edited:
I am having this problem and I'm scratching my head trying to figure it out. I run Linux on my computer. It runs without issue for days at a time. I can game, work which involves large compiles, run VMs, anything. Then I'll leave my PC and return later to find it has shut off. USB peripherals are still powered. The motherboard RGB is on (it is on even if the computer is powered down). The LAN LEDs are flashing. Hitting the power button does nothing. I have to flip the power off on the PSU and wait for the motherboard to discharge. When all of the lights turn off I can turn the PSU back on and power on the machine. Everything comes up fine and the machine will run for days again. The machine only shuts off when I'm away so it seems to be a problem that occurs when it is idle. It has never happened while I have been using the machine and I have never witnessed it. Here is the relevant hardware:

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 5900X 3.7 GHz 12-Core Processor
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15 chromax.black 82.52 CFM CPU Cooler
Motherboard: Asus TUF GAMING X570-PRO (WI-FI) ATX AM4 Motherboard
Memory: Crucial Ballistix 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory
Storage: Samsung 980 Pro 2 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 1070 8 GB FTW2 GAMING iCX Video Card
Power Supply: SeaSonic PRIME TX 850 W 80+ Titanium Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply

The BIOS has been updated to the latest version. In order to determine if it was a problem occurring in the OS I have opened remote shells on another machine to monitor the system log, top, and the hardware sensors. The final state of all three is completely normal. No high temps or crazy voltages. No process running amuck. No unexpected system log messages. In fact nothing is logged at the moment the problem occurs. It does leave my SSD filesystem in a changed and uncommitted state so in the long term this is not good for my system. Fortunately I haven't run into any filesystem corruption yet. When it comes to the hardware I have run numerous overnight memory tests and I have not had a single error. I am not running an overclock. The BIOS is set to standard configuration with the correct DOCP profile selected for my memories timings. I have disabled the RAM power down mode. No change. Any ideas? This is driving me nuts.
A Titanium Certified, SeaSonic PSU. You never suspected that a PSU could cause this problem. Swap the PSU out, since this problem could be due to a voltage
being low. If you have a PSU voltage tester, why not test your PSU. Since this problem has caused you much tension, maybe that PSU would work in another computer, so it is worth the time to swap.
 
I had that issue, but it was the power supply overheating, so I decided to turn the fan back on via the software (on the PSU that is) and it has worked fine ever since. I thought it was my video card but that wasn't......personally I don't like them "fanless" PSU and if you have one where you can turn off the fan? Don't.
Anyhow, I'd say swap out the PSU or put a fan over it to keep it cool-er.
 
I had that issue, but it was the power supply overheating, so I decided to turn the fan back on via the software (on the PSU that is) and it has worked fine ever since. I thought it was my video card but that wasn't......personally I don't like them "fanless" PSU and if you have one where you can turn off the fan? Don't.
Anyhow, I'd say swap out the PSU or put a fan over it to keep it cool-er.
I have the "hybrid mode" disabled so the PSU fan is always on.
 
Op, dont let it idle.
Well it doesn't fix the issue but it's also not an option. I work on this machine. It performs an automated nightly backup and I need to be able to access it remotely when I am away.
 
bios up to date? chipset drivers up to date?(if that applies on linux?) try turning off cpu power saving in the bios?
 
Turn monitor hibernate off and let it run a screen saver as an overnight test. Disable os hibernate as a separate test assuming that it does. I have seen several people in this and other forums complain of this issue and experienced it briefly on my 5800X cpu in my current rig. My solution was to tinker with memory and soc voltage until I found the correct balance that I could resume from hibernation reliably and not have it hang when idled for extended periods. Now I just turn it off when not in use. I vaguely remember having to reduce both memory and SOC voltage to make it work and the reductions were quite small increments. The process was tedious but the result was worth it.
 
I am having this problem and I'm scratching my head trying to figure it out. I run Linux on my computer. It runs without issue for days at a time. I can game, work which involves large compiles, run VMs, anything. Then I'll leave my PC and return later to find it has shut off. USB peripherals are still powered. The motherboard RGB is on (it is on even if the computer is powered down). The LAN LEDs are flashing. Hitting the power button does nothing. I have to flip the power off on the PSU and wait for the motherboard to discharge. When all of the lights turn off I can turn the PSU back on and power on the machine. Everything comes up fine and the machine will run for days again. The machine only shuts off when I'm away so it seems to be a problem that occurs when it is idle. It has never happened while I have been using the machine and I have never witnessed it. Here is the relevant hardware:

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 5900X 3.7 GHz 12-Core Processor
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15 chromax.black 82.52 CFM CPU Cooler
Motherboard: Asus TUF GAMING X570-PRO (WI-FI) ATX AM4 Motherboard
Memory: Crucial Ballistix 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory
Storage: Samsung 980 Pro 2 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 1070 8 GB FTW2 GAMING iCX Video Card
Power Supply: SeaSonic PRIME TX 850 W 80+ Titanium Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply

The BIOS has been updated to the latest version. In order to determine if it was a problem occurring in the OS I have opened remote shells on another machine to monitor the system log, top, and the hardware sensors. The final state of all three is completely normal. No high temps or crazy voltages. No process running amuck. No unexpected system log messages. In fact nothing is logged at the moment the problem occurs. It does leave my SSD filesystem in a changed and uncommitted state so in the long term this is not good for my system. Fortunately I haven't run into any filesystem corruption yet. When it comes to the hardware I have run numerous overnight memory tests and I have not had a single error. I am not running an overclock. The BIOS is set to standard configuration with the correct DOCP profile selected for my memories timings. I have disabled the RAM power down mode. No change. Any ideas? This is driving me nuts.
Have you tried disabling c states?
 
Have you tried disabling c states?
I have disabled c-state c6 which is known to be the most problematic. Unfortunately that did not help. I have not tried disabling c-states entirely and that is not a very desirable solution. I will be trying a PSU swap soon.
 
I have disabled c-state c6 which is known to be the most problematic. Unfortunately that did not help. I have not tried disabling c-states entirely and that is not a very desirable solution. I will be trying a PSU swap soon.
Would be weird if the PSU was at fault at low loads like idling. My guess is the mobo is the problem.
 
Would be weird if the PSU was at fault at low loads like idling. My guess is the mobo is the problem.
Actually it was a known issue with early Ryzen builds that PSUs had trouble with the low power states. BIOSes added an option to mitigate the issue called "Power Supply Idle Control" with two options: normal and "typical" or "typical current". The second option would fix the problem. I checked my BIOS and the option is there so I have turned it on. I will try this first and move on to the PSU swap if that doesn't help.
 
Some minor incremental changes to soc and dram voltages may be all that's required to rectify your situation and they cost little.
 
Some minor incremental changes to soc and dram voltages may be all that's required to rectify your situation and they cost little.
Unfortunately it's practically impossible to test if minor incremental changes effect the issue because it takes days for the problem to occur. If the problem were easily reproducible I'm sure I would have solved it by now.
 
I had this problem and it turned out to be my surge protector interrupting power.
Thanks for the suggestion. I did check this already. I plugged directly into the outlet and the problem persisted.
 
Should anyone come along this thread in the future the problem has been resolved. It was a faulty power supply which Seasonic has replaced. The system is rock solid now.
How did you determine it was the fault of the PSU? I have a similar issue and just trying to diagnose.
 
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