PC restarts randomly

Hi,

Recently (two weeks ago) my PC started restarting at random, it doesn't mater if I do something demanding like playing a game, rendering a video or something mundane like watching a YouTube video. Some times it won't do it for days, other times it will do it a couple of times in the same day.

At first I thought my OC was unstable under load but when the PC restarts I don't get the message "Overclock failed, press F1 to enter BIOS setup". Even so I did reset to default settings from inside the BIOS, still the same problem. Then I thought my CPU or GPU or some other hardware might overheat, but no. My CPU max out at 52 Celsius during the summer and 47 during the winter. My GPU aren't overheating too, they are max at 70-74 Celsius. Then I thought my UPS might be failing so I disconnected the power cables in plugged them directly to the wall socket, some thing. I did a clean install of the Windows, didn't help.

Is there a way to read the Windows dump or crash files/reports to try and figure out what is causing the random restarts?

While looking at your profile to find your PC-specs, I noticed you are new. Welcome!

To make helping you easier, a few things needed:
-Motherboard
-CPU
-RAM
-GPU
-PSU
-OS
-(Overclocks)

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Sorry, I'm annoyed by those random restarts I didn't say my specs...

Case: Enermax Thormax Giant (provides good airflow and cooling)
PSU: Enermax Platimax 1350W
MB: Rampage Extreme V, bios version 3306
CPU: i7 5960x, no overclock currently I'm after my clean install of Windows
* Cooler: Enermax Liqmax 240 (keeps the CPU at 50 Celsius with no OC and 62 with OC)
RAM: Kingston Predator DDR4 HX430C15PB3K4/64
GPU: x2 GTX 980Ti DC3OC
Windows 10 Pro x64

Couple of things I've had recently cause random restarts on some PCs that were fairly new builds:

  1. Dust build up inside the case. PC wasn't overheating or anything but after a good clean out it was more stable.

  2. CPU Powersave States/C-States and Windows 10. I'm unsure but I'm not entirely convinced Windows 10 plays nicely with these on certain Mobos or CPUs. I've had one PC randomly restarted until C-States and any other power saving states were disabled in the Bios and another where having them disabled actually caused some instability.

Either way I'd definitely check them and see whats recommended with your Mobo and OS.

Another thing to check would be if Event Viewer has any logs at roughly the time of the last restart. With one of the C-State issues above for example in Event Viewer I could just before it rebooted Windows had made a change to the CPU Power state and clock automatically.

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/application_crash_report.html

Haven't used it in a while but it used to be used to check a blue screen.

Gonna call memory though.

Are you using an SSD? My GF SSD went out a few months ago and it started randomly rebooting. The reboots became more frequent until it wouldn't stay running for more than 30 seconds without a random restart. Ended with not being able to boot from the drive at all.

Could be the drive dying if you notice the restarts becoming more frequent.

The last pc I had that was doing this.
Had a fault in the ram.
Used memtest86+
http://www.memtest.org

It's a free tool.
Most likely its not the memory.
But if you do get a error.
You will need to figure out what sticks are faulty.

Also note the time when it turns off.
When you return to windows.
Open the event viewer.
And see what windows records at the point of the crash. Its not always right. But it can give you a hint.

  • to rule out the OS being the culprit run a linux distro off a usb stick for a few hours/day etc.
  • run just a single stick of ram (+ a memtest to be sure), could be a bad controller/and or stick of ram
  • remove one of the gpu's
  • look for kernel errors in the event viewer
  • be sure your bios is completely up to date
  • check the voltages on all the psu rails (something like hwmonitor will show most values)

Usually if its faulty hardware like bad ram you will get a bsod. Otherwise maybe a poor connection or fading PSU.

With as many people that experience random restarts im almost convinced this is a win10 feature.