Computer RESTARTS randomly.

LeakingLava

Hey guys,

My computer had started just restarting randomly as you can probably deduce from the title.

It has happenes a lot just since yesterday and I can't figure it out.

- While streaming online game videos
- While doing nothing (it just restarted)
- While testing for an hour (but BurnInTest passed everything)
- While typing this whole thing up(which now forces me to type on my phone
- While on Windows logo
- Now it's just stuck on the Windows logo and would just restart at that point.

I have a sneaking suspicion that it's the SSD. Is this a possibility? The windows recovery thing came up once automatically so that's why I'm suspicious of the SSD. Any input is welcome. Thanks a lot!

BailMeOut

1st step would be to re-seat your memory and all other connectors inside the case.

Normally you'd get a BSOD but for a power reset like this then something maybe just lose or your power supply is going bad.

What does your event log say before and after the reset?

LeakingLava

BailMeOut wrote:

What does your event log say before and after the reset?

Sorry, but, where do I find this information? It does turn on sometimes like just now, but restarted again after just a few seconds so maybe I can try and find it while it's up.

Thank you for the suggestion, i'll do that now.

DesperateDan

Hmm restart rather than complete shutdown is odd alright my first guess is always the PSU. Recently couldn't figure out why a PC was randomly shutting down and the issue was one of the larger PSU voltage cables was ever so slightly mis-seated.

Also monitor your temperatures, maybe your CPU ain't cooling correctly.

LeakingLava

DesperateDan wrote:

Also monitor your temperatures, maybe your CPU ain't cooling correctly.

I would maybe lean towards the first bit of your reply in that case as my CPU idles at around 30-40c and it restarted at idle at one time so I think it may well be the power issue. Thank you very much!

Will try reseat everything inside. Thanks again guys.

BailMeOut

it it was a driver or bad hardware you'd normally expect a crash screen (BSOD) which you are not seeing which makes me think it is power related.

Events are under 'Event Viewer' and I'd look at Windows Logs / System.

Suckit

As has been said it sounds like it could be overheating, but more information on the build hardware or if it has a model number etc. might be easier to help pinpoint any issues.

PC Pitstop may be of some help http://www.pcpitstop.com/pcpitstop/

Wombatman

Good chance it is overheating. Maybe replace CPU thermal paste.

This can be good to check your chips temp.

http://openhardwaremonitor.org/

LeakingLava

Would Speccy be reliable enough regarding monitoring CPU temperature? That's what I was using and the highest it got while I was testing the computer out was 65c while I was streaming an online video. But as mentioned, it had also restarted on its own while idle. Could it still be the CPU temp? GPU was the similar, just a little lower.

LeakingLava

Suckit wrote:

As has been said it sounds like it could be overheating, but more information on the build hardware or if it has a model number etc. might be easier to help pinpoint any issues.

Intel i5-4690K
Coolermaster Hyper 212 EVO
MSI GTX970
ASUS z97 pro WIFI ac
beQuiet power supply (Can't remember exact wattage, but had a lot of headroom when purchasing)
16GB Crucial Ballistix RAM
Samsung 840 EVO 250GB SSD
3x HDDs in RAID for data storage

Thank you very much!

Suckit

You could try Aida64, Prime95 or Realbench also.

You could download Ubuntu (or mint etc) and use Etcher or Rufus to create a live USB.
Check if it still happening.

LeakingLava

Suckit wrote:

to create a live USB. Check if it still happening.

That's a very good point. Thank you very much. Will do that after trying to reseat everything. Will do everything in a little while as I have to cook for the family or else I will probably get reseated outside the bedroom for the night. :pac:

LeakingLava

Right, I have reseated literally everything that I could reseat in the computer, including GPU, with the exception of the CPU and the cooler it self. I am comfortable doing it, it's just that I wouldn't want to do it if it isn't necessary. I am now typing this using my computer, hopefully it doesn't crash.

The event logger is saying kernel-power ID 41. Which does lead to power related issues so hopefully it's the reseating that would fix it. Otherwise, hopefully not, it could be the motherboard, if I deduce it correctly. Thank you everyone. I will report back if it crashes again. If it's stable, I'll let you guys know as well. I will also run a software scan just to see if there's anything wrong software-wise. Thanks a lot yet again. Greatly appreciated.

