(SOLVED) Question for The Computer Whiz's (Tech Question)

jimbobaus on 13/07/2021 - 12:47
Last edited 14/07/2021 - 00:55

Howdy Everyone
I have done a fair bit of research but wanted to see if anyone amongst the OzB community had any suggestions for a PC issue i am trying to help my friend resolve.
it has become apparent that there are some quite knowledgeable members of this community

In a nutshell, when he is playing games (not all but some) his computer kind of half shuts down.
What i mean by this is the Monitors go black, "no input" yet the computer still seems to be running.

From my research it seems that the GPU is being shut down by the system possibly due to lack of power.
The PC is relatively new and has a 750w PSU
(a warranty claim is of course possible)

I am not in front of the PC currently so wont be able to try and suggestions everyone may have until this evening.

B460M Motherboard
RTX 3060TI GPU
Core i5 10400F
16GB DDR4
750W PSU

Suggestions i have found online and tried include changing the PCI settings to maximum performance
Changing a few power settings

I have seen suggestion it may also be the outlet he is using? do you think this could cause it? He does have some wiring issues in another part of his home but has not generally had issues in his study.

Anyways, thanks in advance for any suggestions

Also:
have run heat checks (all normal)
Run 3DMark: (all good)

UPDATE:

As as suggested above, downloaded Afterburner and found that when under load the computer would shut down when it reached 50 Degrees

Opened the Tower up and gave it a good clean out (was pretty clean to begin with)
And checked every cable running from the PSU, Most were fine but double checked them and made sure every cable was attched etc.

Seems to have done the trick :)
Thank you to Everyone for the advice, seems it was def worth asking

Thanks So Much

Computing

Comments

  • mskeggs on 13/07/2021 - 13:00

    Wiring would be very weird. Get him to try in a different room to rule that out.

    Overloaded PSU can cause what you are saying, and was my first thought, but 750w should be plenty.

    Can you double check overheating?

    • jimbobaus on 13/07/2021 - 13:18

      Will try different rooms and also double check overheating.

      Thanks for suggestions :)

      • samyall on 13/07/2021 - 17:06
        +1

        In my experience with 3 gaming pc over the last decade, the only issue has ever been the PSU. I notice you didn't name which brand the PSU is - is it a no brand? Those often claim to be one wattage and are actually another.

  • Tech5 on 13/07/2021 - 13:06
    +1

    If it is anything but a terrible PSU, then 750w should be more than enough. If the GPU is being shut down, easy way to confirm would be to plug the cable back into the mobo rather than through the GPU and see if display turns back on

    Try monitor when the partial shutdown happens. For e.g. is all the Ram/VRam being used?

    I think it is Ram related tbh.

    • jimbobaus on 13/07/2021 - 13:17

      Will def try these suggestions tonight.

  • pharkurnell on 13/07/2021 - 13:06

    He does have some wiring issues in another part of his home

    minor alarm bells… I'd have thought power is on or off though…

    What i mean by this is the Monitors go black, "no input"

    my thoughts are faulty monitor. shat cable or lose plug in of something to monitor…
    Next I'd look at GPU , then possibly a faulty PSU

    • jimbobaus on 13/07/2021 - 13:17

      Has two monitors. Both turn off at same time.

      • pharkurnell on 13/07/2021 - 13:23
        +1

        does it only happen when gaming?

  • xuqi on 13/07/2021 - 13:10
    +1

    What brand/model is the 750W PSU?

    • jimbobaus on 13/07/2021 - 13:17

      Not sure as it was a pre build. Will check and find out.

      • QuickdraW on 13/07/2021 - 13:27

        sounds like a heat or power issue. could be many causes but a poor quality PSU would be my first thought.

      • Godric on 13/07/2021 - 15:39
        +2

        Prebuilds usually come with shotty cheap PSU which could be an indicator of something having gone wrong by your description

      • randomusername2017 on 13/07/2021 - 20:14

        Techfast?

        Warranty?….

  • Drakesy on 13/07/2021 - 13:39

    Possibly overheating?
    Otherwise might be a defective graphics card. Rollback the drivers and see if it keeps happening.

