Question PC randomly turning off and then turning itself back on

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Croceus

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Apr 14, 2019
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HI there good people of AnandTech forums. I come seeking your great wisdom, and humbly beg for you to bestow upon me your knowledge and aid.


To give some backstory, about a month ago, my pc was having a slighty similar but different enough problem. When I tried to turn it on, it would power on for about 3 seconds before turning back off. I figured it was a problem with the PSU and got a replacement via RMA, but that didn't fix it. So i took it to a pc repair place and the guy told me it was probably the motherboard. Had a spare lying around, so i swapped everything over to the new board. Boom, instant success, everything worked perfectly.


For about a month or so, it's been totally operational. However, within the last few days it has started to randomly turn off (the MB lights also turn off) and then turn back on. I've watched the CPU temp and everything seems normal, the PSU fan is spinning, windows memory diagnostic tells me the RAM is functioning fine.


I really don't know what the problem could be. Did I just get unlucky and receive a bad PSU, or have n bad MB? Is it the processor, but a non-heat-related issue?
 
C

Croceus

Member
Apr 14, 2019
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BoomerD said:
Post your system specs. Processor, motherboard, RAM, PSU, etc.
Click to expand...
CPU: Intel i7 7700k (not currently overclocked)

CPU cooler: CoolerMaster Hyper 212 EVO

RAM: Ballistix sport ddr4 2x4gb

MOTHERBOARD: MSI B250 PC Mate

Hard drive: WD blue 1TB

SSD: SanDisk 500GB

PSU: EVGA Supernova NEX750G

Don't currently have a GPU, but I'll be getting a 1050ti in tomorrow night.

CPU isn't getting any hotter than 65c or so.

Thanks for your time
 
Last edited:
Ketchup

Ketchup

Elite Member
Sep 1, 2002
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Try running one stick of RAM at a time. Is this a daily thing now?
 
C

Croceus

Member
Apr 14, 2019
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Last edited:
C

Croceus

Member
Apr 14, 2019
28
1
11
Ketchup said:
Try running one stick of RAM at a time. Is this a daily thing now?
Click to expand...
PC's been running with only the one stick of RAM for maybe 4 hours now. I haven't done anything with it, it's just been on the desktop for that time. I'm going to try to boot up a game now and see what happens.

Just FIY, since I assume more info is usually helpful - yesterday, the PC remained on for almost the entire day. All I did in that time was browse reddit/youtube, and play D&D via a browser-based virtual tabletop program called https://roll20.net . Around the 3rd hour or so of using that site, the PC turned off and then back on. I continued to play for another 30 minutes or so before it once again rebooted. It seems to be a theme that initially it will stay on for a while, but then once the reboot occurs, it begins happening increasingly more often until I shut it down for the night.
 
BoomerD

BoomerD

No Lifer
Feb 26, 2006
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CPU temps? Your cooler, in spite of being somewhat smaller than the popular monsters that are so common, is supposed to be a good performer.
 
C

Croceus

Member
Apr 14, 2019
28
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BoomerD said:
CPU temps? Your cooler, in spite of being somewhat smaller than the popular monsters that are so common, is supposed to be a good performer.
Click to expand...
CPU temps seem fine. Browsing the internet or whatever, it's around 32c. Gaming brings it up to maybe 65c max. I also have a program which alerts me if it ever goes above 80c, that hasn't happened before.

Side note, I've been running my PC with only 1 RAM stick for about 6 hours now and so far it's stayed on. Most of that's just been browsing the internet, but I did play a round or two of League of Legends. I'm going to leave it on overnight and see if it's still on in the morning!
 
BoomerD

BoomerD

No Lifer
Feb 26, 2006
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If it runs fine with a single stick for a day or two, swap out the sticks and see how it goes.
 
OlyAR15

OlyAR15

Senior member
Oct 23, 2014
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Try re-seating all your power connections, especially the ones to the motherboard. Another possibility is a break inside one of the power cables that causes intermittent disruption of the power.
 
