Does situation indicate FAILING PSU or MALWARE/virus?

Stereoeggs

New Member
Hi,

My situation: My Windows 7 (64-bit PRO) computer is crashing (all of a sudden, there is no power and it stops running) after I have booted from a bootable anti-malware rescue disk, while the anti-malware program is running.

The computer is crashing after the anti-malware program has been running approximately 20-30 minutes, and the crash happens before the anti-malware program has found any malware or viruses. (So far, no malware or viruses have been found - but the anti-malware program has never finished its scan, due to crashing.)

Question: Is the crashing more likely due to a failing power supply...or more likely due to undetected malware or viruses?

Any help would be GREATLY appreciated! :)
 

Stereoeggs

New Member
Is it giving you a BSOD or just turning off?
Thanks for your response....

Out of dozens of crashes (literally), only 2 or 3 times my screen went black with components still running.

With all of the other crashes, power to the motherboard shuts off (without powering down in an orderly fashion) and the screen of my monitor turns blue, stating "No Signal."
 

johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
Are you using a dedicated video card or integrated video? If integrated video then probably can assume motherboard failure. Check to make sure all your connections are tight.
 

Stereoeggs

New Member
Are you using a dedicated video card or integrated video? If integrated video then probably can assume motherboard failure. Check to make sure all your connections are tight.
Hi....

I'm using a dedicated video card. So...what do you think?

My computer is 2.5 to 3 years old; here are its components:

- Dual-boot Windows XP Professional 64-bit (with Service Pack 3) and Windows 7 Professional 64-bit (with Service Pack 1)

- Asus DDR3 2400 Intel LGA 2011 Motherboard P9X79-E WS

- Intel Core i7-3820 Quad-Core Processor 3.6 GHz 10 MB Cache LGA 2011 - BX80619I73820

- Prolimatech Megahalems Rev.B CPU Cooler

- 4 x CORSAIR Vengeance 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMZ4GX3M1A1600C9

- Mushkin MKNSSDRE1TB Reactor 1TB SATA III 6Gb 2.5inch SSD

- Crucial M550 1TB SATA 2.5" 7mm (with 9.5mm adapter) Internal Solid State Drive CT1024M550SSD1

- Crucial M500 480GB SATA 2.5-Inch 7mm (with 9.5mm adapter) Internal Solid State Drive CT480M500SSD1

- MSI RX480 8GB GDDR5 Gaming X Twin Frozr VI graphics card

- SeaSonic X-1050 ( SS-1050XM2 ) 1050W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Full Modular Active PFC Power Supply New 4th Gen CPU Certified Haswell Ready

- Corsair Carbide Series Air 540 High Airflow ATX Cube Case CC-9011030-WW
 

johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
Could be a psu issue. Can you try another one? Gonna have to do some diagnosing to determine whats bad.
 

Stereoeggs

New Member
Could be a psu issue. Can you try another one? Gonna have to do some diagnosing to determine whats bad.
To try another PSU, I would have to purchase another PSU. Might there be any other way to do some diagnosing before I buy a replacement component? :)

I'm very much willing to buy a new PSU or other component to get my computer going again. If possible, I would just like to feel that the component I would be buying is most likely the cause of my computer repeatedly crashing.

So...do you feel the crashing is not likely due to a virus or piece of malware? Do you feel the crashing is most likely due to a failing PSU?

I appreciate your help very much, and I'm hoping maybe some additional information might help you in your analysis.

After every crash, my ASUS board (Dr. Power turned "on") lights an LED which supposedly indicates a "loss of power/power failure" to the motherboard, but some seem to think that these LEDs are not always "reliable/accurate." If/when my computer stays "on" long enough, Windows will start up and I can even start playing a game or get onto the Internet. I have been trying to use an anti-malware rescue disk in an attempt to find any malware or viruses that might be causing the crashing.

However, whatever I am doing, my computer usually crashes in less than 5 minutes after turning it "on," but it sometimes stays "on" for about 30 minutes before crashing.

Using the BIOS and software, I have never noticed excessive temperatures with the CPU, mobo, GPU, or SSDs. (I'm not sure if RAM temp is monitored.)

On only two occasions (two to four weeks ago), I noticed something I have never seen before or since: a relatively small red box that appeared in the lower-right corner of my screen which said "Warning" and "+12 v" or "+12 volts" – I'm not absolutely sure that there was a "+" before the "12," as the warning sign disappeared after only 1 or 2 seconds, leaving me a bit clueless as to what the warning was about. (Would you happen to know?)

As you can probably tell, I am not very technically proficient with these matters.
default_smile.png
 

johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
So...do you feel the crashing is not likely due to a virus or piece of malware? Do you feel the crashing is most likely due to a failing PSU?

Malware will not stop your pc from turning on. it will be a power issue, motherboard issue, or something else.

After every crash, my ASUS board (Dr. Power turned "on") lights an LED which supposedly indicates a "loss of power/power failure" to the motherboard,
On only two occasions (two to four weeks ago), I noticed something I have never seen before or since: a relatively small red box that appeared in the lower-right corner of my screen which said "Warning" and "+12 v" or "+12 volts" – I'm not absolutely sure that there was a "+" before the "12," as the warning sign disappeared after only 1 or 2 seconds, leaving me a bit clueless as to what the warning was about. (Would you happen to know?)


Both of these lead me to believe you have a loose power connection to the motherboard or a failing power supply. have you checked all your power connections to motherboard, 24pin main connector and 4/8 pin cpu connector?
 

Stereoeggs

New Member
Thanks for all the help, tips, and advice.

After a lot of time and thought, I decided to take the plunge and buy a new power supply so that I could verify whether or not my original one was faulty. After I put in the new power supply, my computer stopped crashing and everything has been running smoothly. So...it was a faulty power supply that was causing the problems. o_O

Thanks, again, for your responses. :)
 

Intel_man

VIP Member
I guess this is information for you next time, but there's probably warranty left on that faulty PSU if you bought it new and could've had it replaced without having to go out and buy a new one.
 
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