Computer randomly turned off and won't reboot

S

smoothforprez

New Member
I was playing a game this morning (cities xl 2012) and my computer randomly turned itself off. It didn't blue screen. The monitor just went black and it restarted itself. Turned it back on and it won't reboot. The monitor isn't getting a signal.

So I opened the case and noticed that the fan on my gpu wasn't spinning. So I figured that I probably blown the gpu (didn't know cities was that intense). Ran out to the store and bought a new video card. Installed the new card and still nothing.

The fans on the new card do work. I'm assuming its not the psu because the gpu, case fans, optical drives, and hdd's work.

I'm not sure if the cpu was overheating because I wasn't monitoring temps at the time. I did have most of the case fans on low accept the largest one was on medium. But I don't think the cpu overheated because wouldn't it usually blue screen if that were to happen?

Other steps I've done to trouble shoot are:
-I've removed both sticks of ram and tried them in each of the four slots both independently and together.
-cleaned all dust
-cleaned the cpu and heatsink and replaced the thermal paste
-reset cmos battery

So I'm thinking that its the ram. Is it weird for both ram sticks to go out at the same time?

If anyone else has some tips, opinions, or something else that I should try I'd be happy to hear them.



Thanks
Happy Holidays
 
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Usually when a cpu overheats it will just shut down and not turn back on for awhile. Could be psu. Did you try resetting the cmos by unplugging the power, remove the cmos battery, press the power button on the case a few times and then wait a few minutes and then reconnect everything.
 
Did you check all fans (i.e. CPU Heat Sink, GPU, PSU, Case Fans) I had an issue with my Antec PSU when I first got it where the fan wasn't running and the PSU was overheating, it had same effect as your issue. Also try to replicate the issue and then tough the components lightly to see if they are hot. Also are you sure you monitor is not getting a signal, you might want to see if your backlight is out (Very Common Issue). You should be able to take a flash light and shine it across the screen not directly at and should be able to see a little bit of the image that should be there.
 
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dsgarcia said:
Did you check all fans (i.e. CPU Heat Sink, GPU, PSU, Case Fans) I had an issue with my Antec PSU when I first got it where the fan wasn't running and the PSU was overheating, it had same effect as your issue. Also try to replicate the issue and then tough the components lightly to see if they are hot. Also are you sure you monitor is not getting a signal, you might want to see if your backlight is out (Very Common Issue). You should be able to take a flash light and shine it across the screen not directly at and should be able to see a little bit of the image that should be there.
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I can't exactly replicate the problem because the computer isn't booting.

Yes, all the case fans work, the psu fan works, and the fan on the new gpu works.

The monitor works. I tried it with my xbox. I assume that wouldn't have been the issue anyway since if the computer were working and the monitor weren't I would have eventually heard the windows sound if it were to boot up.
 
Wow, I just noticed the psu fan doesn't work. Not sure how I made that mistake. So now I guess I know what the problem is.

Im assuming the gpu and the psu went out at the same time.

Only wish I had have noticed that earlier, now I have to wait til Monday to go back to Microcenter
 
If its the tr2 series then its a decent unit with good specs, but even the good units do go out. Just making sure you had a good unit so you don't make the same mistake twice.
 
johnb35 said:
If its the tr2 series then its a decent unit with good specs, but even the good units do go out. Just making sure you had a good unit so you don't make the same mistake twice.
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Yep that's the one. I personally thought it was a pretty good psu. I might actually get the same one again.
 
Out of those even I would pick the XFX as it has better efficiency more than 85 percent compared to the corsair which has up to 85 percent. Plus the XFX has a total of 4 pci express gpu power connectors.
 
Ok thanks I'll pick up a new psu tomorrow and hopefully that will solve the problem.

So I know that both the psu and gpu went out but I'm also a little worried that either the ram, processor or part of the motherboard have also went out.

Would the phase lights on the motherboard be an indicator? The phase led lights up as normal (1green, 2green, 3yellow, 4red). What bothered me is that the keyboard and mouse didn't light up.

Do any of my symptoms lean towards one of those problems?
 
You may have reset the bios back to defaults, possible the usb keyboard and mouse has been disabled.
 
johnb35 said:
You may have reset the bios back to defaults, possible the usb keyboard and mouse has been disabled.
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Maybe that's it but, I don't recall them lighting up even before I pulled the cmos battery.

Oh well I'll just pick up another 4gb of ram tomorrow aswell. I've been wanting to upgrade that for awhile now anyway. So if that doesn't solve it then I guess I'll know its the board or the processor.
 
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