  • beeawwb on 13/07/2021 - 14:03

    Does the monitor come back on after a couple of minutes or does it stay off indefinitely? What connection is it hooked up to, and are there any docking stations / hubs / etc in use?

  • scrimshaw on 13/07/2021 - 14:37
    +2

    The Windows Event Viewer is also a good program to use if you want to see if the computer generated error codes when it shut down. Although in many cases the error logs might be very cryptic and might not be super useful in diagnosing a hardware issue.

    I'd at least make sure that

    1. The drivers are all up to date, including the mobo's BIOS.
    2. The power supply cables should be plugged in all the way. Some cables can loosen during shipping. If your PSU is modular, check that both ends of the cables (both leading into the PSU, and into GPU) are secure and tightly connected to whatever socket it's plugged into.
    3. Install MSI afterburner to log temperatures. See How. Then run furmark or some other GPU benchmark program to stress test.
  • skid on 13/07/2021 - 14:43
    +4

    Does the audio cut out? If not, it could be that the game is setting the monitor to a refresh rate that the monitor cannot handle. Check the monitor properties in the device manager against the specs in the manual.

  • TheBird on 13/07/2021 - 15:18

    Is it a new issue or an issue that's been happening for a while… or getting worse/more frequent over time?

    Does it always happen at the same point in the same game (or a variety of games) or is the issue intermittent? Intermittent faults are amongst the worst to work out.

    Just before it happens, what is the temperature (approximately) of the graphics card, cpu and ram?

    I have seen suggestion it may also be the outlet he is using? do you think this could cause it?

    It would be odd, but yes, it is potentially possible.

    If your friend didn't have a F type intel chip, I'd suggest plugging one of the monitors into the motherboard but that option isn't available. Saving a few bucks on the CPU can make it hard to diagnose when there's a potential graphics card issue and there isn't a spare graphics card to rule that out. Does your friend have access to a spare video card to rule out faulty video card.

    Also, try plugging the video card into another PCI slot to see if it's a faulty slot.

  • ShannonN on 13/07/2021 - 15:20

    Is the monitor/s going out of range as in resolution? I'm running a dell 27" curved monitor @ 144Hz with a RX 580 and occasionally I get the monitor go black/blank and into standby mode hitting space bar to come out of standby often give me a msg

    DP ( Displayport) cannot detect signal or can't display this resolution, change to a different resolution. A reboot and all is fine, seems that certain parts of games videos etc change to a non std resolution.

    Check the video card is set to native resolution in windows and game is set to match. Check that frequency is not set above what monitor can do, That is: monitor is 60 Hz @ 1080p game is set for 75 Hz or higher res

  • bazingaa on 13/07/2021 - 17:50

    You can benchmark GPU with this and check whether it happens (Disclaimer: At your own risk, this can damage the system)
    https://benchmark.unigine.com/superposition

    I have a 95 W CPU + GTX1060 etc with just 450 W PSU even sparing power. So, if it is a quality 750 W PSU, it is more than enough.

  • Transient on 13/07/2021 - 18:11

    Does it only happen under graphics load?
    Could be the GPU - do you have a GPU you can swap to test, eg, test his GPU in your computer or yours in theirs?
    Are GPU drivers up-to-date?

  • shaz0316 on 13/07/2021 - 19:45

    Same thing used to happen to me- nothing worked an I lived with it for a few months. A friend told me to make sure my cables are not tangled especially the 2 monitor cables and the power cable. With the monitor cables use the gpu ports that are furthest apart and keep them away from the power cable running into the psu. Did that and the blank screen has never happened since- don't know what the mechanism is but it worked for me.

  • jimbobaus on 14/07/2021 - 00:54

    UPDATE:

    As as suggested above, downloaded Afterburner and found that when under load the computer would shut down when it reached 50 Degrees

    Opened the Tower up and gave it a good clean out (was pretty clean to begin with)
    And checked every cable running from the PSU, Most were fine but double checked them and made sure every cable was attched etc.

    Seems to have done the trick :)
    Thank you to Everyone for the advice, seems it was def worth asking

    Thanks So Much

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