My PC turns off and restarts all of a sudden

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mimo3948

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Dec 18, 2017
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I have Desktop PC that I've been using for years without any problems. Yesterday it started shutting down and restarting without any clear reason. Every time I started it, it ended up shutting down by itself after a while, and the time it ran before shutting down gradually got shorter and shorter until I could barely finish the booting before it shut down. I hoped that it was a software issue, so I tried running booting a linux distro from a usb-stick and installing it on another drive, but it shut down again before I even managed to start the installation.

I read that these things usually happen because of overheating, so I removed my CPU fan and cleaned it since it was very dusty. And now after reinstalling it, I doesn't start at all anymore. The PC lights up and tries to boot and you can hear a quick sound that I usually hear before it boots and I can see the CPU fan move a few mm and then stops. Then it keeps repeating that process.

I have attached a video of the PC behaves when I try to start it.
I would be so grateful for any help I could get, any thoughts or ideas would be immensely valuable!
 

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Shutting down and rebooting is more in line with either power supply problems or motherboard problems.
If it was a thermal trip, you'd be seeing episodes of slowness (throttling) and your fan would be running at full blast more often.

The fact it started just Yesterday and is degrading so quickly IMHO rules out thermal issues.

Personally, I think it's the motherboard, because yanking the cooler and installing it back in usually causes strain and/or flexing of the motherboard. If something wasn't making proper contact (surface mounted components), flexing exacarbates this.

However. You also have a modular PSU. You might want to try re-seating the power cables, take care to also gently push in the wire bundle of each cable, not just the plastic part. In case it was improperly crimped and the actual wires aren't making contact with the connector pins.

So, try re-seating the power cables (both the part that goes into the PSU and the motherboard end), try re-seating the CPU cooler and CPU itself. If that fails, take the whole thing out of the case and try running it caseless.

What hardware is this specifically? How confident are you with installing the Intel cooler, have you done it before?
 
michalrz said:
Shutting down and rebooting is more in line with either power supply problems or motherboard problems.
If it was a thermal trip, you'd be seeing episodes of slowness (throttling) and your fan would be running at full blast more often.

The fact it started just Yesterday and is degrading so quickly IMHO rules out thermal issues.

Personally, I think it's the motherboard, because yanking the cooler and installing it back in usually causes strain and/or flexing of the motherboard. If something wasn't making proper contact (surface mounted components), flexing exacarbates this.

However. You also have a modular PSU. You might want to try re-seating the power cables, take care to also gently push in the wire bundle of each cable, not just the plastic part. In case it was improperly crimped and the actual wires aren't making contact with the connector pins.

So, try re-seating the power cables (both the part that goes into the PSU and the motherboard end), try re-seating the CPU cooler and CPU itself. If that fails, take the whole thing out of the case and try running it caseless.

What hardware is this specifically? How confident are you with installing the Intel cooler, have you done it before?
Click to expand...
Thank you for your detailed reply, really appreciate it!
I'm the one who built the pc and installed the cooler, but I'm not very experienced with it. I actually had a lot of difficulties reinstalling the cooler, I yanked it a lot so I'm afraid that might be the cause as you mentioned. I also tried re-seating the power cables, but to no avail.
I guess it's about time to upgrade to a newer one :)
 
mimo3948 said:
Thank you for your detailed reply, really appreciate it!
I'm the one who built the pc and installed the cooler, but I'm not very experienced with it. I actually had a lot of difficulties reinstalling the cooler, I yanked it a lot so I'm afraid that might be the cause as you mentioned. I also tried re-seating the power cables, but to no avail.
I guess it's about time to upgrade to a newer one :)
Click to expand...
How many years ago did you build it?

If it's, say, 5+, it might also be weirdness with the motherboard's bios. A discharged CMOS battery can do all sorts of weird things. It might be as simple as clearing the bios' settings (they might have become corrupted) by shorting the appropriate jumper.

If fiddling with the cooler made it worse, and it's not a damaged motherboard (which I guess is the most annoying scenario), it still can be stuff like oxidation and the CPU's contacts need a once over with isopropyl alcohol.
Heck, dust could have fallen off the cooler and now sits on one of the CPU socket's spring-pins.

There's still stuff to try, but - hey - an upgrade is ALWAYS a good fix as long as you got the itch :D
 
Yeah, i'd vote power supply.
In weird things you should try, try a different power cord and though its a pain, try powering it up at a different outlet in your house.
 
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