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Situation:
have a 6 year old PC but it powers off randomly, sometimes it will take a few hours, or sometimes it won't happen at all
when it does happen, the system loses power, but the mobo power LED is illuminated
when i press the power button, the PC will not turn on again
to turn it on again, i need to flip the power switch on the back of the PSU until the mobo power LED extinguishes, turn on the PSU, and the 'on' button works again
restarting the PC shortly after it has powered itself off seems to increase the probability and frequency of it powering off again (sort of how you would expect a heat issue to manifest?)
what i have done:
getting annoyed with my PC shutting down while gaming etc i decided to get out the wallet to attempt to fix the problem, gives me a good excuse to update as well :p
Round 1: new processor with stock cooling, new mobo, new RAM (old ram discarded), new GFX card, meaning that the only hardware that has been kept are the PSU, HDD and the tower unit
and the symptoms are the same.. powers off randomly
so, round 2: added a case fan, bought an aftermarket cooler for the CPU; installed with new thermal paste, re-seated the GFX as far away from the CPU as possible, removed the side panel of the case to improve airflow
..and the symptoms are still there... :'(
i did think it was a heating issue, but ive exhaused every idea i have to cool the machine, along with the hardware above; my room has no centeral heating, its winter, and the unit is next to an open window!
so logic says the PSU is the culprit as its the consistent variable in all the builds
i guess the only thing left to try is forking out for a new PSU.. before i spend £50 is this the action you would recommend? if so why? (to help me understand the situ) if not then what do you think is the problem?
1Definitely the PSU! If it goes off and does not turn on with power button, its the fail safe in the PSU, over heat or over load protection. What size PSU you got 450watt? – Piotr Kula – 2012-01-23T14:50:43.700
1This is it. Power supplies definitely get weaker as they age, often dramatically weaker. A 6 year old unit won't be able to push as much wattage as it was rated for when it was new. All those cooling changes will also draw more power and actually make your problem worse. – Joel Coehoorn – 2012-01-23T14:53:12.870
This answer is one weekend too late for me :( Flashed my BIOS in anticipation of a new CPU and now it's even worse. – MSalters – 2012-01-23T14:54:48.047
@MSalters don't worry - all that new cooling is just making your already taxed system draw even more power under load, thus exacerbating things. A new PSU should still fix you right up. – Joel Coehoorn – 2012-01-23T14:56:14.020
@JoelCoehoorn: Nice crystal ball there - it wasn't my question, but I too added cooling (scavenged from old PC). – MSalters – 2012-01-23T15:07:33.017
its a 600-650w Zion, 6 years old and a poor brand apparently. looks like everyone agrees a new PSU is in order, ill spring for a decent make this time, got my eye on a corsair TX750V2 for 80 quid. tell you what tho, im gunna SCREAM it it doesn't fix the problem!! >.< – Gaz – 2012-01-23T15:40:20.920
Replacing the PSU seems to have fixed the problem, managed to use the computer for days without any shutdown behavior :) thanks for the helf! – Gaz – 2012-02-06T11:17:21.467