Randomly Shuts Off

[TheMuffinMan]

If you ever figure it out make sure and post it. I am having the same issue. I bought all new parts so now I have 2 systems and it still shuts off randomly. The temps on my cpu are 32c to 40c and my video card never goes above 60c on full load.

I have ran every test I could think of plus the ones posted and still nothing. I have had Ultimate for a few months and it has shut off about 6 times and the event viewer just says unexpected shutdown.

 

[patrickj]

If it works fine, great. But it it starts up again, run the memory test. If ti comes back, I'm 99% sure that's your problem. The next one being a faulty/underpowered power supply.

You don't know how many years of my life were wasting doing continuous reinstalls due to random reboots, shutdown, etc. All of it could have been avoided by simply running memtest and replacing the ram. The quick BIOS ram test isn't a ram "check" btw.

Well, I wussed out...I just reloaded Vista. Seems to work fine now. I'm gonna update and install drivers slowly, see if any of them causes the problem to return...

 

[WoodyNaDobhar]

Yeah, the reload didn't work, so I'm re-doing the memory scan. Set it to run the extended scan twice this AM before I left for work, we'll see soon enough what the results are.

 

[roy69]

Random events in any computer system is a diagnostic nightmare. It can be hardware or software. This is why booting into the bios is helpfull. If it resets in the bios screen you know it is the hardware. This is mainly true if it is overheating.

Power and heat and memory problems only show when the computer is getting stressed or overworked.

 

[WoodyNaDobhar]

Memory scan again came up clean. Did a scandisk, tho, and I may have found my problem...or at least gotten another clue. It shut down in the same, sudden way during the scan disk, during phase four. I ran it three times, and it shut off three times, all during the lenghty phase four. NOT, however, at the exact same point...once it shut down at 10000+ checked files, again at less than that, and again at more than 20000.
And apparently, this AM, it's not shutting off unexpectedly yet...

 

[WoodyNaDobhar]

It stayed on all day yesterday...then things became a bit of a nightmare. For a while there, it wasn't even booting up...crashing during startup. I ended up restoring the system to the first restore point, and that did the trick. Scan disk found a messed up security descriptor, and fixed it. It stayed on several hours after that. Then the next time I reboot it, it went right back to shutting off. I'm trying to run another scandisk, but it keeps shutting off during the scan, at about the same time it would shut off if I hadn't run the scan. It's not showing the same descriptor error, tho...

 

[WoodyNaDobhar]

So, noticing a pattern, I've discovered that if I schedule a scandisk, let it run, it'll shut down, but then restarting and skipping the resulting scandisk, vista will run flawlessly. It's been on for a while now...

I just gotta schedule a scandisk every time I turn this thing on. Is there some way to automate that?

Naturally, this is a temporary solution...

 

[Archpope]

It could be a faulty IDE or SATA controller. Last year, my computer was having a similar problem, wherein it would just shut off. I traced the problem to a memory controller. Not the memory, but the controller, which meant new mobo. So, yours could have a faulty disk controller. It seems like the controller is having to access a certain location, and BAM! shutdown. An easy (but not cheap) way to check this is to install a new HDD and load up the OS. If it does the same thing, then it's a controller problem. If it works fine, then it's the HDD, but I've never heard of a computer just plain shutting down unless it's the hardware. And then it's have to be a pretty serious one to get past the BSOD.

 

[03hdfatboy]

When I first built mine I ran into the exact same issues and just like you it would run fine in safe mode. I tried EVERYTHING! replaced PSU removed everything but cpu an one stick of ram and used a different Video card... I finally got and RMA'ed my MOBO back to newegg, put in the new one and the issue went away.
Good luck...
FATBOY

 

[roy69]

If it run in safe moe it is not a hardware issue. The main difference between safe mode and real mode is device drivers.

 

[WoodyNaDobhar]

Switched out hard drives, and the results were the same, eventually. It's almost certainly the mobo...I'm gonna switch it out and see what happens.

 

[03hdfatboy]

That's what I did and was glad of it. B-4 U do you may want to update your bios first 2C if that would help.

 

[WoodyNaDobhar]

I was nervous to do so, since if it had gone down in the middle of flashing the bios, I'dve been just screwed...but desperation took hold of me, and yesterday I flashed the BIOS with a new one.

It hasn't crashed since! It was almost certainly an issue with the hd controllers on the mobo.

 

[03hdfatboy]

I was nervous to do so, since if it had gone down in the middle of flashing the bios, I'dve been just screwed...but desperation took hold of me, and yesterday I flashed the BIOS with a new one.

It hasn't crashed since! It was almost certainly an issue with the hd controllers on the mobo.

Glad I could help. I've never made a Mobo Brick...YET