Help! Power problems

[Treedude]

Ok so this post won't be the most specific until wednesday but I'll put as much as I can atm.

Few days ago, 5 minutes before i left my flat to come home for a week, my computer randomly switched itself off (never done that before and ive had it on pretty much all the time for ~2 years now). I reached round the back and flicked the power switch on the comp on and off again and it started up fine, booted into windows no problem.

Here is where it gets sketchy as I had to leave for my train so I'm just repeating what my flatmate told me (or at least as much as i can remember). Apparently it did the same later on except this time it didn't turn back on and the fuse in the plug had blown. My flatmate replaced the 3A fuse with another 3A one but it did the same again. I'm gonna bring a 5A fuse back up with me and try that but I was wondering if anyone has any idea as to what could be causing this?

I'm almost 100% certain I have the computer plugged into my surge protection multiblock (i'm fairly sure it is, can't confirm til i get back to my flat on wednesday tho), but I was wondering if it was just a freak day for my electrics or does it sound like a PSU problem or what? I'm really lost in this area, don't have a clue about power problems

Sorry if the information isn't all that specific but I wanted to post this up now and see if I could get the ball rolling with knowing how to fix it, minimise the time I don't have a PC seen as thats my main source of entertainment

Any help would be much appreciated, thanks

 

[Bobbin]

Re: Help! Power problems

It's not just power issues that could cause your PC to do that though. It could well be your PSU, but your PC could also have been over heating, that'll cause it to just switch off without warning, to stop itself melting. Or you could have major hardware failure...

orrrrr it could have just been dodgy power in your area for a little while..

 

[Treedude]

Re: Help! Power problems

Is there anyway of testing if it is a problem with the PSU just so I can check if it is that that needs replacing before i splash out on one? (admitedly not a big splash out but still )

 

[Maxi]

Re: Help! Power problems

Borrow the PSU of your flatmate?

Also, *if* you get it to boot up again, check the voltages in the Bios and in Windows if possible. (ie use speedfan or something)

 

[Chewie]

Re: Help! Power problems

Try checking the fans inside your computer to see if they are clogged with dust, if they get clogged up with dust then they will frequently overheat causing the computer to switch off. It could be something as simple as that.

 

[Hippie]

Re: Help! Power problems

my computer did that a while back and when i took out the psu and opened it up, black smoke came out of it... needless to say i got a new psu

 

[Treedude]

Re: Help! Power problems

Try checking the fans inside your computer to see if they are clogged with dust, if they get clogged up with dust then they will frequently overheat causing the computer to switch off. It could be something as simple as that.

here's hoping

I'll definitely be trying everything all the easy and cheap things before I splash out on a PSU anyway, hopefully it will be something simple. Ta for all the posts, I will post up later on if I fix it or find out anymore useful details

 

[Treedude]

Re: Help! Power problems

Congratulations Chewie, you get 100 points :O

Turns out my flatmate just made a mistake and the fuses weren't actually blowing so must have just been overheating. I looked inside the case just now and it had shed loads of dirt in it so I hoovered it all out and hopefully it should now be working fine. Ta for all the advice tho If it does go wrong again rest assured ill be posting straight up on here

 

[Treedude]

Re: Help! Power problems

ok maybe not its not quite as fixed as i thought

Comp keeps randomly turning off, longest time between turn offs is a few days, shortest about 20 minutes. I can only turn the computer back on after ive turned the switch at the back of the comp off for a few seconds then back on again. I'm guessing its a PSU problem but i dont know much about it, does it sound psu related?

and also if it is does anyone have any advice on what to look for when i get a new one?

 

[Weeble]

Re: Help! Power problems

As was suggested earlier, might be the system overheating (still). Run Speedfan once you've got the computer up and going and post a report of what it tells you (voltages/temperatures are the key thing here).

Try grabbing a can of compressed air (can be got at any cleaning store - including specialist electronics or computer stores) and hosing the inside of your system down, including the CPU heatsinks and any fans visible (as well as the PSU fans) as they can get very clogged.