EDIT: 20 minutes later, I'm still here. Going to start loading up things. Had Speccy on the whole time and it seems like everything is stable at CPU-34, MB-28, GPU-41, SSD-37, give or take 2. Will now load the streaming video that I was watching when it crashed.

EDIT2: An hour from turning on PC, it's still going. CPU-39, MB-28, GPU-49, SSD-39. No crashes or anything. I have a stream on one monitor, Facebook, Boards(using Chrome), Speccy, Task Manager, Skype, Viber, and file explorer windows open on two other monitors for about 40 minutes and it seems like everything is okay, for now. I will still keep an eye, and will try to load up more things for the computer to process, possibly a game to play on one of the monitors. Again, all your help are greatly appreciated. Thank you very much.

EDIT3: After a few games of FIFA 17, I've noted that my CPU and GPU went up to around 70c. But still, no crashes. I do think though that they are both running at a little high temperature under load than what I think they should be, so I may actually replace the faulty fans I have on the front of my case :pac: :pac:

LeakingLava

One thing I noticed actually, was my SSD running at 54c. Is that normal for a loaded SSD? Speccy was showing it as a RED temperature. However, the CPU at 65c was still orange so I was thinking there was something wrong with the SSD. Now though, it's running at 35c. Hopefully it keeps going at that temperature.

LeakingLava

Seems like everything is okay at the moment. Check post #13 for the updates if you're interested.

Thank you very much guys! That was a very quick troubleshoot. It's truly greatly appreciated.

LeakingLava

Well...


After all that...

It restarted again.. on idle..

Will try and get a laptop today from a friend to load ubuntu into a usb and try it out.. but I'm really not sure how that's gonna work out because yesterday, it was going well for around 3 hours straight and today it went within 2 minutes.. not sure how long i should wait..

Event logger in windows is saying ID 41 Kernel-power again. Could it be PSU or MB? I did notice weird things happening to the USB ports before, but I really don't know. I'm so confused right now.

Suckit

Sounds like PSU.
I would check all cables are correctly in and check again.

There are videos and sites that show you quick fixes for that error in windows 10, although i have never had cause to try any of them. Ultimately the best solution would probably be to replace the PSU assuming all cables are in correctly.
Could you swap a PSU to try?

LeakingLava

Suckit wrote:

in windows 10, although i have never had cause to try any of them. Ultimately the best solution would probably be to replace the PSU assuming all cables are in correctly. Could you swap a PSU to try?

Sadly, I do not own a second PSU and don't have the means to get one so I can't test that out directly. I will however attempt a few things such as change RAM, take out GPU completely, and run Ubuntu from a USB to see if the SSD was causing the issue. It will be a pain, but it's just to deduct all of those from possibly being the issue.
Thanks a lot.

Suckit

Did you try any of the options in Google results? It may save you some time. for example this one (i purposefully linked to the quoting of the other forum).

From HERE

RESOLVED:

Since placing this thread, I was addressing other errors I found in the event logs. One of those had to do with "Metadata staging failed".

Researching about this error let me to the URL:

http://www.eightforums.com/bsod-cras...-failed-3.html

where poster Saammy gave the following possible solution:

I have the solution for the problem.
Searches on regedit for the following entry: DeviceMetadataServiceURL
There you change the URL in the following: http://dmd.metaservices.microsoft.com/dms/metadata.svc
after you have closed the editor is saved the change.
Now the problem is solved and it will also re-loaded device information.

As instructed, I used regedit and searched for "DeviceMetadataServiceURL", and it's value was set to:

http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?Link...69&clcid=0x409

I changed the value to "http://dmd.metaservices.microsoft.com/dms/metadata.svc" and then rebooted.

The end result was that this did indeed fix the "Metadata staging failed" errors, and interestingly enough the Event ID 41 is no longer showing up in the event logs after shutdown/reboot. I did 5 shutdown/reboot sequences... 1 per hour, and neither problem has occurred since making the above change.

