PC suddenly powering down

hey guys i am facing a strange problem whenever i try to boot my PC it starts up normally and starts the normal work but after some time (times are random)it powers down automatically and this happens again and again.
After repeated attempts say about 10-15 times of this phenomenon my PC starts to work properly
My cabinet is properly dusted so chances of moisture formation is very low...
Any solutions to the problem please help !!

Which OS are you using? Try booting up in Safe Mode and see if you face the same problem.If it works fine in Safe Mode then it could be a startup Program or Driver issue.

@ jerrin_ss5 - sometimes due to improper memory voltage this thing happens - can you post the mem voltage set under bios.

@v2kisad - i am running windows 7 and i tried to boot it in safe mode but still the problem exists infact this phenomenon happens even when i am in bios

@topgear - i am not sure how to get mem voltage its set to default under bios i have posted the h/w monitor pic if this helps
*img838.imageshack.us/img838/1931/64644162.jpg
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Enable logger in your OS & then see Event Viewer what exacty happens before computer gets restarted automatically. (this trick will work only if your problem happens due to some software malfunction)

And in your cupid screenshot, everything looks ok to me.

I too had this type of problem with my old rig. After checking found out that the PSU was the culprit. Gave it for repairing, after that my PC worked fine.

@ jerrin_ss5 - from the pic you have posted I can see that the +12V rail power is too low only 8.03V which should be at-least around ~ 11.80v but sometime HWmonitor can show wrong volt info ( I've seen this type of issues ).

Your memory voltage is 1.84V ( showing ) so it must be at 1.8V under bios setting - set the mem/dram voltage to 1.9v under bios setting and post back the results.

Its got to be a hardware issue if its happening even if your in BIOS.
How long have you been facing this problem? Was it ever working fine,if yes,then what has changed in your computer since then?

@topgear - i checked under bios but mem voltage starts from 2.0v .
@v2kisad - it started about 3 days ago the only change was that my UPS had stopped working a month before as it was very old so i had connected the spike guard directly to mains but i checked the mains for grounding and it was all properly connected.
@saswat23 - even if PSU problem is there how come it starts to work after certain retries.
its as if my PC is having starting problem like in a car...

Oh and i forgot to mention i had an old PSU an unbranded one i had connected that to confirm whether its working fine under that and it did'nt even powered up with that PSU, this PSU was working fine under my friends machine about two months ago..

Also i checked the bios for voltage under 12v and this is what i got...
*img43.imageshack.us/img43/4091/28082011596.jpg
is the above voltage good for 12v rail ?

all voltages look ok.

BTW, have you undervolted your processor? cause usually even when cool&quite is on, at idle most AMD AthlonII/Phenom II proccy takes about 1.2V. yours is taking 1V

do 1 thing. run CPU_Z & keep the CPU idle. note the minimum Vcore and tell us. i doubt HW Monitor. something doesn't looks right.

*img823.imageshack.us/img823/262/10634325.jpg
@sam - i have'nt changed any of the voltage settings in bios everything is set to default
and also i noticed that vcore voltage went upto 1.2v at load
is there any problem if vcore is below 1.2v?

also according to amd's website my voltage range is about 0.875-1.425V
*products.amd.com/(S(eec4wdac2hipilujjtyllmqv))/pages/DesktopCPUDetail.aspx?id=526

^^ set the cpu vcore to 1.3v under bios setting and use a better quality spike guard from Belkin or APC ;-)

jerrin_ss5 said:
@sam - i have'nt changed any of the voltage settings in bios everything is set to default
and also i noticed that vcore voltage went upto 1.2v at load
is there any problem if vcore is below 1.2v?

most likely, the cause of the problem. my system runs fine at 1.2V but start a game & you'll end up in a restart. and its strange that your system uses lower voltage than what is usually used without even touching anything.

T

@jerrin_ss5

I will suggest you do the following:

1. Pull out the Processor and then put it back, re-apply the thermal paste.

2. Check the Cabinet Power Button. Look for loose connection. (You may have to remove the front plastic cover of your cabinet for this. )

Please revert back.

@topgear - should i increase the vcore and if so how to and will it do damage to my pc
@sam - my pc starts to work normally after certain retries and then if i play anything it handles without any problem. The problem resurfaces only when i leave my pc switched off for the whole night and try to power up in the morning does this problem occurs.
@Tech@ME - i will check the cabinet power button for loose connection and let you know but if my cabinet power button is at fault
but how come it gives problem only when my PC is unused for long time i mean it does'nt give problems when it starts to run properly
as for CPU should i remove it cause the temp of it is already within the threshold!

T

^^
1. Yes! you should remove your Processor and re-apply the thermal paste. Even if the temp shown by BIOS seems to be ok.

2. After looking at your above post, I will suggest you to remove your graphics card and use the onboard vga and see if the problem persist or not.

3. Sometimes Graphics Cards tends to cause such shutdown problems.

Please revert back.

@tech&ME - i will try and revert you back mostly by tomorrow cause my PC has returned to its normal working state now.

