PC constantly restarting after power outage

[Time Wasted]

Hi guys,
Not sure if I'm in the right spot but was told I most likely have a hardware issue. Ok so I recently got a issue with my pc where it keeps restarting over and over again. It happened after I was in the middle of a game of league and the power cut out for a few hours. When I finally turned it back it it was fine but then it would restart once in a while then I would only get as far as the login screen now it restarts every 15 seconds or so. Idk what to do so thanks for any help in advance

 

[UsandThem]

Likely a power supply issue. Try testing it with a new PSU and see if it fixes your issue.

If it does, you might want to look into a battery back-up UPS to help prevent damage to your computer from power outages, spikes, dips, and brown-outs.

 

[Time Wasted]

Likely a power supply issue. Try testing it with a new PSU and see if it fixes your issue.

If it does, you might want to look into a battery back-up UPS to help prevent damage to your computer from power outages, spikes, dips, and brown-outs.

Ok I will try that and let you know how it works out. Thanks for the advice

 

[UsandThem]

Ok I will try that and let you know how it works out. Thanks for the advice

No problem.

Sometimes when your power (surge, spike, etc.) causes a computer problem, it can cause problems with any component of your computer. Although a good portion of the time, it is just your power supply that takes the full brunt of the surge.

Hopefully it stopped there. But if the issue persists after trying a new power supply, you will have to test individual components until you find the issue(s).

 

[Time Wasted]

No problem.

Sometimes when your power (surge, spike, etc.) causes a computer problem, it can cause problems with any component of your computer. Although a good portion of the time, it is just your power supply that takes the full brunt of the surge.

Hopefully it stopped there. But if the issue persists after trying a new power supply, you will have to test individual components until you find the issue(s).

I'm hoping that's all it is. I visually inspected the motherboard and the Ram and couldn't see any visible damage or wear all the caps and chips look perfectly fine. The only thing that concerned me was that directly after it happened it was fine and over mere hours it only runs for like 10-15 seconds before restarting

 

[UsandThem]

I'm hoping that's all it is. I visually inspected the motherboard and the Ram and couldn't see any visible damage or wear all the caps and chips look perfectly fine. The only thing that concerned me was that directly after it happened it was fine and over mere hours it only runs for like 10-15 seconds before restarting

It could have damaged some components inside the power supply, and it could be providing inadequate power on one of the power rails causing your system to crash/reboot.

Your symptoms are classic bad/dying/damaged power supply problems.

 

[Time Wasted]

No problem.

Sometimes when your power (surge, spike, etc.) causes a computer problem, it can cause problems with any component of your computer. Although a good portion of the time, it is just your power supply that takes the full brunt of the surge.

Hopefully it stopped there. But if the issue persists after trying a new power supply, you will have to test individual components until you find the issue(s).

Well after work I went a got a new power supply and after changing out the psu it did the exact same thing. Restart after about 10-15 seconds over and over again. Any idea what else it may be? I've read possibly ramore or motherboard but they both look brand new

 

[UsandThem]

Now will be the tough part.

Remove everything that you are able to (only have cpu, 1 stick of ram, OS hard drive). If your CPU has onboard graphics, remove your video card as well.

Then boot up your computer and see if it crashes. If no problems, add back the ram. Start computer. If no problems, add back an extra component and repeat until it crashes.

It is time consuming, but one or more of your components were damaged, and you have to find it/them. If I were a betting man, my next bets would be placed on your:

1. Video card
2. Motherboard

There was another user here about a month ago who had a similar crash during a storm, and his crashes ended up being because his video card ended up being damaged, and was causing reboots.

That's the part I would focus on next.

EDIT

Here is that thread I was talking about:

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2476976&highlight=storm

 

[sm625]

I am glad that when this happened to me, all I lost was 20 lp.

gg rito.

I lose power about once a month and each time I do, I always search for a UPS and even search for an ATX supply with a battery backup. But I never buy one. Why dont they make an ATX supply with a simple little $5 battery? Sheesh even a 2 minute battery would help. I just need time to press my power button which is set to hibernate. I had an SSD die on me from a power outage....

 

[UsandThem]

I am glad that when this happened to me, all I lost was 20 lp.

gg rito.

I lose power about once a month and each time I do, I always search for a UPS and even search for an ATX supply with a battery backup. But I never buy one. Why dont they make an ATX supply with a simple little $5 battery? Sheesh even a 2 minute battery would help. I just need time to press my power button which is set to hibernate. I had an SSD die on me from a power outage....

Depending on how much power you need, you can get a $50 CyberPower UPS from Costco. It's pretty small, but it should give you a couple of minutes.

Or set a price alert on CamelCamelCamel, and grab a bigger CyberPower unit from Amazon when they have a goldbox deal on one.

