When in Skyrim, computer shuts down

[FastBlackCat]

I've also posted this under Skyrim technical questions, but thought I might find some suggestions here as to why this might be happening. When I'm playing Skyrim, my computer completely and suddenly--without any warning--shuts itself down (as in completely turns itself off!). I can't get it to start up again unless I turn the power strip off and on before using the computer on button. Sometimes when starting back up, I get the old "Microsoft Windows didn't shut down properly" window and other times not. It seems to only happen when I'm in Skyrim, and there seems to be no rhyme or reason as to when it does it. One day I can play Skyrim all day long, and nothing happens, and on other days, the total shut down happens between one to four times on average. I played four hours of TW2 today, and it didn't happen. Thinking it might be the power strip, I bought a new one and it's still happening.

 

So, I was wondering if anybody else is having this problem? I don't know if it's a Skyrim issue or a computer issue, or a combination of the two. It's a pretty new computer (only had it over a month) and these are the specs:

 

AMD FX-6100 series processor

DDR3 PC-10600 1333 mhz memory (8 gb)

700 watt power supply

Nvidia Ge-Force GTX 560 2 gb video card

Windows Home Premium OS

 

My Skyrim game is heavily modded, but I'm not sure that a mod (or mods) could trigger such a problem.

[Illiad86]

Are you overclocking at all? Do you get a BSOD before it shuts down?

 

It's quite possible there is something wrong with your power supply. Do you know what brand it is? If it's a pre-built system, they normally put pretty crappy generic power supplies in them.

[FastBlackCat]

No, no overclocking. No BSOD either. It's like somebody pulled the plug out of the wall. So it very well may be the power supply--I was just hoping it wasn't. :facepalm:

[Illiad86]

You could take it to a shop to get it tested, just in case. It's possible it could be other hardware causing the power supply to trip.

[Rennn]

I've heard of a couple other people having shut-downs from Skyrim, without it being PSU failure. It could easily be PSU failure, but there's hope.

[bben46]

The standard PSU that comes with most off the shelf big name computers (Dell, HP etc ) is barley sufficient for the original hardware in the box. Adding much, especially a more powerful video card can easily overtax them.

 

Other things to look at - cooling - are all of the fans working? Case fans, CPU fan, video card fan, PSU fan.

Is there any build up of dust or crud in the air channels or heat sinks? Even if a fan is running full speed, if the air is being blocked by too much dust it won't cool much. Do you have case fans - fans mounted in the back (including the PSU fan should be blowing air OUT of the case, while any fans mounted on the front should be blowing IN to the case. Make sure there is good airflow through the case.

 

Make sure all of your boards and RAM are fully seated in their socket. Pull them out and replug them if you are not sure. Check all cables and power connections on things like the Motherboard, hard drives, DVD drives and anything else.

[Aegrus]

Something similar used to happen to me in Skyrim- my pc would just randomly shut down (as though the plug had been pulled), about every hour. Sometimes it happened every 5 minutes, sometimes it didn't happen for 4 or more hours. The only real difference between our stories is that I didn't have to turn the powerstrip off then on- I just had to turn my pc back on.

 

Eventually, after I made a bunch of modifications to my pc, it just stopped- so something I did fixed it. You could try re-downloading your drivers, or downloading beta versions of newer drivers. You could check Skyrim for corrupted files, you could download Advanced System Care 5 for free and use it to fix registry errors, and I know that some people used to have problems with Skyrim randomly crashing because of audio bugs. You might want to look that up.

 

To test your power supply unit yourself, you could play a game with a similar fps to Skyrim for a while. If it crashes in that game as well, it's likely a problem with your pc/power supply unit. If it doesn't, it's probably just a Skyrim bug.

[ace992]

Try updating all drivers, use cc cleaner to clean up old files and registry. Then when running skyrim use something like speedfan to monitor the temps; try get the temps and post them here, could be overheating. Which could be caused from insufficient cooling, or a dust clogged system. But you did state it's new, so shouldn't be much dust.

 

Also, does it only EVER happen when playing skyrim? or has it and does it happen with other games?

[FastBlackCat]

Try updating all drivers, use cc cleaner to clean up old files and registry. Then when running skyrim use something like speedfan to monitor the temps; try get the temps and post them here, could be overheating. Which could be caused from insufficient cooling, or a dust clogged system. But you did state it's new, so shouldn't be much dust.

 

Also, does it only EVER happen when playing skyrim? or has it and does it happen with other games?

 

Haven't been here for a while, so I haven't seen most of these posts. Thanks for all of the suggestions and ways to check! I've played hours of heavily modded FO3, FONV and TW2 on max settings, and nothing happened (other than the usual CTD's that occur occasionally in FO3 and NV). It ONLY happens in Skyrim. And still is happening. :pinch: (I've learned to save about every minute while in game!:D) It SEEMS to happen more frequently when I'm in the open world versus being inside a "dungeon" or city.

 

I've been using CPUID Monitor for the temps and it doesn't appear to be overheating. The only oddity is that the GPU fan doesn't seem to be running very fast. And I do use CCleaner and Advanced System Care. I also checked all the drivers, but I'll follow up with bben46's suggestion to make sure everything is seated correctly. So I ended up contacting the manufacturer (IBuyPower), and they want me to send it to them.

 

Interestingly, prior to buying this new computer, I was running Skyrim on a much older, two core Intel processor computer with a Nvidia GTS 250 card in it, and this never happened. Of course, I had the settings set lower, but still . . . makes me wonder.

Edited September 29, 2012 by FastBlackCat

[Aegrus]

Try updating all drivers, use cc cleaner to clean up old files and registry. Then when running skyrim use something like speedfan to monitor the temps; try get the temps and post them here, could be overheating. Which could be caused from insufficient cooling, or a dust clogged system. But you did state it's new, so shouldn't be much dust.

 

Also, does it only EVER happen when playing skyrim? or has it and does it happen with other games?

 

Haven't been here for a while, so I haven't seen most of these posts. Thanks for all of the suggestions and ways to check! I've played hours of heavily modded FO3, FONV and TW2 on max settings, and nothing happened (other than the usual CTD's that occur occasionally in FO3 and NV). It ONLY happens in Skyrim. And still is happening. :pinch: (I've learned to save about every minute while in game!:D) It SEEMS to happen more frequently when I'm in the open world versus being inside a "dungeon" or city.

 

I've been using CPUID Monitor for the temps and it doesn't appear to be overheating. The only oddity is that the GPU fan doesn't seem to be running very fast. And I do use CCleaner and Advanced System Care. I also checked all the drivers, but I'll follow up with bben46's suggestion to make sure everything is seated correctly. So I ended up contacting the manufacturer (IBuyPower), and they want me to send it to them.

 

Interestingly, prior to buying this new computer, I was running Skyrim on a much older, two core Intel processor computer with a Nvidia GTS 250 card in it, and this never happened. Of course, I had the settings set lower, but still . . . makes me wonder.

 

I've got an update that might be relevant- I said before that I used to have almost identical problems to yours. Well, sadly, while playing Skyrim, my pc shut off again- due to psu failure. I know it was psu failure because my psu sparked, and I smelled burning plastic. I had to replace it.

It doesn't necessarily mean you have a bad psu- but that turned out to be the cause of my problems. It seems likely to me that that's your issue as well, since none of the other thing's you've tried have worked.

Edited September 30, 2012 by Aegrus