PC Randomly Stops Responding/Shuts Down

[yzmxer608]

I've been having this problem since I've put my new build together (it's only been running for about a day so far). I would be doing something, either on the internet or using Windows Explorer, anything, and it could just randomly shut down, sort of.

When it happens the PC doesn't actually totally shut down, all of the fans and my cold cathodes are still on. It's just that the monitor goes black and is in sort of a standby mode, like what happens when your PC falls asleep. My keyboard lights do go off though (num lock caps lock lights). I'm really not sure why this is happening, it's not overheating at all, it happens randomly at any time, not just doing one thing. To get back up and running I have to press the reset button or shut down manually and restart the PC.

It almost sounds like it could be something to do with the rear ports if the display goes off and the keyboard stops responding. Maybe be the rear usb headers not having the pin closed all the way? Next time it happens I'll reseat those and see if it continues. Until then any input would be appreciated .

 

[Ste]

I would re seat everything and make sure all the standoffs are being used correctly.

Id Flash the BIOS too.

Possibly overheating. Check cpu temps and video card temps.

 

[yzmxer608]

Thanks for the tips, I'll try re-seating everything, would it be worth it to reset the cmos? I'm not overclocked so I don't have to worry about losing those settings. It actually happened right when I was at the desktop once logged on before, right now my gpu temp is at 26*C and CPU cores are also at 26*C, all 3 of my HD's are around 25-28 and the TMPIN and THRM(something on the motherboard I think?) temps are at 18-20*C.

 

[Ste]

resetting the cmos couldn't hurt.

 

[yzmxer608]

Ok, I re seated the GPU and made sure everything was plugged in and snug, then reset the cmos and updated the bios. After I finished making the bios changes (date, time, boot order) I saved the changes and exited so the pc would reboot, it did the same thing that has been happening. Just stayed in that state. Not even the reset or power button would work, I had to unplug the power cord from the psu to turn it off. I tried waiting a little while then plugging it back in and starting it up, but it kept doing the same thing. I had to reset the cmos again for it to work right.

I noticed on the motherboard the debug indicators were both off, according to my motherboard manual, that means "Abnormal: CPU/Chipset error". Well, I'm really not sure what to do now. I'm pretty sure my CPU is fine, I ran prime95 for just a quick 15 minutes to make sure it was ok. Could it be a driver issue? I don't know if it would since it happened when I was rebooting from the bios. Is my motherboard just plain crap? It's a Biostar TA790GXE 128M.

This build has given me too many problems.

 

[Ste]

Drivers wouldn't effect turning on/off the pc.

But just to eliminate it as a possibility you can manually update the chipset, video card and, sound/NIC drivers.

I would make sure its not a grounding issue.

Leave as much connected as you can and carefully take the motherboard out of case and place it on a non-conductive surface and try using it normally.

Otherwise you may want to consider trying another power supply to eliminate the bad psu possibility.

Other steps you may want to consider:

Try each RAM stick by itself, reseating the cpu, Trying the video card in another slot (If you have extra ones), Trying other RAM if you have it.

At this point I am guessing its either a bad power supply or a bad motherboard.
However we won't know for certain until you try either a new power supply or a new motherboard, and replacing the power supply is the easiest, but we aren't there yet..

 

[yzmxer608]

I'll try to take out the motherboard tomorrow, If I want to run it I'll have to undo my wire management since my 24-pin is zip tied to my case. I don't think it should be too bad though, the rest of the wires should be long enough to reach if I have the case right next to the motherboard. What would I do if it is a grounding issue? I'm pretty sure all of the brass standoffs are in. I hope it's not my psu, I've only had it for about 3 months so far (yay for warranty if it is bad). I do have another psu, a 300w from a pre-built.

Is Memtest86 the program that everyone uses? I think I'll try that if it's the right one.

 

[Ste]

Don't use that power supply, its too weak.

yes memtest is what most people use.

 

[yzmxer608]

Ok, I'll give memtest a go and see what happens, thanks for your help so far .

 

[Slaymate]

It might be a problem with the Power Savings / Hibernation settings.