PC doing silly things

[dwynnehugh]

My mate has been having problems with his PC for a while – see details below – he’s on W10.  Random crashes so I lent him a new PSU and the below is an email he sent me a short while ago:

Power pack changed followed by 2 crashes, so I assume old power pack was ok

Today – crashed about 10 times

Investigation

Every time it crashed would not re-start using power button.  When power switched off at the mains plug followed by switching it back on, computer re-starts.

Have left computer running all day, will go to sleep mode and will restart via mouse click – no strain on components

Have identified what causes the crash – play YouTube or on board video.  So, I assume that strain put on component/s is the cause.  Therefore can either CPU, Memory or both be at fault?

Motherboard  – Gigabyte GA-F2A85XM-D3HCPU  –

AMD A10 – 5800k
Ram 8 gig

Any suggestions or ideas at all please? Don’t think he’s used MemTest on his RAM but the random crashes could also give a false lead on that.

I could advice single RAM modules and check then, or check on my PC with MTest.

The more you meet people the more you understand why Noah took animals instead of humans

[Ed P]

Ask him if he has a USB PVR stick permanently plugged in. The older ones drew a LOT of amps and could not only bring down the associated USB bus but cause voltage spikes triggering resets etc. Nasty little bits of kit.

[Dave Rice]

I’d suspect the motherboard. CPU failure is so rare I can’t recall ever seeing it.

[Richard]

As Dave said motherboard, since it runs all day but only suffers when restarted or when stressed, the motherboard sounds by far the front runner. The not starting on the button is not a good sign at all.

[Jukebox]

As it only fails after a video/youtube it might be worth reinstalling the video driver. (In Device Manager select the display adapter, right click and select ‘uninstall device’). Then reboot. If that doesn’t work go through the same procedure and select ‘update driver’.

[dwynnehugh]

My thoughts were mobo as well, it’s a 2013 model so ‘bang for bucks’ its done very well. As the ‘failed’ one is FM2 he’s thinking of an FM2+ mobo – the demands are not such that he needs the latest cutting edge tech or even last years cutting edge tech.

A new mobo would be the cheapest option to a PC that does what is generally required of it on a daily basis.

Thanks one and all and I will ask him to try re-installing the video driver first before investing in a replacement mobo.

The more you meet people the more you understand why Noah took animals instead of humans

[Richard]

I did wonder about the drivers, but that would not normally prevent a start up via the button press. Still nothing other than time to be lost by trying a driver refresh.

[Ed P]

Oldie but goodie! . . .

Admin mode SFC /scannow from an Admin mode command line.

[Wheels-Of-Fire]

Just to be clear, does it crash with a blue screen error or does it just switch off ?

[dwynnehugh]

Just goes ‘black’ – update memtest gives all clear on RAM,  SFC/scannow – gives all clear.

He’s decided to go for a new mobo!!  Why not?

The more you meet people the more you understand why Noah took animals instead of humans

[Wheels-Of-Fire]

Yep sounds about right at this point. The only other thing to try would be reseating the CPU but as you will be doing that anyway with the new and better mobo it hardly seems worth the bother ?

I once had the same on a new build PC but it started on the 4th day just after i instaled Photo shop so i blamed that.

Felt such a fool after I sent Photo shop back and it happened again when I installed my first game. Doh !

[Wheels-Of-Fire]

That fault really had me going because the PC would run Windows for days and Prime 95 for hours without a hitch but within 10 min of starting a graphics heavy app it would just go black.

I had changed the PSU and graph card and was taking the CPU out so I could send the Mobo back when I suddenly thought a CPU reseat couldn’t hurt.

Bingo ! No more fault.

[keith with the teef]

Try setting the PC to max power.

I have to have my media pc set to max.

[Author]

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