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Question

help comp keeps shutting down randomly

by Mar 9, 2017 9:30AM PST

my comp keeps shutting down randomly without warning while playing games

here is a list of the games im playing and how long before shut down

rainbow 6 siege-2-3 hours before shutdown
elder scrolls online -3-4 hours before shutdown
unturned-30mins-1hour before shutdown
ark survival singleplayer-4ish hours before shutdown
ark survival multiplayer-1-2 hours before shutdown
ark sotf-30mins-1hour before shutdown
rocket league-never
payday 2-never
planet side 2-never

i know all of these games are hard to run but im not on that high of settings and i have good specs
r6s-all medium settings
eso-low-med settings
unturned-med-high settings
all arks-lowest settings
RL-max settings
pd2-max settings
ps2-high-max settings

note i know the date of the picture is old but this has been happening even before that date

note all of the specs are what they came with when i bought the comp except for the graphics card (the old one was a "gt 730 and the new one is a "gtx 1050")

note were im living right now the power isn't to good (cause its a older house) for example if you have a heater and hair dryer on at the same time the power will go out, so i was thinking my comp might be taking to much power, but my monitor is in the same plug and when my comp turns of it doesn't turn the monitor off.

last note i already blew out the dust with a air can (only once)

any help would be nice

Discussion is locked

10 Posts
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Clarification Request
specs
by starkiller82 Mar 9, 2017 9:36AM PST
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Bad news.
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Mar 9, 2017 9:40AM PST

That's one of the type machines we see once in a while at the shop. We give estimates to fix that include new PSU, motherboard, fans, CPU, ram and gpu. In other words when we see this one, we know they don't age well and you rarely can guess where the issue really is without replacing a part at a time, test and then another part.

Can really upset the owner.

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Answer
The hours before shutdown
by Forum moderator Mar 9, 2017 9:34AM PST

Is always heat buildup. Since you did the dusting, I worry about old heatsink compound and aging fans.

Try this. Remove the side cover and point a house fan at the open PC.

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ill try the fan
by starkiller82 Mar 9, 2017 9:48AM PST

what should i do once i have the fan next to the computer?

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What to do?
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Mar 9, 2017 9:56AM PST

Game for hours and see if you get more playing time.

Remember that machine is well known for troubles as they get old. No shop I know will guarantee repair since, well, I wrote why.

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it worked
by starkiller82 Mar 9, 2017 1:08PM PST

i tried the fan like you said and i was able to play my game for 2 hours without a crash then i got off to go type this and before i was only able to play for 30mins-1 hour so it worked but what does this mean i need to keep it with the fan on the side? i need a better cooling fan?

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Or?
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Mar 9, 2017 1:13PM PST

It's time to do a deep clean of all heatsinks, fans and replace heatsink compound and any fan that's on the slow side.

My old desktop gamer got heat sensitive so for the last 2 years I used it with the cover off. I know I could fix it with new boards but I just wanted to move to a gaming laptop laptop so I didn't invest in the board it needed.

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how?
by starkiller82 Mar 9, 2017 1:17PM PST

ok how would i do this "deep clean"? also while having the case off and computer on i look inside and something i noticed was my graphics card fans were not moving at all also there facing the floor should they be facing the floor or ceiling? and why arnt they moving?

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I think you found a big cause or issue.
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Mar 9, 2017 1:21PM PST

The fans on a graphics card are almost never adjustable up or down. The 1050 cards are very new. Ask the maker what's up with that.

A deep clean is getting canned and getting all the dust and awful stuff out the heatsinks in the entire PC. There are plenty of Youtubes on that.

Given the age I'd replace heatsink compound too. Except on the new GPU.

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means overheating
by mejustsayin Mar 9, 2017 1:16PM PST

check all fans inside the case and make they are working, maybe go ahead and replace them. also you may need to replace the thermo compound on the heatsink. or you can run with the fan until you replace the computer Happy

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