PC rebooting when downloading updates

[pistonheadforum]

Ten year home built PC with a 2070 super graphics card. Decent spec with i7 (early version) on a Gigabyte Z77X-UDH mainboard. A decent machine but by no means a spring chicken. Windows 10 is the OS.

When using the machine it will just randomly reboot – bizarrely seems to do it when downloading updates on Steam (not playing)
I will leave it and come back to discover it’s just rebooted.

Looking at the logs it just seems to show a random reboot. Not overclocked and GPU is not getting hot. All peripherals unplugged and latest updates and graphics card (only) drivers installed.

I appreciate that this can be for a number of reasons but broadly split into – hardware or software.

I have done the windows in built memory test and it has passed this. I am thinking it’s potentially the PSU unit which is now well at least 10 years old. I don’t have a power supply to switch out I’m afraid and don’t want to blow £90 on a guess. Or it could be the mainboard (bad caps?).

I guess what I am asking is what is the best way to troubleshoot this given I can’t be bothered wiping windows and reinstalling only to discover it does the same thing. How likely is it to be some dodgy driver? The machine is pretty clean and used only for gaming really.

Can I stress test the machine using a Linux live cd-rom and if so what is the best distro to use and what Linux program will stress it the most.

Many thanks in advance.

[xeny]

Something like Intel burn test is an easy way to generate CPU load under Windows - I'd try that to start with as it is very low effort.

My suspicion would also be failing PSU (have you checked it isn't full of dust and muck?). If you've got failing electrolytic caps on the motherboard, a good look with a decent torch should reveal them bulging.

You've not been sat at it when it crashed? I'm wondering about a failing HD triggering a reboot (Steam download is a lot of disk writes and if the drive stops writing, nothing will make it to the logs when it crashes).

[Matty_]

In search, type in "View Advanced System Settings"

Under Startup and Recovery, click settings, then untick "Automatically Restart" under system failure. If it's something software/hardware related, this may help see the error before it reboots.

Otherwise, if it's literally just powering off due to something power related (like PSU) then that's trickier, as you'll need to try swapping parts, but the PSU is a good start if it's 10 years old. Can you borrow one off a friend/family to test? Ask the IT guy at work?

[deckster]

I'm going to point the finger at the PSU as well. If it's over a decade old then you may as well just replace it on general principle.

That said - Nvidia recommend a 650W PSU for the 2070 Super. Do you know what you current one is rated at?

[pistonheadforum]

Thanks for this - yes looking like a power supply replacement is needed.

Which one do you recommend?

Many thanks in advance.

[130R]

Steam downloads will actually use your CPU more than you think because files need to be unpacked. You could download Cinebench to stress your CPU and see if you can replicate it.

[pistonheadforum]

130R said:

Steam downloads will actually use your CPU more than you think because files need to be unpacked. You could download Cinebench to stress your CPU and see if you can replicate it.

Thanks I will try this but temp in the system seems low so I think that I need a new PSU to completely rule the current one out as being the issue.

[Durzel]

I'm not entirely sure crashing from high temperatures is a thing nowadays. The CPU will clock itself down in the face of rising temperatures, and you'd have to be approaching triple digits I think for it to actually manifest as a crash. I would assume also that the computer would not boot again for a short while until it had sufficiently cooled.

Unpacking a heavily compressed ZIP, on the other hand, would tax the CPU and consequently result in a sudden power draw increase, possibly a significant one. If your PSU is borderline capable it might not be able to regulate the other rails properly when this happens, which would easily cause a "power switch" restart like you're experiencing.

[essayer]

memtest86 would be worth a try just to flag up any potential memory issues

[souper]

2070 Super, that can't be 10 years old?
Does sound like psu though.

[Hanslow]

Don't rule out the memory. My NUC did this for about 12 months on and off and it turned out to be a memory stick being temperamental before finally giving up the ghost. It passed memtest86 fine on multiple runs too. Assuming you've got paired sticks there's no harm in pulling out one stick at a time and seeing if the shutdown/reboot goes away. Swap them around until either they both do it individually or one refuses to show the problem then investigate the dodgy stick further.

Mine would sometimes operate fine for a whole session and then bork two or three times in the next so it was hard to pin down to be sure. Ended up getting the one dodgy stick swapped by sending it back to crucial, just as the pandemic hit, but to be fair they kept me updated and sorted me out eventually and I was happy to at least be able to run a stable machine on one stick and then both when I got the replacement, which they provided free of charge.

[pistonheadforum]

Looks like I need to get a PSU to rule this out.

What's the advantage of fully modular to partially modular?

https://www.scan.co.uk/products/850w-corsair-rm-se...

https://www.scan.co.uk/products/850w-corsair-tx-85...

Which of those two or what alternative PSU from Scan (have credit to use)? Looking to get a decent output as likely be upgrading the mainboard and CPU at some point to keep up with the graphics card.

Thanks in advance.

[FourWheelDrift]

pistonheadforum said:

Looks like I need to get a PSU to rule this out.

What's the advantage of fully modular to partially modular?

Semi-modular means the 24pin power and 4/6/8 pin CPU power cables are permanent attached coming out of the PSU. But the other cables SATA, PCIe, Molex etc.. can be plugged in and used as required. There is no downside to semi-modular if you just want a PSU with minimum cabling to tidy as you always use the power cables you need. But if you want sleeved cablemod cables for the power you have to add them as extensions to the 24pin and 8 pin power cables so you need more space for tidying.

Fully modular means all the cables plug into the PSU and is really there for people who like to change their cables to compatible cablemod sleeved cables/different colours plugging directly into the PSU, same choice of only using what you need.

So if you are just going to use the black cables as they are get a semi-modular PSU. Or get a fully modular PSU if the price is right for you with a sale or daily deal.

Of those two you have listed get the fully modular one since they are the same price.

[pistonheadforum]

FourWheelDrift said:

Semi-modular means the 24pin power and 4/6/8 pin CPU power cables are permanent attached coming out of the PSU. But the other cables SATA, PCIe, Molex etc.. can be plugged in and used as required. There is no downside to semi-modular if you just want a PSU with minimum cabling to tidy as you always use the power cables you need. But if you want sleeved cablemod cables for the power you have to add them as extensions to the 24pin and 8 pin power cables so you need more space for tidying.

Fully modular means all the cables plug into the PSU and is really there for people who like to change their cables to compatible cablemod sleeved cables/different colours plugging directly into the PSU, same choice of only using what you need.

So if you are just going to use the black cables as they are get a semi-modular PSU. Or get a fully modular PSU if the price is right for you with a sale or daily deal.

Thanks - much appreciated. Case is going to be closed and hidden so normally semi-modular is fine but as those two are the same price will go for the modular ... because ... well it seems more expensive and therfore a bigger saving!