Computer crashing

[Justin]

Hey guys, as of today, my desktop crashes after about 5 minutes of being booted up. The OS loads fine, goes to desktop, applications run fine, there are no issues whatsoever.... but the computer will completely turn off after about 5-10 minutes. I've checked GPU and CPU temps, it's not from overheating, and it's not a fatal system error, as there is no blue screen with a STOP code. The computer completely shuts power off.

I've checked all of my motherboard connections, and run a quick hardware diagnostics on my RAM, CPU, hard drive, and nothing came up. What could be the cause of this? Any ideas on what I should do to determine the problem? I really don't want my computer to be dead considering Kaiser's coming up and I've been prepping for weeks. >_< Christmas break is coming up as well.... I don't want to be sitting around twiddling my thumbs the whole time.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

[VerrKol]

I had a similar problem about ~1 month ago. Almost the exact same symptoms.

It turned out my CPU was overheating and the internal sensors were lying to me about the temp. The professions had to use some other tool to figure it out. I'd try checking the CPU fan and maybe swapping it.

[FabledGumbo]

Power supply maybe? I'd try swapping it out for a different one temporarily if you have a spare and see if that does anything for it. I'd also try idling safe mode to determine if it's the video card, software related, or somehow related to the strain on your computer.

[Justin]

alright, I took out my heat sink and did a VERY thorough cleaning of it... also really thoroughly cleaned the rest of my case. Just booted up and seeing how long it lasts.

Edit: Alright, it's been a decent amount of time now, and I'm running applications and stuff at average temps of about 40-50 Celsius. So I think it actually was just overheating in the end. That cleaning seems to have done the trick. I hope.

Re-edit: It crashed again. *sigh* So I guess it must be from overheating then. Maybe the temperature readings are incorrect or something. Might be time for a new case or for me to re-apply the thermal paste and replace the heat sink...

[Justin]

Okay, I have a fan pointed at the case and all of my temps are staying at 30 degrees celsius. If the computer STILL cuts power after this, then it's something else. If it stays fine, then it is for sure over heating. Ughhhh Why did this have to happen now of all times.. :|

[Zelkova]

"re-apply thermal paste" Does it not have any right now? @_@?

Sounds like it is overheating from what I have seen/read

[Justin]

"re-apply thermal paste" Does it not have any right now? @_@?

Sounds like it is overheating from what I have seen/read

No, it has thermal paste, but it's been in there for several years without being replaced. It has probably lost its effectiveness. Either that, or my heat sink isn't working as well anymore.

[Dudewitbow]

is your computer creating a mini dump file in the c:/windows/minidump folder after each unexpected shutdown? if so, it may have some data in it if its software related shutdown due to a bad driver somewhere. worst case scenario is aging heatsink, thermal past, mobo or psu.

[Justin]

I'm 100% sure it's related to overheating. I haven't crashed once since I put the fan up to the case... it's been 13 hours.... so now I just need to isolate whether it's the GPU or CPU... which I'll deal with later. Fairly certain it's my CPU though.

[XTOTHEL]

I'm 100% sure it's related to overheating. I haven't crashed once since I put the fan up to the case... it's been 13 hours.... so now I just need to isolate whether it's the GPU or CPU... which I'll deal with later. Fairly certain it's my CPU though.

What are the specs of your computer?

[Justin]

I was actually incorrect in my assumption in that post.... it was either my power supply, or my GPU. I switched out both of them with the units I had prior and everything works fine again now. I'm going to wait until I get a new case, because the case I currently have has only one case fan (I can't even install any others anywhere in the case, it's THAT bad), and my cables were taking up half of the inner case's space.

What I was running before:

Mobo: Violet3 from Pegatron
CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 910
GPU:NVidia GTX 550 Ti
Power Supply: Corsair TX650.

My case is an old HP brand case that came pre-built. I bought it right when I graduated high school, so about 4 years ago. I'm in desperate need of a case upgrade.

I am also going to switch my mobo to an ASUS m4a89GT PRO once I get a new case. I'm cheap, I know.

[XTOTHEL]

I think if it was over heating, you would get a BSOD. Your power supply should be sufficient, hopefully the motherboard swap will fix the issue.

[Niernen]

Yeah, the only time my comp dies w/o an error screen is when it has over heated. Happened 2-3 times and i have to wait for it to cool off.

[SunYanZi]

I wouldn't even use that computer until the problem gets resolved. Theres no sense in risking damage done to the hardware.