PC keeps losing power

[Daanish]

Hi all,

Just wondering if I could get some help with a problem I have. It has happened in the past, and the fix has usually been a new PSU (same model, each time provided by insurer)..

Basically, what happens is that whilst playing a game, my PC will randomly lose power, turn off, and restart. I think the problem is that the PSU is drawing too much power, and either overheating or cutting out. Here are the games it has had a problem with:

Rust

Happened once, never played since.

Rocket League

Happened a few times, magically fixed itself, then happened again. Haven;t played since

H1Z1

Happened once when my car exploded. Kept playing, but havent played in a while

BF4

Happened once, this morning, kept playing and is since OK. 

I have also run a stress tester, and it all worked fine - no crashes

The first time it happened, it seemed to happen with EVERY game, even minecraft. They replaced the PSU and it was fixed. Since then the PSU has been replaced about 2 times, and I have been problem free for a few months after replacement. I am unsure of the PSU used, but it is an alienware one (Don't judge me!). I can provide full specs of my PC if needed.

So, how can I solve this problem once and for all?

Thanks in advance,

~ Daanish

 

[Samatlewis]

Make sure it's plugged in

 

[Daanish]

Make sure it's plugged in

Great advice there samat xD

 

[KevinP]

Does the PSU you have actually have a sufficient wattage to power your components?

 

[Daanish]

Does the PSU you have actually have a sufficient wattage to power your components?

I believe so. I think the wattage is 1000w, but I am unsure. The engineers who fixed it seemed to think so, and they think it's overheating due to dust...

 

[KevinP]

I believe so. I think the wattage is 1000w, but I am unsure. The engineers who fixed it seemed to think so, and they think it's overheating due to dust...

1000w should be more than enough in most systems, what are your specs?

 

[Daanish]

1000w should be more than enough in most systems, what are your specs?

• CPU
  
  i7 960
• Motherboard
  Alienware 0XDJ4C
• RAM
  Samsung 12GB DDR3
• GPU
  GTX 970
• Case
  Alienware Area 51 ALX Case
• Storage
  2x Seagate Barracuda 1TB HDD
• PSU
  Alienware 1000w PSU
• Display(s)
  2x iiyama Prolite Screens - 1) T2451MTS, 2) B2480HS
• Cooling
  Alienware Water Cooling
•  
  

 

[KevinP]

• CPU
  
  i7 960
• Motherboard
  Alienware 0XDJ4C
• RAM
  Samsung 12GB DDR3
• GPU
  GTX 970
• Case
  Alienware Area 51 ALX Case
• Storage
  2x Seagate Barracuda 1TB HDD
• PSU
  Alienware 1000w PSU
• Display(s)
  2x iiyama Prolite Screens - 1) T2451MTS, 2) B2480HS
• Cooling
  Alienware Water Cooling
• Keyboard
  Alienware TactX Keyboard
• Mouse
  Alienware TactX Mouse
• Sound
  Corsair H2100 / Logitech G930
• Operating System
  Win 7

Hmm, should have plenty of power. Could either be a faulty PSU, but could also be something to do with your motherboard, or any other vital component. Does it just shut off with no errors?

 

[Ronnie Pickering]

"Losing power" is not a good way to characterize this. Your PC is doing a full reboot without your input. If you were losing power all the lights would go out on the board, and I doubt that is the case. You still have standby power.

Also it does not have to be the psu, check your cpu, and other components temps. if your cpu overheats it shuts down preventing any further damage to your machine.

 

[Daanish]

Hmm, should have plenty of power. Could either be a faulty PSU, but could also be something to do with your motherboard, or any other vital component. Does it just shut off with no errors?

Yep, just turns off as if someone pulled the plug and restarts saying it turned off expectantly 

"Losing power" is not a good way to characterize this. Your PC is doing a full reboot without your input. If you were losing power all the lights would go out on the board, and I doubt that is the case. You still have standby power.

Also it does not have to be the psu, check your cpu, and other components temps. if your cpu overheats it shuts down preventing any further damage to your machine.

GPU temp is stable when I game. I haven't checked CPU, but it's possible due to having very old thermal paste. When it next happens, I'll check if I have standby power.

 

[KevinP]

Yep, just turns off as if someone pulled the plug and restarts saying it turned off expectantly 

GPU temp is stable when I game. I haven't checked CPU, but it's possible due to having very old thermal paste. When it next happens, I'll check if I have standby power.

What Ronnie said was quite true, since you have two displays, throw CAM or Afterburner up on your other display and monitor temps.

 

[Ronnie Pickering]

Yep, just turns off as if someone pulled the plug and restarts saying it turned off expectantly 

GPU temp is stable when I game. I haven't checked CPU, but it's possible due to having very old thermal paste. When it next happens, I'll check if I have standby power.

Dowload prime95 and HWmonitor and check your cpu temps asap! prime loads the cpu @100% do it for 10 min's and see what your max temperature is. keep us updated 

Edit : does your pc shut down only if your in-game? if so i'm pretty sure it's overheating. and that's a problem. don't game before you checked your temps.

 

[Samatlewis]

@Zeito @CMO Marc Smith help this noob

 

[Rossss]

• Alienware
  

Found the issue ^

Seriously though I have no clue except what has been said. I use speccy (just google it) to monitor temps of everything and also it gives fancy stuff that nobody knows what it means. Clean the dust off it and make sure the fan on everything. You can manually control fans if the worst happens, either using software or a fan controller should you have one.

 

[Ronnie Pickering]

Found the issue ^

Seriously though I have no clue except what has been said. I use speccy (just google it) to monitor temps of everything and also it gives fancy stuff that nobody knows what it means. Clean the dust off it and make sure the fan on everything. You can manually control fans if the worst happens, either using software or a fan controller should you have one.

Case fan's don't matter. if it's really a overheating problem with the cpu turning up your case fans won't matter. only thing to do then is removing your cpu cooler and re-applying thermal paste.

 

[Mclovininin]

Could just be as simple as the PSU not being compatible with the GPU, my friend had this problem a few weeks ago.

 

[Rossss]

Case fan's don't matter. if it's really a overheating problem with the cpu turning up your case fans won't matter. only thing to do then is removing your cpu cooler and re-applying thermal paste.

You never think something will fix it until it does. 

Nah I know but it looks very internal the case so it could be something bizarre to do with airflow, I doubt it though.

 

[Ronnie Pickering]

Could just be as simple as the PSU not being compatible with the GPU, my friend had this problem a few weeks ago.

um, how would he even get to start his pc then lol. also that doesn't explain random shut down's. gpu feeds the monitor and the graphigs when the card would fail it would not just shut down the pc.

 

[Mclovininin]

um, how would he even get to start his pc then lol. also that doesn't explain random shut down's. gpu feeds the monitor and the graphigs when the card would fail it would not just shut down the pc.

I can promise you, my mates computer did exactly the same thing, once the GPU got to a certain power threshold that it needed the computer would shutdown (Not due to the PSU not having the right wattage). all im doing is quoting a computer specialist (Who fixed this problem by supplying a different PSU with the same wattage)