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Croceus

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Apr 14, 2019
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UPDATE: Hey guys, I've been messing with it and trying to do some troubleshooting for a few days now and here's what I have to report.

It ran smoothly for two days or so with only the one stick of RAM, so I tried putting in the 2nd stick. That worked for a day until it started rebooting again. I'm now running just the first stick again, but the rebooting is still happening.

During one of the reboots, Windows attempted to troubleshoot itself and suggested I reinstall Windows. I've not done that yet, just becaus it seems strange that it would reboot if it was a Windows error. I specifically turned off the auto reboot for windows errors.

Usually, what happens is that the first time I turn on my PC for the day, it doesn't reboot at all for maybe 3 hours. But then once the reboot occurs, it seems to keep happening with increasing frequency. At the moment, I can't even be on the desktop for more than 10 minutes before it reboots.

Would really love and appreciate any advice you could give me. This seems to be a pretty crazy problem.
 
C

Croceus

Member
Apr 14, 2019
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OlyAR15 said:
Try re-seating all your power connections, especially the ones to the motherboard. Another possibility is a break inside one of the power cables that causes intermittent disruption of the power.
Click to expand...
I will do this. Is there any way to check if there is a break in one of the cables?
 
Ketchup

Ketchup

Elite Member
Sep 1, 2002
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Have you run it with just the "2nd stick yet? That would be the next step. Windows is only asking for a re-install because of all the failures. You can look further into that after you get the system stabilized.
 
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Croceus

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Apr 14, 2019
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Ketchup said:
Have you run it with just the "2nd stick yet? That would be the next step. Windows is only asking for a re-install because of all the failures. You can look further into that after you get the system stabilized.
Click to expand...
I will try that right now.
 
C

Croceus

Member
Apr 14, 2019
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Ketchup said:
Have you run it with just the "2nd stick yet? That would be the next step. Windows is only asking for a re-install because of all the failures. You can look further into that after you get the system stabilized.
Click to expand...
Just did that and it says:

"RECOVERY
It looks like Windows didn't load correctly"

It gives me the options to restart my PC or choose advanced repair options.

Is this still just windows being spooked by all the reboots?
 
Ketchup

Ketchup

Elite Member
Sep 1, 2002
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Sort of. Critical files that were being held in RAM have been damaged at this point from the sound of it, so if restart doesn't work (and it sounds like it won't) you will need to try the repair option Startup Repair, or system restore if that doesn't work, or re-install Windows if the restore doesn't work.
 
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Croceus

Member
Apr 14, 2019
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Ketchup said:
Have you run it with just the "2nd stick yet? That would be the next step. Windows is only asking for a re-install because of all the failures. You can look further into that after you get the system stabilized.
Click to expand...
Tried the 2nd stick, didn't stop the rebooting unfortunately. I should try the startup repair now you're saying?
 
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Croceus

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Startup repair was successful, but the PC rebooted as soon as I got to the desktop. Could've just been a coincidence, but seems more likely that my Windows is messed up
 
C

Croceus

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Apr 14, 2019
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I think I'm just going to have it sit in the BIOS screen for a while. If it doesn't reboot, I'll pretty much know it's a Windows problem
 
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Croceus

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Apr 14, 2019
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Tried resetting windows but that didn't help. I chose the option to keep some personal files though so next I'll probably try completely reinstalling it.

Additionally, it seems like booting in Safe Mode keeps the PC from rebooting
 
Ketchup

Ketchup

Elite Member
Sep 1, 2002
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If does sound like windows is damaged at this point. I would back up and do a fresh install and see where things are.
 
C

Croceus

Member
Apr 14, 2019
28
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Ketchup said:
If does sound like windows is damaged at this point. I would back up and do a fresh install and see where things are.
Click to expand...
Fully wiped my hard drive and reinstalled Windows, but no luck. It was fine sitting in the desktop but rebooted as soon as I opened a few programs. Seems like something is failing when it get put under any sort of load
 
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