I recently moved into a new apartment and my PC has been having trouble booting up. My setup was built three years ago and includes an AMD Ryzen 9 7900X CPU and an RTX 4090 Graphics Card, powered by an RM1200x Shift 80 Plus Gold PS. I've never had any issues until now, but now my computer freezes on the loading screen and the graphics card shows a constant red light, which seems like a power supply issue. I've tried every outlet in the apartment with no luck, and sometimes I even get an error saying, 'Your device ran into a problem and couldn't be repaired.' I took it to Micro Center, and everything worked fine there, so I'm suspecting the apartment's power supply might be the problem. My next plan is to get an outlet tester, but I'm not sure what voltage readings I should be looking for. Has anyone else dealt with similar issues and found a solution?
4 Answers
Have you tried any other outlets? Sometimes if you’re using an outlet extender, that could cause issues too. If that doesn't work, reinstalling Windows often solves problems like this.
An outlet tester with a digital voltage meter is a good idea. Ideally, US outlets should be between 110v to 125v, with about 117v being the norm. If you're getting readings outside of that, it could definitely cause problems. It’s rare for apartment wiring to be that bad, but not impossible. Devices like TVs could also behave unexpectedly if the outlets are off. A UPS with Automatic Voltage Regulation might help stabilize things for your PC, but it won't fix issues in other spots in the apartment.
Could it be that something got knocked loose during the move? Sometimes connections can get disturbed, especially with heavy components like a graphics card.
For about $10, you can pick up an outlet tester. It’s super easy—just plug it into the wall and check for any issues with the wiring. It's got lights that indicate if there's a problem.
Thanks! I’m heading to Home Depot soon to grab one of those.
I did buy a 25ft extension cord and tested multiple outlets, but I got the same result with all of them.