Computer shuts down

[slash49er]

I have a strange problem where my computer seems to randomly shuts down. It only happens when i am streaming videos. The screen shuts down like the computer is going to sleep but the only way to get it to turn back on is by holding the power button til it shuts off completely. Then restart. When it happens power stays on the tower but thats it. I have checked all power settings and error logs and can't find anything. Any help is appreciated Thanks

[AssertNull]

If it only happens when streaming videos, it's not completely "random". What operating system and what program(s) are you using? Are you streaming video on the internet with a browser? Does it happen immediately when streaming? In the middle of the streaming? At the end? Does it always happen when streaming or just sometimes? See if you can find some more patterns as to the circumstances surrounding when this occurs. You say the screen shuts down as if it's going to sleep. Do you hear sounds, but there is a blank screen, or does the sound stop as well? When troubleshooting stuff like this, I try to run some other programs as well at the same time. For example, I might write a quick program that makes a sound every second. Or perhaps pings a website and writes those pings to a file or have Wireshark running on another computer in promiscuous mode. Or ping the computer that is "going to sleep". Anything where you can find out whether everything stops on this computer or just the monitor.

Brainstorming, you should check the obvious physical connections (no loose cords, graphics card firmly seated, loose connections, burnt fuses, etc.). Make sure you aren't overheating. You can perhaps update/reinstall the chip/sound/graphics/ethernet drivers. Check for Operating System updates. Swap out the monitor or graphics card. Try different streaming software or uninstall/reinstall your streaming software. Experiment. Perhaps it happens with a certain file type, but not other types. Or it works on Chrome, but not Firefox, or only when streaming from a certrain website. You could be over-taxing your system. Perhaps you are overclocking or have so many programs running that you run out of memory. Does it ever happen when you are ONLY streaming video? Does it happen when you are logged in as Admin/root or as a regular user? Etcetera, etcetera.

Once you nail down a clearer pattern, the potential solution might pop out. Sounds like something is crashing inelegantly and thus taking the whole OS down with it.

[slash49er]

Thanks for replying. To try and answer your questions i am running windows 7 Ultimate on a home built pc. Asus board, Intel duo core, 8gb Ram. No graphics card, using onboard. When the pc shuts down the tower continues to make all normal sounds but there is no signal to the monitor and no lights on the keyboard. System will not wake up without shutting down completely with power button and restarting.
I use randomly because it only happens on videos but it happens randomly. Sometimes it is watching Youtube, sometimes it is streaming a movie online, sometimes it is using Kodi, sometimes Chrome. Ive tried having background programs running but it still happens. What makes it so strange to me is this pc is on for months at a time as a media server to the rest of my house and i have no issues ever, but when i try to watch videos on it.....Shutdown. Sometimes it takes a few minutes, sometimes close to an hour. Im at a loss and am starting to think Motherboard is going, since power supply is almost new

[AssertNull]

I would agree with your "motherboard going bad" hypothesis. Again, try reinstalling/updating all the motherboard drivers, particularly the graphics driver, as well as any Windows updates. The fact that your keyboard lights are going out too at the same time adds to the "motherboard going bad" hypothesis. You could try a Linux Live Boot Operating System. If the same behavior occurs when streaming, that crosses any Windows 7 issues off the list, including drivers, and points even more to the motherboard. Conversely, if it works fine using Linux Live Boot, that would suggest that it's NOT the motherboard. You mentioned YouTube, so in addition to updating drivers, you might want to update Flash Player and whatever else (i.e. Silverlight or whatever other streaming software you have). Video streaming also involves audio, so potentially you have the sound card/sound drivers as possible culprits. Ever try streaming audio with no video?

The fact that the crash is so complete and so sudden suggests hardware or very low-level software as opposed to some bug in the streaming software or the browser software. Chrome or whatever crashing probably wouldn't knock out the keyboard lights and give you a blank screen.

As for using the computer successfully as a media server, if it's HOSTING video streaming or whatever, it's not actually doing video streaming itself (the other computers in the house are), so any problems with graphics wouldn't be triggered, so I'm not surprised that's working.

If it all works fine other than when media streaming, I'll offer the Bad Physical Therapist solution. A guy walks into a Physical Therapist's officce and says, "Doc, my elbow hurts when I play tennis." Doctor answers "Don't play tennis" and gives him a bill for $150. If you're like me, I like to find out what the problem is. But if the computer works for everything BUT video streaming and you have other computers you can do that on, well...

Anyway, if I was a betting man, assuming the same behavior continues after driver/OS updates and with Linux Live Booting, I'd go with "motherboard going bad". Power supply is almost new, as you say, and if it was the power supply going bad, I would imagine you'd be having problems even when not video streaming.

Good luck.

[rproffitt]

Nod to drivers and such in prior replies.

But the story is a little light for me. For example when Flash changed it's default to use hardware acceleration you saw a lot of issues from lockups to other symptoms including your PC.

But here's where your post is light. It didn't meantion it was using a browser, flash or such. Since I am guessing here you should try a google on how to disable hardware acceleration of Flash in the browser you are using.

[slash49er]

I am going to update all drivers, software, etc and also disable hardware acceleration. I'll see if the problem persists and swap out the motherboard if necessary. Thanks for the help

[rproffitt]

Seems to be a desperate move. I only do one at a time till I find it. Then if it works, I stop fixing it.