PC always randomly (or not randomly) powers off, no shut down or anything

[kioskhill45]

I need help with a PC that I built in July last year that's been powering off every so often. I have no idea what's wrong with it, and I've tried a lot of things. The most recent thing I tried was getting a new PSU, but it still shuts down. I also tried deleting previous instances of Windows on old drives. I've tried updating drivers, and made sure my GPU or CPU wasn't ever overheating whenever I did something, but it still shuts down. There's no blue screen or Shutting Down screen, it just turns off. After trying the solution I thought would work the best, the new PSU, I'm at a loss for what I should do. I really don't want to buy any more parts to try to fix this, but I'll still list off some things that might be a problem, I just don't have any proof.

 

While I'm running a 5600x, I'm still using my old pc's 4 sticks of 2400 16gb ram. No idea if that has anything to do with shutting down, but it's still one issue with my PC.

 

I'm using an old corsair AIO that still uses the corsair link software, while running new corsair fans that use icue. Still don't think this is the problem but lmk if otherwise.

 

I have two drives from a previous build that I put in here that used to have windows. I did wipe the windows files, but the files still show, and there are other duplicate programs that I'm sure I missed.

 

My PC is plugged in with other devices on a surge protector.

 

There are a couple of times where I can tell there was a reason it shut down, though event viewer doesn't say anything. It shut down twice when I loaded a save file in the game Humankind. It shut down once when I changed my Minecraft graphics to fabulous. I have an RX 580. Other than those times, it seemingly shuts down at random, sometimes even at idle. 

 

Thanks for reading! If you'd like more information, please ask

[MichaelRaymond1230]

Hey man, sorry about what's going on with the PC. I have a couple of things that you could try that would maybe narrow down the problem.

 

First off, if you still have the other computer I would try to put the RAM into another computer. Sometimes RAM can be super funky when it is failing and it wouldn't hurt if you already have the computer. If not you can purchase another kit of RAM just to see if that's the issue. 

 

Also if you don't have any important data on the computer i would try to reinstall windows from a USB from the windows media creation tool. 

 

If those fail, I would try to unplug any and everything that is not neccesary to the computer functioning. So keep basic stuff like: mouse, keyboard, monitor, CPU fan, stuff like that. Things like RGB strips probably arent the issue but if you can see if you can unplug accesories like that just to see. 

 

You could also try to download an application like PC Doctor and test individual components to see if any of those are failing, i.e. GPU, CPU, RAM, HDD etc

 

As a worst case you could be looking at a motherboard which would suck but at that point there isnt much you can do.

 

Also does the computer when it turns off turn immediately back on (like restart) or does it just shut down?

 

P.S. if you don't have any data on that other drive you could just format it or delete the volume just to get those old files off. 

 

Hope this helps,

 

-Michael

[kioskhill45]

Thanks for the reply!

 

I don't want to try anything with my drives because I already have a lot stored, and I gave my old pc to a friend, but I'll try unplugging and PC Doctor. If it comes down to it, I'll buy new ram, hopefully not a new motherboard. Though since I'm running out of storage anyways, if I get a new drive I could transfer what's important, then try wiping the old ones. 

The computer doesn't turn back on after shutting off.

 

Big thanks for all of the suggestions!

[Beerzerker]

It's sounding like the PSU is losing ground to it, making it just cut off.
I'll explain the basics of it.

What I mean by that is PSU's have a single green wire in the 24 pin ATX plug (Main plug), that wire is used via the motherboard to control whether the PSU is on or off. If it loses continuity to ground the PSU will simply cut off with no warning.
The PSU uses ground being make or broken to turn the unit on or off and the motherboard is what normally controls this.

You've described it as just cutting off with no BSOD or anything else, one moment it's on and then it's just off and a problem with the PSU losing continuity to ground via the green wire will certainly make that happen. 

You may have a problem with the board maintaining this connection, iffy/sticking/bad powerswitch in the case or perhaps it's a grounding problem with the board itself. 
Be sure the board is securely in place in the case, nothing loose with the screws and that you have enough of them. I'd suggest at least 4 or more mounting screws to the board while it's in the case to know you have enough grounding capacity to keep it all running.
I'm ruling out things here such as thermal trip with the PSU since you've already swapped it and the system still has this problem.

That's what it's sounding like to me.

So....
Check your screws and where they go to see if they are tight and the metal rings around the mounting holes are clean, not rusted or corroded... That kind of thing because that can and will cause a connection problem.

While it's VERY unlikely for this to be with two different units, make sure the green wire in the plug itself isn't loose or getting pushed up when you plug the 24 pin ATX plug into the board.

I've ran into this before myself and it had me going in circles for awhile as to why the plug was so hard to plug into the board.

As to why - All it takes is for it's pin in the board to not quite be straight like the rest and it won't go into the connector's hole in the plug itself, instead it will push the individual wire in the plug up, causing poor contact and you'll have this problem.
Note the pins in the board must all go into the PSU plug and there are holes they all must go into, these are the individual connectors in the plug and a pin in the board that's off/not going into the hole will make it push it's individual connector inside the plug up, plus that makes it harder to plug the main connector into the board.