PC rebooting. Please advice how to troubleshoot.

[SunnyUA]

Hello!

So my PC started rebooting all of a sudden. It started a while back and would happen during work or play time. Sometimes it would happen at startup when no demanding software was running. I assumed this was due to faulty PSU (checked GPU and CPU temperatures and made sure they were OK). PSU was RMA'd to EVGA and replaced by a new one. While it was gone, I was using another PSU and had no sudden reboots, which affirmed my belief that it was PSU that was causing this.

When EVGA shipped me a new PSU and I installed it, the reboots started occuring again. However, this time more selectively. No reboots during works, only when playing some games (Mad Max, The Witcher 3). Interestingly, it didn't reboot even once during the whole playthrough of Batman: Arkham Knight. I tried checking my CPU with the official Intel utility and all the results returned as Passed. I also set up an aggressive preset in EVGA presicion to make sure that GPUs are not overheated.

So I am at a loss. I can't believe that a 2nd EVGA PSU would reboot like that, but so far, this is my only guess. Good people, perhaps one of you can suggest a troubleshooting method to pinpoint the cause of this? Thanks.

Here's my build: https://pcpartpicker.com/user/SunnyUA/saved/#savedbuild_1352160

 

[knoober]

Well here's my question: what was wrong with your PSU? For them to send you a new one there must have been something wrong in the first place. My guess is that they: took it in for RMA -> found "nothing wrong" with it -> cleaned it up a bit -> and then sent it back to you.

Ive heard good things about EVGA warranty service but that's my guess

 

[SunnyUA]

I asked them this very question. Here's how they replied:

Hi Nick,

We just have a pass/fail result and it failed. The power supply was replaced with a different physical unit.

Regards,
EVGA

 

[NZKshatriya]

Have you checked the connection from the wall to the PSU *don't shoot, troubleshooting 101 lol*

Maybe instability with power from the outlet?

I mean, what is the probability of two failed Evga PSU's back to back?

 

[EarthDog]

Try to run a CPU stress test and a GPU stress test at the same time and see if it shuts down...

 

[NZKshatriya]

@ed that would nuke mine, not that I would mine my gpu dying.

 

[knoober]

Did you try to force the problem with the other psu attached? I know you played your regular regimen of games, but did you stress with any bench programs? If you can get that other psu to replicate the issue you will have eliminated a possible source.

However unlikely it is to have gotten back to back "bad" psu from EVGA, it can be denied that the problem wasn't there with a different psu. I know that isn't the most helpful thing to say, and that maybe you are past that in the troubleshooting process but that's where I see it at

edit: All I can say is that I hit submit a bunch because I thought it wasnt posting Fixed now

 

[SunnyUA]

I did not try to force the problem with the other PSU. But yeah, I did play my usual games and a lot of them with no reboots. Unfortunately, I don't have access to that other PSU at the moment. Perhaps, I should just buy a new one and test it?

 

[EarthDog]

Try to run a CPU stress test and a GPU stress test at the same time and see if it shuts down...

...

 

[knoober]

I did not try to force the problem with the other PSU. But yeah, I did play my usual games and a lot of them with no reboots. Unfortunately, I don't have access to that other PSU at the moment. Perhaps, I should just buy a new one and test it?

I guess if your nervous for your equipment like NZKshatriya said, then get a new PSU, but that one might be bad as well. Gotta isolate the PSU as the culprit. Either move the PSU to a board/ram/cpu combo that you KNOW works flawlessly so we can be sure its the PSU or start checking the CPU and GPU like EarthDog says. Its the only way to trouble shoot Step 1: Be sure of what works and what doenst

BTW: EarthDog (along with others) are the resident geniuses around here. They've got alot of trouble shooting under their belts.

 

[bob4933]

Have a look at your event logs, and see if anything relevant comes up.

 

[Dlaw]

I third ED's post. Run IBT and Heaven at the same time. Run Heaven at 1080p with the nicest preset to push the video card hard, and don't worry about numbers. Heaven will loop, so let it run through the demo a couple of times to be sure it doesn't reboot.