Computer power cycles when touched

[Nrick]

Good people of the LTT forums. Have an unusual situation that I hope you might help me with. 

 

I've had a rig for some time now that just recently started acting strange. It boots fine and runs fine but every now and then when I touch my keyboard or pick up my headphones or touch my mouse or headphone wire, my computer will randomly instantly power off and then back on and boot into windows. There's no warning message when it comes back up at the post screen or within windows. And it happens instantaneously. The other strange part is that it seems to happen more when I walk away for a minute and come back.

 

For example, during a league loading screen, went to touch the wire for my speakers, power cycled. 

During a dungeon on Final Fantasy. Walked away to answer the door, came back and grabbed my headphones to put them on and power cycled. 

 

Now if I turn my computer on and sit there and just use it normally it seems totally fine it only really seems to happen when I walk away and come back. 

 

I'm beginning to think it has to do with static buildup, I've had it happen before where I have felt static on my body and touched my headphones, got shocked and it shut down, or turned on. Could that be causing these issues or am I just crazy? 

 

Side note, I do have a puppy that seems to generate massive amounts of static, when he walks on the couch you can hear the tinging of his fur on the couch. Not sure if he is the culprit.

 

It's also worth noting that my rig sits on carpet. I have put a layer of cardboard between the computers feet and the carpet, not sure if this is a good thing or bad. There's plenty of air flow and the computer is liquid cooled so I don't think it's an overheating issue. 

 

Specs are as follows; 

Mobo: Asus TUF Z170

CPU: i7-6700k (mild oc) liquid cooled

GPU:GTX 1070 founders (no oc) liquid cooled

PSU:Corsair CX650M

RAM:Corsair vengeance(4x4gb) 

Boot drive: Samsung NVMe 960 PRO

Drive 1: Kingston SSDNow

Drive 2: Hitachi (not sure on exact model) 

 

Peripherals; (if needed)

Mouse: Corsair glaive

Keyboard: Corsair strafe

Headphones: OneOdios 

Dac/amp: fx-audio x6

Audio interface: Steinberg ur12

Mousepad: steelseries QcK prism (including this since it draws power)

Headphone stand: Corsair ST100 (again including because of the power draw)

I also have nzxt HUE lighting installed. 

 

If it does have to do with static is there a way to protect my rig/myself from discharging through peripherals? 

 

Could it be the PSU living it's last breath? Am I pushing it past it's limits?

 

Any help would he awesome! 

 

EDIT 1: New symptom, just got home from work, touched my dogs crate, got shocked from the static and at the same exact time my mouse and keyboard lit up and my girlfriends computer turned on. Is it possible to have so much static build-up that it begins to effect electronics? 

 

EDIT 2: Upon doing some research and talking to a few people, a lot of information is pointing towards the dry air which may cause some issues with static. I've purchased an air tester which found the humidity to be at 15-20% so I am going to try using a humidifier and see how that works. I'll touch base in a few days and update the post. It may not be a perfect solution but it's something for the time being. 

Edited March 9, 2019 by Nrick
adding new information

[Call_Me_Daddy]

This is definitely short circuit symptoms.

Is that an old case that you're using ? How about your PSU ?

 

Is the computer earthed ?

[rcmaehl]

100% a grounding issue somewhere. When I had this issue it was an un-grounded monitor connected via DVI. Don't just immediately suspect the case, it can be anything connected to power, speakers, monitors, ethernet, etc.

[.Apex.]

@Nrick

This makes me think it's some kind of Ground issue, do your headphones have a metal part on the edge or something? or is it all plastic?

[.Apex.]

23 minutes ago, Nrick said:

If it does have to do with static is there a way to protect my rig/myself from discharging through peripherals?  

also one thing to note, if your PC Case is shocking you from static that means your PC is not well grounded, if it was grounded well then nothing should shock you, even peripherals.

but it's possible that the metal parts of your headphones are not grounded so it CAN shock you, but that would mean that the PC is unaffected at all with the headphones shocking you because they're not connected together in ground, but that doesn't seem to be the case here.

[Nrick]

3 hours ago, Insorior said:

This is definitely short circuit symptoms.

Is that an old case that you're using ? How about your PSU ?

 

Is the computer earthed ?

The case is the NZXT S340, it's only a couple years old. Same thing with the PSU only a couple years old. 

 

And as far as I know yes? Not sure when you mean by earthed. It's plugged into a surge protector which is plugged into the wall. I would assume it's grounded. 

[Nrick]

3 hours ago, rcmaehl said:

100% a grounding issue somewhere. When I had this issue it was an un-grounded monitor connected via DVI. Don't just immediately suspect the case, it can be anything connected to power, speakers, monitors, ethernet, etc.

How would you tell if something is ungrounded? The third prong on a plug is a ground so I would assume both monitors are. 

 

How can you rule out which part it is, and once found out how can you fix it? 

[rcmaehl]

1 minute ago, Nrick said:

How would you tell if something is ungrounded? The third prong on a plug is a ground so I would assume both monitors are. 

 

How can you rule out which part it is, and once found out how can you fix it? 

Wall could be improperly grounded, especially on older houses (pre 90s). Get a tester, https://www.amazon.com/Gardner-Bender-GFI-3501-Receptacle-Extension/dp/B00170KUPC/

[Nrick]

3 hours ago, syn2112 said:

@Nrick

This makes me think it's some kind of Ground issue, do your headphones have a metal part on the edge or something? or is it all plastic?

The headphones are plastic but have a metal band that run through the head band, partly for rigidity, partly to carry the signal to the other cup.

[Niccolo]

I used to have a similar problem with my old computer, it turned out to be the 24 pin connector. There are four pins that are optional and can be removed from the connector, these weren't plugged in completely and caused instability. I would recommend reseating everything. 

I used to run my computer on a not grounded outlet, and didnt experience any problems so I dont think that your problem.