Random Reboot with No Error Messages and No BSOD

[temjam99]

Hi there, I posted on this forum a few months ago after building my second ever self build computer. The build went fine except I was supplied with faulty RAM and after having it replaced I was very satisfied with my new build. The specs are as follows:

4790k @ 4.4ghz (Corsair h110iGT liquid cooler)
16gb 2400mhz corsair vengeance RAM (this RAM replaced 2133mhz which failed on memtests)
Msi Gaming 7 (latest bios 1.9?)
Palit super jetstream gtx 980 (defauilt clocks)
evga 850 gold psu

The system has worked fine for about a month or so, but recently has begun completely randomly restarting amidst any activity, whether playing a game or simply browsing the web, and even If i just leave the computer running whilst doing something else. The intensity of the activity on the computer doesn't seem to matter. Strangely there is also no timing issue, sometimes it can take 5 hours before it happens, and others it takes mere seconds after turning it on. This morning the computer powered off and on about 5 times before I was able to use it like I am now.

I've ran Furmark for a few hours and reports fine. Memtest for 4 hours also fine (though shut down once in the middle but I ran it again and the memory passed all tests). I've used open hardware monitor to monitor temps and they all seem to be fine, I have a long report from the hardware monitor that I could post here if people want to see it. I tried Unigine heaven and pushing the system to its limits by running unigine at the same time as furmark and HeavyLoad. Again, all fine. The irony was, after I stopped using the programs, within about 20 seconds of closing the windows, the computer randomly powered off and back on again.

I would also like to point out the speed at which it restarts, which I find strange, because it powers off and back on again so quickly that Im back in windows faster than as if I had first booted up, its more like coming back from sleep mode than from a direct loss of power, but all programs load as if windows is loading for the first time at boot up.

The computer makes a loud "click" sound when I power it on and it does this whenever power is turned on (including during the random restarts).

Lastly, I have updated ALL drivers to the very latest and tried rolling back a few times, but whilst initially the computer seemed to stay on alot longer after rolling back, the issue still resurfaced within a day or two.

I've phoned my supplier again after they replaced the RAM because of previous RAM issues and they are willing to replace any faulty parts again if necessary but they said they tested all the parts briefly when they sent the computer back last time and every part worked fine, so they would like me to at least discover which part isn't functioning before sending the entire computer back to them again. Does anyone have any advice for how I can isolate the problem more or what might be causing this?

 

[temjam99]

To extrapolate further on the issue. I am also getting a strange error about every hour or so that says "the usb device is not recognized" this pops up in the bottom right corner of windows. I have only got a wireless keyboard plugged in, along with an xbox controller which I have tried unplugging but the error still persists. They both function fine but the error comes up far more frequently when i'm actually using both more intensely, such as in a game or when writing a report for work. Whether this is related I don't know, but its the only other thing that seems to be wrong and so only connection i can find at the moment for the random restarts.

Again, if I were to describe the restarts I would describe them as being as if someone had pulled the power cord and plugged it back in with extreme speed, to the point where it seems that just for a millisecond the computer seems to lose power and then restart. But I do not find any errors or voltage errors in bios to suggest this. I will go have a look again now though and see if i can get a snapshot of the bios in case anyone notices anything suspicious.

 

[nictgsf]

My suspicions would lay with the PSU, motherboard or your electricity supply in general.

1. Try plugging into a different power socket in your house. If you're plugged into a mutli plug adapter or surge master then bypass that and go directly into the wall if you can
2. Remove your overclock. If you've overvolted then it's putting strain on your motherboard. If the boards defective then it could be causing your restarts. Might be useful to post your voltage settings here so we can see what's been set.
2. The only way to further diagnose is to swap out bits. The PSU would be my first look as unexplained restarts when sat idle without a blue screen or error are rarely caused by cpu or memory. Ask friends, family or anyone you can to borrow a supply to test it out.
3. If this works fine then it's time to swap out your motherboard if you can.

Good luck

 

[Toothless]

Check your voltages when your chip starts hitting that 4.4ghz turbo.

 

[micropage7]

looks like from power, i agree check your the voltage but it could be from board too

 

[Caring1]

To extrapolate further on the issue. I am also getting a strange error about every hour or so that says "the usb device is not recognized" this pops up in the bottom right corner of windows. I have only got a wireless keyboard plugged in, along with an xbox controller which I have tried unplugging but the error still persists.

Does your computer have a card reader or external drive connected?
That may be the unknown USB device.

 

[arnold_al_qadr]

loud click?
are you using a hdd as secondary?
maybe a faulty hdd actuator arm?

 

[Bill_Bright]

Some PSUs use a relay to supply power, so for those, a click is normal. Is this loud click new? Or did it always do that? (FTR, none of the reviews mention any relays for this PSU).

For sure, before assuming it is something else, you should swap in a known good PSU to make sure the rest of the components are getting good, clean, stable power.

You said your temps "seem" to be fine. What are your temps?

Is the interior clean of heat trapping dust?