LeakingLava

I did see that one, however, I thought that it was a different issue. Well, in my point of view, I wouldn't have even considered it an issue and would've just moved on. As I understand it, isn't the issue in that case just the fact that event logger was logging the same error code but he wasn't actually getting sudden restarts or cutouts? He was getting the log even with properly shutting down and his solution was to get rid of that isn't it? I definitely wouldn't want to get rid of the log so I didn't think that that was a solution in my case.

I am of course open for correction. Maybe I'm just so pissed at the computer at the moment which is why my perspective may be a little cloudy.

EDIT: The reason why I'm doing the RAM change and GPU removal is due to a suggestion on one of those google results by the way, so please don't think that I'm disregarding your suggestions as I'm really not. All of it is greatly appreciated. Thank you very much.

LeakingLava

TESTING(POST WILL BE EDITED)

I am now testing the desktop with 1 stick of RAM that wasn't from the set of 4 that I was using previously. Also, the GPU was taken out so the onboard GPU is being utilised for 1 monitor(TV).

Also realised that my rear exhaust fan is faulty so I will have to replace that as well after all this is sorted.

Everything seems to be okay for now.

EDIT: Issue persists even without GPU and different RAM stick. The only real next step that I can see to do in terms of troubleshooting is to swap out the PSU, which, sadly, I just don't have the means to get at the moment.

Thanks again for all your help. Will update back here when I get my hands on a PSU even to just test it out. But being unemployed at the moment, I don't think that will come soon. Thanks yet again. Much appreciated.

game4it70

Check for a diagnostic tool from your ssd manufacturer's website.
No harm checking the ssd drive health.

LeakingLava

game4it70 wrote:

Check for a diagnostic tool from your ssd manufacturer's website. No harm checking the ssd drive health.

Used a SMART test software that I got online and the Passmark BurnInTest as well. Both passed all my 5 drives so I don't think it's faulty. Will still try run an Ubuntu on a drive though, just to see if it still happens that way. Thanks a lot though!

game4it70

LeakingLava wrote: »

Used a SMART test software that I got online and the Passmark BurnInTest as well. Both passed all my 5 drives so I don't think it's faulty. Will still try run an Ubuntu on a drive though, just to see if it still happens that way. Thanks a lot though!

Ah ok.Have you ran any tests on the ram like Memtest?

Suckit

I did not check his entire post, so apologies, it may be a totally different issue, i just grabbed that one at semi-random because it was the solution in two other forums.


There are so many variables to be honest.
Have a look here http://www.overclock.net/t/1611326/is-asus-going-too-far-asus-z97-pro-wifi-ac

LeakingLava

game4it70 wrote:

Ah ok.Have you ran any tests on the ram like Memtest?

I did, didn't really see the results on the 4 sticks. Not sure if the computer restarted on its own or if the test was complete. Couldn't be bothered doing it again so I just swapped out the RAM as mentioned above. Now I only have 1 stick of different RAM in the computer and it still happened.

LeakingLava

Suckit wrote:

There are so many variables to be honest. Have a look here

Thanks a lot for this. Will have a look at that setting tomorrow.

LeakingLava

Something funky just started happening. I always have a fan on in the room. I also leave my speakers on and whenever I turn them on, I always hear a mini pop, but that's very seldom because just as mentioned, I leave them on.

Just now, because everything is so quiet, I just noticed that my fan turned off for a split second and turned back on. And I also noticed that my speakers made that pop noise, twice so far. What's weird though is that they are on different sockets. And another weird thing is that I'm watching on my TV and the TV stayed on however the TV is on the same socket as the speaker.

I'm not really sure what's going on, but I know whenever I turn on the fan I also hear that pop noise from my speaker. So it could be just the fan causing voltage fluctuations? Maybe the motor in it is going or something? Maybe it's causing so much voltage fluctuation in the room that that 'crash protection' on my MB is acting up because of that and kills the desktop?

My steps for troubleshooting:
-Use the desktop with the fan off.
-Plug everything out and just leave the desktop and a monitor on.

If there's anything else you could suggest, fire away. Thanks a lot.

