PC shuts down without warning - Not overheating.

[earthunit1]

Hi guys,

I bought a PC in September and ever since I've had it, it's been shutting down without warning at completely random times.  It's some times even after 10 minutes.  The seller has had the PC back several times, swapped the PSU with a 700 watt one and put a very large fan in the PC, next to the processor.  The computer runs quietly and seems to have a lot of air coming through it.

I would say it only really happens when I'm gaming.. and not just modern gaming, I'm talking DOSbox stuff, so I really don't think it's the graphics card struggling.  Some times it happens when I'm gaming on one monitor, with a film on in the background on the other monitor.  However, I'm not talking about an incapable, old PC here.  The seller assured me I could even play Battlefield 3 on the PC, but I'm struggling to play Dark Forces on it.

There is nothing really showing in Event Viewer, other than the PC unexpectedly shutting down.  On one occasion, there did seem to be a slight burning smell.  On another, there was a blue screen and I wrote it down somewhere, but it's been misplaced... since I thought the issue was resolved.

My initial idea is it must be hardware compatibility.  I thought some third party software is conflicting with another or a driver causes the issue, but I thought I would have had found something in Event Viewer.

One thing to mention, is the PC is plugged into a long extension cable, being shared with another 5 appliances.  Could this possibly be the issue and a voltage one?

Any help would be gratefully appreciated.

Many thanks,
Spyke



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[Geek-9pm]

It takes over 100 little  parts to make a motherboard work right. A failure of one or two can bring it down. Bear in mind that even the FAA has trouble solving electronic mysteries. Some troubleshooting is not practical for a home user.

IMO, the user should not have to pay for the quality control for n a maker or vendor. Rather, the vendor should provide a 100% replacement for the entire unit. Then it falls upon the vendor to figure it out on his time.

Here is just one of a hundred opposites. The CPU is not matched to the chipset. It was a mistake on the part of the maker to put both in the same motherboard. Rare? It does happen. Is that what happened to you/? Not likely, but there are  somethings that do happen and a re never likely.

Do Google search and find that most users rely on just common sensed and intuition. Nothing wrong with that, except it is  not a resubstitute of the equipment the the OEM has. It is  is the responsibility of the maker to find the strange things.

Is short, if you had unresolved issue from the beginning, the vendor should replace the whole thing. The user should not have top do the troubleshooting.

[DaveLembke]

On one occasion, there did seem to be a slight burning smell.

If you know it was the PC that the smell came from this is not good. To keep running after a smell its likely an analog component like a resistor or capacitor that cooked, however I have seen voltage regulators heat up to the point that they change the green PCB mask brown and yet continue to somehow keep working.

One thing to mention, is the PC is plugged into a long extension cable, being shared with another 5 appliances.  Could this possibly be the issue and a voltage one?

I'd get the PC onto its own outlet or at least if an extension cord is needed, give it a dedicated run to an outlet that the other 5 appliances are not running on.

I have seen computers reboot as the result of Microwave Ovens, Toasters, Toaster Ovens, Skillets, ... Power Saws, Welders, etc.. pretty much anything that pulls a heavy load on household wiring and causes voltage dips.

One other solution to get rid of power dips and low voltage conditions if you have lack of outlets and shady wiring in the home is to add a Battery Backup ( UPS ). This can plug into extension cord and PC plugged into the battery backup plug of the unit. Whenever there is a voltage dip or continuous dip, the battery backup will quickly engage and keep the power to the computer at the correct voltage level so that the system doesnt reset, shutdown, or crash on you.

Just NEVER plug any appliances into a battery backup. I have seen people plug space heaters into them because they didnt have enough outlets in an office and the battery backup had 8 outlets 4 of which are battery backup and the other 4 were surge protection only. The office manager brought in a space heater from home and plugged it into a surge only outlet on the UPS and turned the heater on. Within about 10 minutes he melted the board inside the battery backup. He turned it on and walked out of his office to manage some clerks on stocking shelves etc and then heard smoke detector going off. he ran back to his office and there was a blue cloud of smoke in there that hovered and everything plugged into the battery backup was off. When i got there to the call back at my last job when i worked as systems admin IT/MIS to a call that the computer was smoking, I found the space heater tucked around the corner and the plug mangled still plugged into the APC Battery Backup. The manager tried to remove the heater for fear that he would get into trouble but the plastic on the plug and battery backup case fused together and since cooled and it didnt want to unplug. Replaced the battery backup and cut the cord to space heater and threw it into the dumpster out back after first removing the 12V battery from the battery backup. Told manager not to plug anything else into the new battery backup unless I approve it, and a space heater needs to be on its own outlet so talk to GM about getting adequate heat in office or getting electrician in to add an outlet just for the heater etc. 

[RafalMccri20]

It is definitely the RAM problem,may be your system do es not supporting the RAM what you are using so the better option will be to change the RAM with high storage.

[Allan]

Feel free to ignore the above post

[Geek-9pm]

A PC shutdown at random is a chronic problem.
Here are some links of interest:
My PC Randomly Shuts Down By Itself

OR
Computer Shuts Down Randomly
You Tube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjurHObuvZo
very boring video 

[patio]

How did you determine it wasn't Temps ? ?