They have had the higher-end CyberPower PFC versions on sale for $120, and the batteries tend to last 4-5 years. You can replace the batteries for about $40 when they go bad.

All it takes is one bad storm or power issue to destroy a nice PSU, video card, motherboard, etc. to make the UPS a wise investment.

Down here in the south, it's not so much the power outages as the storms causing spikes and surges, and the dips in the local grids during heat waves where everyone has their AC running. That's when I see my UPS switching over to battery power when the AVR senses it.

 

[Time Wasted]

Now will be the tough part.

Remove everything that you are able to (only have cpu, 1 stick of ram, OS hard drive). If your CPU has onboard graphics, remove your video card as well.

Then boot up your computer and see if it crashes. If no problems, add back the ram. Start computer. If no problems, add back an extra component and repeat until it crashes.

It is time consuming, but one or more of your components were damaged, and you have to find it/them. If I were a betting man, my next bets would be placed on your:

1. Video card
2. Motherboard

There was another user here about a month ago who had a similar crash during a storm, and his crashes ended up being because his video card ended up being damaged, and was causing reboots.

That's the part I would focus on next.

EDIT

Here is that thread I was talking about:

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2476976&highlight=storm

Thanks for the responses. I'll get to testing today when I get the chance and hopefully I can get an answer. Thanks for the other thread as well I shall certainly look into it

 

[Time Wasted]

Now will be the tough part.

Remove everything that you are able to (only have cpu, 1 stick of ram, OS hard drive). If your CPU has onboard graphics, remove your video card as well.

Then boot up your computer and see if it crashes. If no problems, add back the ram. Start computer. If no problems, add back an extra component and repeat until it crashes.

It is time consuming, but one or more of your components were damaged, and you have to find it/them. If I were a betting man, my next bets would be placed on your:

1. Video card
2. Motherboard

There was another user here about a month ago who had a similar crash during a storm, and his crashes ended up being because his video card ended up being damaged, and was causing reboots.

That's the part I would focus on next.

EDIT

Here is that thread I was talking about:

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2476976&highlight=storm

Out of curiosity before work I decide to look at it a little more. I looked over my ram and mobo again and being how they still look so brand new in decided to leave them plugged in but unplug my card. When I did so the pc doesn't restart. It simply tells me to plug in my card but the rest of the pc runs as long as I let it. All the fans are working properly and everything is getting power. Could this be my issue or does simply unpluging my card not allow it to properly test my theory? May be a noob question sorry but I'm certainly no expert

 

[UsandThem]

Yeah, you really cant unplug your motherboard. You can, but your computer won't work at all. At a minimum to at least start and attempted to boot, it needs a CPU, one stick of RAM, and motherboard.

As far as the video card. Your monitor, not the computer, is telling you it isn't receiving a video signal. Hopefully your CPU has integrated graphics, and your motherboard has video connections (on the back where you plug your keyboard and mouse into) where you hook your monitor to.

If not, you might have to borrow a video card from a friend to make sure your old video card was the problem, or buy another one.

Good luck

 

[Time Wasted]

While home for lunch I double checked and my CPU does have integrated graphics. Also looking I did find a video plug to hook my monitor into. Maybe I'm not doing it correctly because when I plugged my monitor into the other port from the mother board when I turned on my pc I got no reaction from the monitor. Any ideas? I'm not the most technically smart about this stuff but I do have a solid pc so this shouldn't be an issue

 

[UsandThem]

While home for lunch I double checked and my CPU does have integrated graphics. Also looking I did find a video plug to hook my monitor into. Maybe I'm not doing it correctly because when I plugged my monitor into the other port from the mother board when I turned on my pc I got no reaction from the monitor. Any ideas? I'm not the most technically smart about this stuff but I do have a solid pc so this shouldn't be an issue

It's probably because your settings in the BIOS is set to use a video card for video output, instead of the integrated graphics. If you can't get into your BIOS by pressing DEL or F2 (depends on motherboard), you might have to put the video card back in and change the video setting, or clear your CMOS (method differs slightly based on motherboard, but you can remove your computer from wall power and remove the little battery on the motherboard to reset your motherboard settings back to defaults). Just remove the battery for 10 minutes or so, and everything should reset when you next start it back it.

 

[sub-80]

Most likely be BOIS but if not try not to restore from the last system image. Most likely a system file got corrupted.

 

[UsandThem]

Most likely be BOIS but if not try not to restore from the last system image. Most likely a system file got corrupted.

Sub-80, I know you are trying to be helpful, but his computer was damaged during a storm. It is likely his video card was the component that was damaged, because once it was removed, the constant reboots have ended.

Now he just needs to change his BIOS settings to use IGP for video output instead of trying to use a video card that's now not there.

It has nothing to do with a corrupted system file, and loading a previous restore point will not change his BIOS settings. That will only help if Windows becomes corrupted or has issues.

