Whats going on?

[A-L-E-X]

My computer has run very well for about 6 months now. The build is in my sig. For some reason for the past couple of nights it randomly shuts off after a few hours of use-- even if Im just browsing the internet! And then it wont turn on again for about 30 min. I cant figure out why! Can anyone help? Could it be a software issue (ie startup programs like hardware monitoring tools, too many browser windows open) or is it something to do with hardware (like power supply, mobo, etc). Is this going to cause any long term damage? Thanks for any suggestions!

 

[zoobaby]

Overheating....clean out the case.

 

[troisanh]

Sounds like overheating and PS tripping out. Like zoobaby said, keep case cleaned out and make sure you have good airflow.

 

[A-L-E-X]

The case is kept pretty clean and I have four tornado fans in there and a double slot pci fan as well. I use Hardware Monitor to monitor temps and my temps are in the low 50s on all cores and the GPU core is 57C. I kid you guys not, the last time it shut off (just a few minutes ago) I was in the bios (hadnt made any changes) and boom! It just shut itself off as if i'd just pressed the power button. And I cant get the power button to respond right away either, takes a few minutes of pressing it to get it turned back on. What do you guys think is going on? Am I overloading my power or something? Everything is plugged into the UPS, yet the monitors dont seem to shut off automatically like that. Thanks for any help!

 

[troisanh]

Got another PS to test? Still thinking its PS related.

 

[SFaznSpEEdSTeR]

I, as well as others in the thread, believe this is due to a malfunctioning PSU? If you have a spare around, try using that to eliminate our primary suspect

 

[A-L-E-X]

Thanks, this is exactly what I am gonna do. And to think, I believed the Corsairs were great! I also thought it might be the Nexus fan controller Im using to slow down the tornadoes to about 70%, because at full speed theyre real howlers. But when I slow down the tornadoes, I hear a weird kind of whine coming from the fans... sort of like their speed is variable, speeding up and slowing down repeatedly. So now I took the fan controller out and my room sounds like a wind tunnel! Temps dropped a bit too, cpu cores in the upper 40s now and gpu core is at 50C even. Another thing Ive noticed is if I leave the comp off for like 12 hrs, I can be on it for about 3-4hrs before the shut down happens. But after the first shut down, the comp wont turn back on for like 5-10min even if I keep pressing the power button. Then when I do turn it back on, it doesnt stay on for more than 15 min before the next shut down. So basically, the longer I stay off of it, the longer it lasts before first shut down. I dont know how it can be temps though as I had an air conditioner blasting away near the comp last night and it still kept shutting off...

 

[A-L-E-X]

The thing is, even with the AC going full blast (at 15C), my comps temps still dont get below mid 40s for cpu and gpu. I havent touched anything in the bios that is temp related. Is there any way for me to increase the threshold on the cpu (I only want to increase it to like 70C) before shut down? A BIOS setting perhaps? Here are my latest temp readings from CPUID Hardware Monitor. No overclocking on anything:


TMPIN0 35c
TMPIN1 41c
CORE 0 50c
CORE 1 50c
CORE 2 49c
CORE 3 48c
GPU 51c

CPU fan is a thermaltake 92mm spinning at 2600rpm and I have an all copper heat pipe, three 80mm vantec tornado fans now running at full speed. Here are the voltage readouts from HWmonitor in case it helps anyone tell if its my PSU

CPU VCore 1.15V
AUX 3.30V
+3.3V 3.01V
+5V 5.03V
+12V 11.40V

 

[A-L-E-X]

Is there any danger to the computer if these shut downs keep happening or should I simply wait for a while before I turn it back on and everything's ok?

 

[Dangman]

Download Memtest+ V.170, unzip it, burn the ISO file to a CD, and then boot from it, just like you would do with the XP install CD. Let Memtest+ run for at least three hours on each stick of RAM separately. If you start seeing errors, than your RAM is bad.

And there is a slight danger. These shutdowns are telling you that there is something seriously wrong with your PC.

 

[engiNURD]

Do you have a surge protector or UPS hooked up to the system?
Did you check for any shorts on the power button leads?
Did you check for any shorts from anywhere else inside the case?
Corsair PSUs are good, but no company is perfect.

 

[A-L-E-X]

Thanks, I was wondering about the UPS too. The thing is, the program that it comes with says its running at 100% and using about 300W of energy and the monitors dont shut down when the computer does (theyre plugged into the UPS too.) But Im going to try this too. BTW, this is the UPS I have:

http://www.cyberpowersystems.com/pro...000AVRLCD.html

Full capacity on this thing is 600W



Ive got two LCDs, the tower, and two external hard drives plugged into the battery protected outlets, all the other stuff (external dvd burners, speakers, etc) is on the surge protected only outlets.

BTW I guess Im near the capacity of the UPS, as it says it will only power my system for 10 min in the event of an outage!

 

[A-L-E-X]

Thanks, going to run MemTest now. I'd run a previous version right from my desktop, but not in the way you described.

 

[A-L-E-X]

BTW, its been on for over 2 hrs now and nothing's happened. So maybe speeding up the fans helped cool it down? I dont know but I think its strange that it stays on longer if I keep the computer off for any length of time (like overnight)... but should it really be shutting down with core temps in the 50s?

 

[bmaverick]

I once had a Slot-A 750Mhz machine that would overheat when the heat sink packed up with dust.