RESULTS EDIT:

- Still restarted even when fan was off.
- Tested with just TV and desktop on and no restarts so far. Had been on for an hour and a half.
- Computer restarted again.

Completely scratch all of this post then. :pac:

LeakingLava

Just went into the BIOS to look for the anti-crash/surge thing. Noticed that there is a voltmeter for all the rails. I am currently getting 12.288V, 5.080V, and 3.312V. Are these levels correct/safe enough for the computer? In short, are they the levels that I'm supposed to be getting from the PSU?

EDIT: System also restarted while I was in BIOS so I'm pretty sure my SSD/software is pretty clear from being the cause of this issue.

EDIT: Turning off the anti-surge support was of no use. Computer still restarted.

I really need to get a PSU...

game4it70

LeakingLava wrote: »

Just went into the BIOS to look for the anti-crash/surge thing. Noticed that there is a voltmeter for all the rails. I am currently getting 12.288V, 5.080V, and 3.312V. Are these levels correct/safe enough for the computer? In short, are they the levels that I'm supposed to be getting from the PSU?

EDIT: System also restarted while I was in BIOS so I'm pretty sure my SSD/software is pretty clear from being the cause of this issue.

EDIT: Turning off the anti-surge support was of no use. Computer still restarted.

I really need to get a PSU...

Those readings are fine imo.Although the fact you restarted in the bios would point to the psu being the cause of all the restarts.

If your in dublin I could lend you a psu in a couple of days to use to test if thats any use to you?

LeakingLava

I am Dublin, however, I have stumbled upon a little bit of unexpected cash income so I rushed over to a shop to purchase one so I could test it out overnight. Thank you so much though! That's greatly appreciated. I love Boards especially because of people like you.

TESTING RESULTS(will be updated):

- Just reassembled the desktop with a new PSU, (Corsair CX750). I know corsair has a lot of negative reviews regarding their PSUs, but it was the only one in the shop so I just took it.

- BIOS showed 12.0xxV and 5.0xxV so I believe that on its own is a +.

- Currently still running one stick of RAM and no GTX970, for testing purposes.

- Started PC @ 9.15pm. Hopefully things go well and hopefully no restarts.

- Well, same shiznitt. Restarted just at 9.24pm.

Conclusion:

I'm thinking it has to be the MB, unless I'm really stupid and blind and I'm missing something stupid.

game4it70

Ah what a pain for you after getting the new psu.

I'd say it has to be a fault with the mobo too.
It could even be a dodgy Dimm slot so I would Try running memtest again on the one stick.It should be much faster with just the one stick installed.

Check the manual and see if you can run a single stick on a different Dimm.

The only plus thing I can say is you have nearly ruled out everything bar the mobo

LeakingLava

game4it70 wrote: »

Ah what a pain for you after getting the new psu.

I'd say it has to be a fault with the mobo too.
It could even be a dodgy Dimm slot so I would Try running memtest again on the one stick.It should be much faster with just the one stick installed.

Check the manual and see if you can run a single stick on a different Dimm.

The only plus thing I can say is you have nearly ruled out everything bar the mobo

I will try that RAM thing as well, although, I once put two sticks in the wrong slot in the midst of all this and it didn't boot up at all so I doubt that the MB allows that.

What even more annoying is that the retailer that I bought al this from is HWVS. AND, that was just 2 months over 3 years ago. In the ASUS website, it says motherboard standard warranty is 3 years, however TUF is 5 years. Now if only someone could shed light on ehat TUF is, I would know what my MB would fall under. If it is 'standard', feck.

Johnboy1951

LeakingLava wrote: »

I will try that RAM thing as well, although, I once put two sticks in the wrong slot in the midst of all this and it didn't boot up at all so I doubt that the MB allows that.

What even more annoying is that the retailer that I bought al this from is HWVS. AND, that was just 2 months over 3 years ago. In the ASUS website, it says motherboard standard warranty is 3 years, however TUF is 5 years. Now if only someone could shed light on ehat TUF is, I would know what my MB would fall under. If it is 'standard', feck.

Probably this

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technischer_%C3%9Cberwachungsverein

Suckit

If the motherboard was always going to fail (i.e. if it was defective), and you can prove it, i think warranty extends longer.