 

[Time Wasted]

It's probably because your settings in the BIOS is set to use a video card for video output, instead of the integrated graphics. If you can't get into your BIOS by pressing DEL or F2 (depends on motherboard), you might have to put the video card back in and change the video setting, or clear your CMOS (method differs slightly based on motherboard, but you can remove your computer from wall power and remove the little battery on the motherboard to reset your motherboard settings back to defaults). Just remove the battery for 10 minutes or so, and everything should reset when you next start it back it.

Managed to get into the bios swapped to the integrated graphics and unplugged my card and started it up and got the same issue. Going to go ahead and try starting it swapping out my ram to see if that's the issue in the mean time. Any insight to what that might mean or where I'm at having tried the integrated graphics?

Edit: I tried the ram one stick then the other still getting the same issue.

 

[UsandThem]

You've replaced the PSU and removed the video card.

So now you are down to the motherboard, CPU, RAM, and hard drive. You can only leave one stick of RAM in at a time, and try that.

The problem you now face is you will need to swap out those parts one at a time with known good parts. If you're like most people, you probably don't have spare components lying around. It might be easier, and cheaper to take it to a local computer repair shop for them to isolate the problem.

By the way, what operating system are you using? How old is the system, and what are the components?

You can download and run this to possibly see if Windows is reporting what might be causing the crashes:

http://www.resplendence.com/whocrashed

There are CPU utilities from Intel that can test your CPU, but since your system is constantly rebooting, they won't do you much good. You can also download Memtest to test your RAM, but once again it won't be very helpful due to your reboots.

You had intially mentioned the system stopped rebooting after the video card was removed. At what point does your system begin rebooting? Or is it blue-screening (crashing)?

 

[Time Wasted]

You've replaced the PSU and removed the video card.

So now you are down to the motherboard, CPU, RAM, and hard drive. You can only leave one stick of RAM in at a time, and try that.

The problem you now face is you will need to swap out those parts one at a time with known good parts. If you're like most people, you probably don't have spare components lying around. It might be easier, and cheaper to take it to a local computer repair shop for them to isolate the problem.

By the way, what operating system are you using? How old is the system, and what are the components?

You can download and run this to possibly see if Windows is reporting what might be causing the crashes:

http://www.resplendence.com/whocrashed

There are CPU utilities from Intel that can test your CPU, but since your system is constantly rebooting, they won't do you much good. You can also download Memtest to test your RAM, but once again it won't be very helpful due to your reboots.

You had intially mentioned the system stopped rebooting after the video card was removed. At what point does your system begin rebooting? Or is it blue-screening (crashing)?

I run Windows 10 and the pc was bought in August of 2014. It has an i7 4790k processor and a gtx 770. 650w Thermaltake smart series battery. 2TB SATA-III HDD with a 128g backup. The pc is crashing right at the OEM logo and if I'm on top of it I can get into the bios. It's was staying on whenever I didn't have a video source so I don't think it was truly firing up. Since fixing the video whether connected to the card or mobo integrated graphics I have the same restart cycle over and over

 

[UsandThem]

Yeah, it's probably your motherboard if it's doing that and where we are at this point in the troubleshooting process, but without replacing it with another board, it's really just an educated guess.

The problem with power problems/storms is they can take out or damage any component or anything connected to the computer. Most of the time it is the power supply or motherboard, but I have also seen just video cards and hard drives getting damaged.

You can replace the motherboard (maybe RMA it and it might be covered under warranty), or bite the bullet and have a local computer shop bench-test it to see if it's defective.

 

[Time Wasted]

Yeah, it's probably your motherboard if it's doing that and where we are at this point in the troubleshooting process, but without replacing it with another board, it's really just an educated guess.

The problem with power problems/storms is they can take out or damage any component or anything connected to the computer. Most of the time it is the power supply or motherboard, but I have also seen just video cards and hard drives getting damaged.

You can replace the motherboard (maybe RMA it and it might be covered under warranty), or bite the bullet and have a local computer shop bench-test it to see if it's defective.

Well thanks so much for all your help along the way. I suppose I'll start doing research to see what I want to replace it with. I'm really torn because most people who had their mobo die or damaged during this situation have reported visible damage to the caps or something visibly wrong. Mine still looks brand new but I guess having tried everything else there really isn't another option.

 

[UsandThem]

Capacitors and components on the board don't have to show physical damage to have sustained damage.

Did you know you can simply fry a motherboard, video card, RAM, and CPU by simply zapping it with static electricity from your hand if you are not grounded and touch it?

They are very complex items and are sensitive to spikes, surges, brownouts, and the like.

It sucks, but you aren't the first person this has happened to. I have seen it many times over the years on here.

When you get your system fixed/replaced, look into getting a good UPS to protect it. They aren't 100% effective like most things in life, but they help a lot and prevent a lot of issues.

Good luck.