P

Hi, I was facing the same problem in my old PC. It happened that the memory was faulty, After it is replaced it worked fine.
May be you can check with a different memory stick.

pmoff said:
Hi, I was facing the same problem in my old PC. It happened that the memory was faulty, After it is replaced it worked fine.
May be you can check with a different memory stick.

ya even i had the initial doubt about that i ran memtest to verify and it came out clean

jerrin_ss5 said:
@topgear - should i increase the vcore and if so how to and will it do damage to my pc
@sam - my pc starts to work normally after certain retries and then if i play anything it handles without any problem. The problem resurfaces only when i leave my pc switched off for the whole night and try to power up in the morning does this problem occurs.
@Tech@ME - i will check the cabinet power button for loose connection and let you know but if my cabinet power button is at fault
but how come it gives problem only when my PC is unused for long time i mean it does'nt give problems when it starts to run properly
as for CPU should i remove it cause the temp of it is already within the threshold!

To increase vcore you'll need to do this from bios settings - read the manual carefully and you'll know where the option for increasing cpu/vcore volatile is located under bios setting - a 1.3v cpu vcore won't do any harm to any components in your pc and it's completely safe ;-)

Tech&ME said:
^^
1. Yes! you should remove your Processor and re-apply the thermal paste. Even if the temp shown by BIOS seems to be ok.

2. After looking at your above post, I will suggest you to remove your graphics card and use the onboard vga and see if the problem persist or not.

3. Sometimes Graphics Cards tends to cause such shutdown problems.

Please revert back.

1. ok i removed my processor cleaned my heatsink reapplied the the thermal paste and seated it right back

2. tried to boot without the graphic card.

both gave the same output ie powering down after some time

@topgear - i am not finding any settings to change the CPU vcore
mine is an award bios so please help out

it should be under advanced bios features. if you are unable to find, open advanced bios options & click a pic. upload to some image hosting site & give the link here.

Sam said:
it should be under advanced bios features. if you are unable to find, open advanced bios options & click a pic. upload to some image hosting site & give the link here.

*img845.imageshack.us/img845/7554/30082011598.jpg

*img10.imageshack.us/img10/9683/30082011599.jpg

it's not there ( on the posted screenshot ) - can you tell what are the options you see when you enter bios screen ? - generally Award Bios offers OC support with latest mobos - so there's a strong chance that your mobo also has options for OC and changing voltgae values.

there's a separate option for voltage and frequency control but under that i could'nt find vcore option !
is it possible that bios could have some locked option?

jerrin_ss5 said:
is it possible that bios could have some locked option?

No. No bios have any locked option(s).

jerrin_ss5 said:
there's a separate option for voltage and frequency control but under that i could'nt find vcore option !
is it possible that bios could have some locked option?

maybe the bios is a bit stripped down. so you maybe able to monitor the Vcore but can't change it.

ok, try updating BIOS (unlikely, updated bios will add vcore control) or try AMD Overdrive if your motherboard supports.

BTW your motherboard supports cool & quite? if yes, disable it.

jerrin_ss5 said:
there's a separate option for voltage and frequency control but under that i could'nt find vcore option !
is it possible that bios could have some locked option?

what are the options you get Under voltage Control ??

J

I will suggest you 2 things hope it will solve your problem.
1)remove your ram clean it with a cloth and then reinsert it.
2)see if your processor fan is working,if working remove heat sink apply thermal paste and put it.

jagdish said:
I will suggest you 2 things hope it will solve your problem.
1)remove your ram clean it with a cloth and then reinsert it.
2)see if your processor fan is working,if working remove heat sink apply thermal paste and put it.

dude, see the pictures that he posted here. He don't have any problem with the temperature (i.e. overheating)

hey thanks guys especially @topgear and @sam for helping with my problem
sorry for the delayed response as i had got frustrated
anyways my problem seems to be solved and here's how i tackled it
i ran my PC for two days straight with a few breaks of 4-5 hours in between and then gave an entire day rest
now its working properly even though the exact cause of the problem is unknown !!

jerrin_ss5 said:
hey thanks guys especially @topgear and @sam for helping with my problem
sorry for the delayed response as i had got frustrated
anyways my problem seems to be solved and here's how i tackled it
i ran my PC for two days straight with a few breaks of 4-5 hours in between and then gave an entire day rest
now its working properly even though the exact cause of the problem is unknown !!

Then because of the bolded quote, it will be better for you, if the problem do not return once again.

nice to know problem is fixed. so what is the current vcore? also i feel the problem mayn't be related to low processor voltage.

yep, it would be better if Op can know what exactly have caused this - I think humidity caused all this and that's why it automatically got fixed after using the pc for a longer time period ;-)

@d6bmg - hope the problem doesn't return anyways thanks for the help
@sam - vcore still the same about 1v
@topgear - hopefully the problem was due to moisture and hope it doesn't return
Thanks everyone!!!!

M

@jerrin did you find a solution to your problem yet? I went through this entire post because my Toshiba Satellite is having similar shutdown problem and it takes multiple attempts to reboot and when it finally does then it works like a charm. I took it to a technician and he suspected the air vents and did a cleaning and and applied fresh thermal paste. did not solve the problem.
Feel like throwing away this junk