BUT..

I am not sure, i think that warranty it is with the supplier (even though that makes less sense).

LeakingLava

Well I went ahead and sent Asus a message(all I can do, really). I hope they realise that the retailer has closed down and do something about it. Basically their customer service department would have to do 2 gestures of good will if they are going to entertain this issue at al which are going past manufacturer's warranty AND dealing with it despite the retailer closing down. That would be absolutely fantastic, yes. Reasonable, maybe? But I don't think I have grounds to nag them of anything. It is a pity though that it happened just feckin 2 months after.

LeakingLava

Now, there are only two things left regarding troubleshooting that I haven't touched. CPU and MB. Is there any chance at all that this could be the CPU? I just want insights about that as I REALLY do not have the means to 'test' that aspect out.

tuxy

There's a chance. I've been building PCs for over 15 years and I had never come across a faulty CPU until this summer. It would randomly reset but died completely soon after symptoms started. So I've come across one bad CPU in that time but countless motherboards.

Maybe get a replacement CPU and Motherboard from Amazon to see which is faulty, from my experience they will accept the return of opened items.

LeakingLava

tuxy wrote: »

There's a chance. I've been building PCs for over 15 years and I had never come across a faulty CPU until this summer. It would randomly reset but died completely soon after symptoms started. So I've come across one bad CPU in that time but countless motherboards.

Maybe get a replacement CPU and Motherboard from Amazon to see which is faulty, from my experience they will accept the return of opened items.

I really hope I financially could. I really hope I could.

Suckit

The Nvidia defect had a load of forums and blogs that popped up with information about defective items. I think many of them were closed down after agreeing terms with the manufacturers of the devices involved.

If your board is defective and has many people reporting the same problem, then you may be able to get them to replace it pretty quickly without them having to admit anything.

game4it70

I wouldn't get your hopes up with Asus rma.They don't have a good rep when it comes to actually rma'ing something with them.TUF is just a range of mobos they do so I presume your mobo does not have it in its name.

Slim chance that there maybe a short causing the restarts.Try building the basic set up outside the case to test.

What Cpu and mobo do you have?
Apologies if you have said already.

Did you try using memtest?
This is a newish version that can be run in windows.

LeakingLava

game4it70 wrote: »

I wouldn't get your hopes up with Asus rma.They don't have a good rep when it comes to actually rma'ing something with them.TUF is just a range of mobos they do so I presume your mobo does not have it in its name.

Slim chance that there maybe a short causing the restarts.Try building the basic set up outside the case to test.

What Cpu and mobo do you have?
Apologies if you have said already.

Did you try using memtest?
This is a newish version that can be run in windows.

Not really getting my hopes up for anything at this point. At the moment what I'm doing is just looking around for where I could buy a motherboard.

Any prerequisites regarding building outside the case? I haven't done it ever.

i5 4690k and Asus z97 Wifi Pro AC

Should I really still bother regarding the memtest? I mean, I am using different RAM altogether, and, if it was the DIMM slot, then it's still a case od replacing the motherboard, so is it still worth even trying?

LeakingLava

Suckit wrote: »

The Nvidia defect had a load of forums and blogs that popped up with information about defective items. I think many of them were closed down after agreeing terms with the manufacturers of the devices involved.

If your board is defective and has many people reporting the same problem, then you may be able to get them to replace it pretty quickly without them having to admit anything.

Well, I think the issue here is that not a lot of other people are complaning about the same thing. If you google 'asus z97 wifi ac restarts', my thread actually comes up in the first page. I doubt that it's a common fault, it's probably really just a faulty MB due to manufacturing.

game4it70

LeakingLava wrote: »

Any prerequisites regarding building outside the case? I haven't done it ever.

Should I really still bother regarding the memtest? I mean, I am using different RAM altogether, and, if it was the DIMM slot, then it's still a case od replacing the motherboard, so is it still worth even trying?

My case has removable standoffs so I screw them into the mobo to raise it up off the desk.
If not just make sure you put it on non conductive surface.Obvious no doubt to you but had to be said just to be safe

Use the bare minimum components to get it up and running.

