My AVGPC gaming desktop is about 14 months old and has only been used for roughly 100 hours of gaming. It has an Intel Core i9-11900KF, RTX 5060 Ti 8GB, 32GB DDR4-3200, an Intel B560 motherboard, a 1TB NVMe SSD, a 360mm liquid cooler, and an 850W 80+ Gold power supply running Windows 11. While playing The Sims 4, it suddenly shut off completely with no blue screen, freezing, error message, or automatic restart. It had not seemed unusually hot or unstable beforehand, and this has never happened before. I also noticed substantial pet-hair buildup around the bottom intake filter, so restricted airflow may be a factor. I have not tried turning it back on because I do not want to worsen a possible hardware problem. I plan to have a repair shop clean and diagnose it, but what are the most likely causes of a sudden total shutdown like this?
4 Answers
Once it is cleaned, use a hardware monitor such as HWiNFO to watch CPU, GPU, and motherboard temperatures, and run a controlled stress test such as OCCT while monitoring it. The i9 can draw significant power, so also check CPU temperature and the motherboard VRM temperatures. Stop the test if temperatures rise excessively or the computer shuts down again.
Clean the intake filter and remove the visible pet hair before doing more testing. Overheating can trigger a protective shutdown, although one event does not prove that was the cause. After cleaning, check that all fans and the liquid cooler pump are running and see whether the system starts normally. Simply attempting to power it on should not usually damage it if the protection circuitry is working.
If Windows starts afterward, check Event Viewer around the shutdown time. A Kernel-Power event may only confirm that power was unexpectedly lost, but it can help rule out a normal shutdown. Since there was no blue screen, minidump files may not exist; this symptom is more consistent with power, thermal protection, or hardware than with a typical Windows crash.
An instant loss of power points more toward a power-delivery problem than a normal software crash. Possible causes include a failing power supply, a loose motherboard or GPU power cable, a bad connection, or a motherboard fault. Inspect the cables with the PC unplugged and avoid replacing parts based only on guesses; a shop can test the PSU and board properly.
Related Questions
Lenovo Thinkpad Stuck In Update Loop Install FilterDriverU2_Reload