PC randomly Shutting down during gaming.

Hello I'm new to these forums!

I call upon the might of this forum to try and solve my PCs issue of shutting down and immediately coming back online while playing games at random times. Sometimes it takes a couple hours for it to do this, sometimes it crashes in the first 5 minutes. It is an extremely frustrating thing that has been happening.

It all started when I got a new Graphics card. I replaced a MSI Nvidia GTX 760 with another MSI manufactured GTX 980. The power consumption on these cards is practically the same for the models I had so I thought to myself it would be a seamless transition. It was not as I now know because the day I made the change I started experiencing this odd behavior of shuttling down and immediately restarting.

On a different forum I went through a bunch of steps to try and diagnose what has happened. I completely deleted and reinstalled all my drivers, which helped but did not completely solve the issue, I have ruled out that it is a heating problem, I cooled the PC using an external fan to the point where the GPU didn't even go over 45C while gaming, it crashed during that test. And the possibility that my PSU is responsible is still in the air but the guy who I was talking with on that other forum was pretty certain it was not an issue. Amazon.com: Lepa G750-MAS 750W 80plus Gold Certified ATX 12V Modular Single Rail 62A Power Supply: Computers & Accessories That is a link to the PSU in question but as I said before, the power consumption on my new GPU is almost exactly the same as the old one.

So unable to figure out what it is he directed me into computer management to find this at the time of each crash. A critical level error.

Log Name: System
Source: Microsoft-Windows-Kernel-Power
Date: 6/21/2015 12:41:53 PM
Event ID: 41
Task Category: (63)
Level: Critical
Keywords: (2)
User: SYSTEM
Computer: Braxton-PC
Description:
The system has rebooted without cleanly shutting down first. This error could be caused if the system stopped responding, crashed, or lost power unexpectedly.
Event Xml:
<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
<System>
<Provider Name="Microsoft-Windows-Kernel-Power" Guid="{331C3B3A-2005-44C2-AC5E-77220C37D6B4}" />
<EventID>41</EventID>
<Version>2</Version>
<Level>1</Level>
<Task>63</Task>
<Opcode>0</Opcode>
<Keywords>0x8000000000000002</Keywords>
<TimeCreated SystemTime="2015-06-21T16:41:53.114411600Z" />
<EventRecordID>241217</EventRecordID>
<Correlation />
<Execution ProcessID="4" ThreadID="8" />
<Channel>System</Channel>
<Computer>Braxton-PC</Computer>
<Security UserID="S-1-5-18" />
</System>
<EventData>
<Data Name="BugcheckCode">0</Data>
<Data Name="BugcheckParameter1">0x0</Data>
<Data Name="BugcheckParameter2">0x0</Data>
<Data Name="BugcheckParameter3">0x0</Data>
<Data Name="BugcheckParameter4">0x0</Data>
<Data Name="SleepInProgress">false</Data>
<Data Name="PowerButtonTimestamp">0</Data>
</EventData>
</Event>

This he could not interpret and said I should go elsewhere to find help because he believes it is a software issue and he is a hardware expert. So I have brought it here with the hope someone understands this error here and could help me solve the mystery as to why my wonderful gaming PC has taken a 180 and has begun to bite me in the butt.

Pauly said:

Hi could you please fill out your system specs entirely and be sure to include your exact PSU make/model

System Info - See Your System Specs

Have you checked your system temperatures while gaming for any sign of overheating/fast temperature rise ?

PC specs filled out. Yes I have been monitoring the heating during gaming. Nothing seems abnormal about it. The temperatures go to where they should be and it gradually reaches that point over time rather than quickly spiking there.

If you are installing the whole suite of Nvidia drivers, try uninstalling and only installing Graphics Drivers and PhysX.

Also try a clean startup Troubleshoot Application Conflicts by Performing a Clean Startup

Load defaults in BIOS (either first screen or exit menu), or a CMOS reset.

You said you already clean installed GPU drivers but you can also try this method (up to you, helped others before):

Graphic Card Driver Clean Installation (Belongs to MistUnleashed):
1.Run the Guru3D Display Driver Removal Tool: Display Driver Uninstaller Download version 15.3.0.0 Display Driver Uninstaller Download version 15.3.0.2
2.Download CCleaner here (CCleaner - Download) and run both the Cleaner and the Registry Cleaner to remove left-over keys.
3.Go into C:\Program Files & C:\Program Files (x86) & C:\ProgramData and delete any leftover Nvidia files.
4.Disable automatic driver installation: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2500967
5.Restart Computer.
6.After restart go to: Drivers - Download NVIDIA Drivers and install the latest Nvidia Package (Including the 3D Vision Drivers - Install it all). Drivers - Download NVIDIA Drivers
7.Re-enable the automatic driver installation: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2500967
8.Run CCleaner again (as instructed in Step 2).
9.Restart Computer.