 

[temjam99]

The click has been from the very beginning so I assume its normal for the PSU, however if it was faulty from the start then naturally I wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

I've attached a burnitintest report with more detailed specs aswell as temps (i think) if that doesn't have enough info then ill take a snapshot of the bios screen when i'm back home and post that too.

I also suspected something to do with power, but only thing that throws me where that is concerned is why it seems to work some of the time for 5-6 hours and can be playing games for that whole time, but at other will not even make it to the windows start up screen before it shuts off. If I were to put in a human analogy, its like a runner that keeps tripping over something, sometimes it trips over as soon as it gets out the front door, and other times it can run a marathon without effort but will trip as it pulls back onto the drive.

 

[temjam99]

I've added the hardwaremonitor report for current temps but these are right now where it appears to be up and running fine, I will have to wait until it shuts off again before I check again to see if temps are unusual.

 

[nictgsf]

I had a PSU behaving in a similar way. Started restarting without warning. It could last hours or could switch off after 5 mins. Load didnt seem to matter.

I swapped it out and everything was fine. Interestingly I sprayed the faulty unit with compressed air and tried it out again a couple months later and it's been fine since!

 

[Bill_Bright]

but only thing that throws me where that is concerned is why it seems to work some of the time for 5-6 hours and can be playing games for that whole time, but at other will not even make it to the windows start up screen before it shuts off.

To me, all these reports and waiting for something to happen is just wasting your time. Whenever I see odd, unexplained behavior, I always look at power first. So again I say, "For sure, before assuming it is something else, you should swap in a known good PSU to make sure the rest of the components are getting good, clean, stable power."

Intermittent problems are always the most difficult to troubleshoot. There could be a sudden power demand something in your PSU cannot tolerate. There could be a sudden power anomaly on the input side something in your PSU cannot tolerate. Who knows? But you need to eliminate the PSU from the equation and the only way to do that is to swap in a known good one.

 

[temjam99]

Ok, I've had to order a new PSU but it won't be arriving until next week so I'll report back when I've tried that. The rather annoying feature though with all this is that I've had the computer running 9 hours today straight without issue and during that time used intensive applications including video editing software and a quick test in gta v and civ v and it ran fine. Then i opened google chrome about 5 minutes ago and BAM! computer shuts down....strangely this time it stayed off for about 20 seconds then just magically came back on as if I'd pressed the power button.

Its just annoying and confusing that is all, hence my posting here to see if anyone would recognize the problem and save me having to invest in a new PSU merely for the sake of testing purposes (I'm away from home at the moment and have no access to friends computer parts so have to buy everything new to test with). I have had the current PSU for only a few months now, and it seemed to work absolutely fine for the first month (barring the RAM issues i mentioned) so i'm also wondering if it might not be something to do with the actual power supply lines of the flat i'm currently in, but that is so far beyond my depth of understanding that I wouldn't know where to start in trying to figure out whether power was fluctuating too much or perhaps not enough juice getting through so my other option is to take the pc to another location and try it there, which again comes with its own time related problems given the fact the computer may decide to run fine for 10 hours.

Anyway. I'll try the PSU but in the mean time will keep an eye out here in case anyone else has had a similar issue and recognizes similar symptoms.

 

[Bill_Bright]

Well, I am sorry you couldn't borrow a PSU to try instead of buying one. But then it is always good to have a spare handy IMO.

 

[ssy]

Ok, I've had to order a new PSU but it won't be arriving until next week so I'll report back when I've tried that. The rather annoying feature though with all this is that I've had the computer running 9 hours today straight without issue and during that time used intensive applications including video editing software and a quick test in gta v and civ v and it ran fine. Then i opened google chrome about 5 minutes ago and BAM! computer shuts down....strangely this time it stayed off for about 20 seconds then just magically came back on as if I'd pressed the power button.

Its just annoying and confusing that is all, hence my posting here to see if anyone would recognize the problem and save me having to invest in a new PSU merely for the sake of testing purposes (I'm away from home at the moment and have no access to friends computer parts so have to buy everything new to test with). I have had the current PSU for only a few months now, and it seemed to work absolutely fine for the first month (barring the RAM issues i mentioned) so i'm also wondering if it might not be something to do with the actual power supply lines of the flat i'm currently in, but that is so far beyond my depth of understanding that I wouldn't know where to start in trying to figure out whether power was fluctuating too much or perhaps not enough juice getting through so my other option is to take the pc to another location and try it there, which again comes with its own time related problems given the fact the computer may decide to run fine for 10 hours.

Anyway. I'll try the PSU but in the mean time will keep an eye out here in case anyone else has had a similar issue and recognizes similar symptoms.

Hi, have you fixed this problem? Was the PSU causing the restart? My computer is experiencing the same problem.

 

[Bill_Bright]

@ssy - you should really start your own new thread with your problem. Sudden reboots is a very common symptom caused by many different things. Starting your own thread, stating your own specific symptom (listing your specific hardware specs) will help you get the specific help you deserve and need too.