Do you do anything specific before it turns off (for example opening up lots of/any programs; clicking "Start"; etc), or is it truly sporadic?

With regards to new PSU; I'd recommend something Corsair. I'm currently sporting a 520W modular Corsair. The modular bit means I can (un)plug as many leads as I specifically need for my motherboard which just reduces clutter within the machine.
Will come back to PSU advice if needs be in the future!

 

[Maxi]

Re: Help! Power problems

It sounds indeed as a PSU problem - giving us the voltages that speedfan reads would help confirm (or not) our suspicions. Weeble's correct, and I got that exact same PSU. There's a non-moduler version around that's a bit cheaper around, too. Some other names; antec, zalman, seasonic, tagan (likely cheapest if you don't want to spend a lot).

 

[BlackWolf]

Re: Help! Power problems

Corsairs best powers are made by seasonic so its actually better to go for seasonic than corsair
I have zalman one atm.

This problem sounds more like house is having some power problems not PSU and its getting power peaks so much its security fuses are turning itself off.

 

[Treedude]

Re: Help! Power problems

Took a screenshot of SpeedFan just so I made sure I got everything. Didn't do much configuring (as in I did none) for it, but I am slightly concerned about the AUX reading being at 124C :? It being labelled AUX doesnt help as I can't exactly get what it is from that

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v202/treedude/SpeedFan.jpg

Sorry its a bit small, if there's more detail I can get from the prog then someone posting up telling me how would be much appreciated

EDIT: Dunno about the house thing BW, nothing else in my flat seems even remotely affected around the time my computer turns off, altho i spose it could just be more sensitive to it

 

[Weeble]

Re: Help! Power problems

The AUX reading is (to be frank) a load of poo. Nearly always fictional, or relating to your monitor, or a bust temperature diode, or a silly fan connected to an AUX connector. It's fairly safe to just ignore it.

I'm actually quite impressed you managed to get that picture so damn small. I had to break out Microsoft Magnifier to read it.
Try leaving Speedfan open for a while, and, if possible, keep a log of the temperatures so you can see what, if anything, spikes before the PC shuts down. Logs are automatically kept in the installation directory, named under something like "SFLog[date].csv". To configure what shows in the logs, go to "Configure", and in the "Temperatures" tab, select each of the entries in turn and check the "Logged" box at the bottom of the page. Might be worth doing the same for the Voltages as well. After you've set them all to be logged, go to the "Log" tab and make sure everything's checked in this one, and the "Days to Keep" is at something like 5, just to be on the safe side!
Next step is to just wait and upload the logs when the computer next dies!

 

[BlackWolf]

Re: Help! Power problems

Ok lets get this stuff finally fixed cause i really think your problem and help your getting doesnt collide.

1. You said your computer stays online from 20 minutes to days. How?
You open computer and dont do anything and its up for days, but when you start to play game it crashes in 5 minutes? Or is it not debendable on what you do?

2. You finally got speedfan. Instead of just watching temperatures look at voltages. Watch those for few minutes and register if there are peaks in voltages. Its normal that voltages are changing a bit but not more.

3. Start some heavily computer stressing game or get some program like 3dmark and run it few times. During that time leave speedfan to log happenings on the background. First for temperature and then for voltages.

4. Have you checked from bios what is your shutdown temperature? It may very well be that your shutdown temperature is too low.

5. If all that fails and still computer keeps shutting down as i suspect its PSU/ electrical problem. In that case drag your computer somewhere else. You can start by first using another plug in your room. Then try some other apartment. If problem still is the same then you can happily walk to shop and buy new PSU. If problem dissapears by using other plug its your houses electrics that are having problems.

First of all computers can shut down from 2 different reasons. For overheat which force shutdowns... Its programmed to motherboards, so it shouldnt require touching PSU to get it back on. 2nd possibilitity is that your PSU is for some reason shutting itself down. That means 2 possible problems. Either your PSU is overheating or damaged and its shortcircuit fail safe hits in when it gets under heavy stress. Other bigger problem is that it is getting signal spikes from electrical network its connected to and due those its shortcircuit cuts it off to not damage other components/ itself.