Didn't see a specific "troubleshooting" area on the forum, unless I'm blind, so apologies if this is the wrong spot.
I built my PC a number of years ago and it has been holding it's own even to this day, no issues. For the past view months, I've been having an issue with Adobe programs, mainly Lightroom (less frequently with Photoshop CS6 Extended and Bridge). I contacted Adobe and they said it's a hardware issue. My problem is that when using those programs my computer will occasionally just power off without warning and reboot. No BSOD, just OFF then reboot. It was working fine with those programs for a good number of months, but then it started doing that and it's come to the point where I can't use those programs. It has happened with other programs/games in the past, but only very rarely. Heat isn't an issue, my monitor programs show low enough temps and booting into BIOS after a shutdown also shows normal temps. Has anyone else had this issue or know how to fix it? Any way I can simply test my components (my knowledge of more advanced stuff isn't the greatest so simplicity is nice)? Any pointers in the right direction would be greatly appreciated. My specs can be found on my profile.
Probably a PSU issue. Although Lightroom is very easy on the GPU, it typically is hard on the system when it first renders all of the thumbnails. That causes max power draw on disks+RAM+CPU, and if that's more than the PSU can deliver, it will trigger the self-healing fuse, which causes the power to cut, and a second later, the power comes up again. If it gets worse with higher temperature for instance (at first the system acts normal, but after a while of use, the cutouts get more frequent), then it's typically the PSU for sure. Operating a system with a faulty PSU may break other stuff besides the PSU.
i7-2600K @ 3.4ghz with turboboost to 4.6ghz | ASUS GTX 580 1.5gb | 16gb DDR3 1600mhz RAM | 2x 1TB WD Black Hard drives | P8P67LE motherboard | H100 liquid CPU cooler | CoolerMaster Extreme Power Plus 700w PSU | ASUS 24x CD/DVD drive | HAF 912 case
The only thing I did was increase the CPU turboboost speed to 4.6ghz. It was done using the motherboard's automatic tuning system and wouldn't go higher. Temps stay low and I rarely have issues with it in games.
Would reducing that clock a bit make any difference or no? The part that still gets me is that the programs all used to run perfectly fine. It has only been in the past few months I've been getting the shutdowns.
It is possible that your workloads in these programs are more demanding now because back then you were still getting used to the software and therefore doing lighter projects?
My advice would be to put the CPU clocks back to factory and run some tests with the programs to see if it still crashes. If it does it's most likely a psu problem.
I would say: "Stop using Adobe products...." I stopped using the Adobe Crapware after it started messing up my system. I know because after I removed Adobe CS5(student license), my system stopped giving me headaches. PS and LightRoom crashed all the time. I switched to DarkTable and GIMP. Sure GIMP does not have all the doodads that Photoshop has but it gets the job done. I have considered using the Corel Draw software that is available for Linux. I use DarkTable instead of Lightroom and GIMP instead of Photoshop. I use Lightworks instead of Premier too.
So you said that you can play video games, so the power supply might not be the issue:
Next Action:
Reset the Bios to default and do not overclock: test application and see if issue happens again. if the issue is still occurring then you might want to look at the windows application and system event logs for what was happening around that time period.
it could still be a power supply, but if you are using other demanding applications and not having the same issue, then its kinda hard to tell without further testing
Its the PSU, those units are very poor quality. Dont believe the hogwash thats written on the side of the things. CM should be dragged over hot coals for selling such rubbish.
Invest in a quality unit and your problems will disappear. - XFX, Silverstone, FSP, Corsair (good ones), Seasonic, Superflower, Antec HCG's. Grab something around the 650w mark to allow for some headroom.