I would check every stick of ram individually with memtest64 just in case they are at fault even if unlikely.

When you disconnect the power switch of your case from the mobo take note of the two pins that they are connected to.When your ready to boot you will need to short these 2 pins on the mobo with a screwdriver.

I would test each stick of ram individually just in case however unlikely it may be that they are the cause of the restarts.

LeakingLava

game4it70 wrote:

My case has removable standoffs so I screw them into the mobo to raise it up off the desk. If not just make sure you put it on non conductive surface.Obvious no doubt to you but had to be said just to be safe

Alright. Will do this in a little bit as my wife is still asleep and there's a great chance I may be sent on my way if I do tinkering now. :pac:

game4it70 wrote:

When you disconnect the power switch of your case from the mobo take note of the two pins that they are connected to.When your ready to boot you will need to short these 2 pins on the mobo with a screwdriver.

With fate starting to go on my side, this MB has a power switch on board.

game4it70 wrote:

I would test each stick of ram individually just in case however unlikely it may be that they are the cause of the restarts.

Righteo, will do this, too.


Now I've just realised that I have a slightly bigger problem. I have 4 HDDs in there that are on RAID 5. I was thinking of just getting possibly 3TB of storage and back everything up into that, but, of course, that may fail due to the computer just restarting on its own. Any ideas about this?

game4it70

LeakingLava wrote: »

Now I've just realised that I have a slightly bigger problem. I have 4 HDDs in there that are on RAID 5. I was thinking of just getting possibly 3TB of storage and back everything up into that, but, of course, that may fail due to the computer just restarting on its own. Any ideas about this?

Afraid not,I'm clueless when it came to Raid.

LeakingLava

TESTS:

- Currently running with an MSI Z97 Gaming 3 MB. Looking well so far.
- Having issues at the moment regarding storage configurations. If interested, http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057785235
- Booting up fine and everything seems okay, although MB is around 5c warmer @ idle.
- Test started @ 1.40am.
- Computer seems to be working fine. Had been running overnight and no crashes or anything. Finally. :pac: :pac:
- It's a little bit weird though that Speccy isn't detecting the components so I can't really monitor the temperatures, but no crashes anyway. BIOS was reporting that CPU was around 33c idle so that's good for being around 7c lower.
- Stupid me forgot to register the Windows 10 code onto an outlook account so now I have an unactivated Windows 10, but we'll get over that soon
- I am getting rid of this stupid RAID 5 setup and just going to buy an external HDD for backing up everything I need from time to time. Stupid thing giving me a mini heart attack AND a bloody brain meltdown.
- My fan controller(inbulit with the case) is also broken. Which is the reason why 3 of my fans are not working. So now I have to get a splitter of some sort to make them all work from one molex. Hopefully I find the splitters so I can install all of the fans and get the airflow working again. :pac:

LeakingLava

Hey everyone,

Everything seems to be sorted now after the MB change. Everything is running well and I haven't seen a crash overnight. I will be updating post #47 regarding the build and my aim to 'fix' everything which, really, I should've done a long time ago. Thank you all so much for the great help that you've provided. You are all greatly appreciated.

game4it70

LeakingLava wrote: »

Hey everyone,

Everything seems to be sorted now after the MB change. Everything is running well and I haven't seen a crash overnight. I will be updating post #47 regarding the build and my aim to 'fix' everything which, really, I should've done a long time ago. Thank you all so much for the great help that you've provided. You are all greatly appreciated.

Great to hear,shame about having to change the mobo though.

LeakingLava

game4it70 wrote:

Great to hear,shame about having to change the mobo though.

Yeah definitely a shame. It's a bit stupid to die within around 3 years. I am still communicating with Asus about it and are looking like they are entertaining the situation. They are however asking me for an invoice which I really hope I can access. HWVS' servers are all down now and I don't have the physical copy anymore. I've been looking through my email and it doesn't seem like a copy is there. Hopefully I find a picture of it or something elsewhere.

game4it70

Yeah I had cpu from them but luckily i had the physical invoice to show Intel.

Good luck finding a pic.