Are your other drivers up to date?
Is your Windows up to date?

GokAy said:

If you are installing the whole suite of Nvidia drivers, try uninstalling and only installing Graphics Drivers and PhysX.

Also try a clean startup Troubleshoot Application Conflicts by Performing a Clean Startup

Load defaults in BIOS (either first screen or exit menu), or a CMOS reset.

You said you already clean installed GPU drivers but you can also try this method (up to you, helped others before):

Graphic Card Driver Clean Installation (Belongs to MistUnleashed):
1.Run the Guru3D Display Driver Removal Tool: Display Driver Uninstaller Download version 15.3.0.0 Display Driver Uninstaller Download version 15.3.0.2
2.Download CCleaner here (CCleaner - Download) and run both the Cleaner and the Registry Cleaner to remove left-over keys.
3.Go into C:\Program Files & C:\Program Files (x86) & C:\ProgramData and delete any leftover Nvidia files.
4.Disable automatic driver installation: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2500967
5.Restart Computer.
6.After restart go to: Drivers - Download NVIDIA Drivers and install the latest Nvidia Package (Including the 3D Vision Drivers - Install it all). Drivers - Download NVIDIA Drivers
7.Re-enable the automatic driver installation: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2500967
8.Run CCleaner again (as instructed in Step 2).
9.Restart Computer.

Are your other drivers up to date?
Is your Windows up to date?

I will try that clean startup and see if that helps. Yes both my drivers and windows are on the latest version. If it doesn't work I'll get back to you on that and try that other way of installing the Nvidia drivers.

GokAy said:

If you are installing the whole suite of Nvidia drivers, try uninstalling and only installing Graphics Drivers and PhysX.

Also try a clean startup Troubleshoot Application Conflicts by Performing a Clean Startup

Load defaults in BIOS (either first screen or exit menu), or a CMOS reset.

You said you already clean installed GPU drivers but you can also try this method (up to you, helped others before):

Graphic Card Driver Clean Installation (Belongs to MistUnleashed):
1.Run the Guru3D Display Driver Removal Tool: Display Driver Uninstaller Download version 15.3.0.0 Display Driver Uninstaller Download version 15.3.0.2
2.Download CCleaner here (CCleaner - Download) and run both the Cleaner and the Registry Cleaner to remove left-over keys.
3.Go into C:\Program Files & C:\Program Files (x86) & C:\ProgramData and delete any leftover Nvidia files.
4.Disable automatic driver installation: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2500967
5.Restart Computer.
6.After restart go to: Drivers - Download NVIDIA Drivers and install the latest Nvidia Package (Including the 3D Vision Drivers - Install it all). Drivers - Download NVIDIA Drivers
7.Re-enable the automatic driver installation: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2500967
8.Run CCleaner again (as instructed in Step 2).
9.Restart Computer.

Are your other drivers up to date?
Is your Windows up to date?

I tried both the clean startup and that way of installing the drivers I'm still getting the same behavior.

Also try these (you didn't mention you did):
Try uninstalling Nvidia drivers and only installing Graphics Driver. Make sure you only install Nvidia drivers you need - gHacks Tech News
Load defaults in BIOS (less likely but never know).

Does this happen in Safe Mode?

GokAy said:

Also try these (you didn't mention you did):
Try uninstalling Nvidia drivers and only installing Graphics Driver. Make sure you only install Nvidia drivers you need - gHacks Tech News
Load defaults in BIOS (less likely but never know).

Does this happen in Safe Mode?

I have gone back and only installed the Graphics driver and intend to test to see if it will crash. I don't know if it happens in safe mode because I don't game in safe mode, it only happens when running particular games. Granted those games have a higher graphical fidelity. It never crashes on something like Hearthstone for example. Should I try running a game in safe mode?

I doubt it will run, Nvidia drivers aren't loaded in Safe Mode.

Also worth to check, is your BIOS up to date?

Can you try the GPU in a friend's machine?

GokAy said:

I doubt it will run, Nvidia drivers aren't loaded in Safe Mode.

Also worth to check, is your BIOS up to date?

Can you try the GPU in a friend's machine?

Unfortunately none of my friends have a PC that can take a 980 so that I cannot do. I wouldn't even know how to check if my BIOS is up to date to be completely honest. I still have my old GPU though. Maybe I could put that one back in and see if the problem persists?