New PC fail, moving mouse reading blog post, blue screen, LOCKING, shuts down a few seconds, powers on

[mikeford]

New (to me) PC fail, moving mouse reading blog post, blue screen, LOCKING, shuts down a few seconds, off as in all lights including power are off, powers on like nothing happened. Login screen comes up, I sign in normally, and PC is in same state as I left it, browser up with all my tabs and nothing needing logging back in.

Could this be UPS related, I have the UPS USB monitor going to this PC, but not controlling the power. The UPS only supplies some low as in well below rated UPS limits NAS units, modem and router, plus no power loss.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Could this be UPS related, I have the UPS USB monitor going to this PC, but not controlling the power.

So, to clarify, the PC in question that is "shutting down" / restarting, is NOT actually plugged into the UPS's AC battery-backed outlet(s)?

Hmm.

Is there any beep from the UPS when this happens, indicating a power glitch?

Do you have a laser printer, air conditioner, or something with larger motors, like a vacuum cleaner, connected to the same outlet or nearby / same circuit as the UPS or PC?

How is your power in general in your area? Reliable, or un-reliable? Prone to storms? Brownouts? Any lights flickering or dimming in the room?

 

[mikeford]

Fingers are pointing at the Tripp Lite UPS or its app.Twice I've gotten a low battery message on the PC which is not powered by the UPS, but has the app and USB monitor, battery always shows 100%.

PC on wall mains direct. UPS thru a Killawatt to same outlet. The daisy chain of power strips is a bit embarrassing, but entirely functional. UPS has 6 outlets, 3x direct to mains, 3x battery backed up. Due to lack of outlets, its a zoo with 5 total PCs on the same desk plus NAS etc., not all used, but only one 65 watt max NAS and maybe the router or one switch on the battery outlets.

 

[Steltek]

Probably a stupid question, but do any of those power strips running off the UPS happen to have surge supressors in them?

Also, what is the list of components in the system that is blue-screening (including the model of PSU and its age).

Finally, how old is the UPS and how old are the batteries (if they have previously been replaced)?

 

[mikeford]

Some must have a surge suppressor, including the UPS.
Thermaltake Smart 500w, Gigabyte B450, Rx 460, amd 1600, about 5 years idles 65 watts until graphics card kicks in.
UPS less than 6 months old. Old setup not using anymore had my PC and one NAS on the battery side, cruised fine at 160 watts via killawatt going into the UPS, played a game with graphics and 5 min later lost power, hence nothing on the battery but one nas.

Strongest suspect still the app or maybe usb cable or who knows.

 

[Steltek]

The reason I asked about surge supressors is, typically, all outlets on a UPS are already surge protected (even the separate ones from the battery protected outlets). It is a really bad idea in general to run surge protectors in series as they aren't designed to do that. Always use non-surge protected power strips off a UPS outlet.

That being said, I suspect this problem is likely with the affected system itself. If you want to be sure, temporarily separate the affected system to a different electrical outlet on a different electrical circuit (you can get long USB cables fairly cheap at places like Monoprice, though if they are over 15 feet you might need an active USB cable rather than a passive one).

It wouldn't hurt to reinstall the UPS monitoring software. If the affected system is set up to save Windows kernel dumps at the time it crashes, install software like Nirsoft's BlueScreen View or Resplendence Software's Whocrashed to see what actually caused the crash - Whocrashed will tell you if it thinks the crash is hardware related or driver related. Also, check the Windows Reliability History over the last 6-12 months to see if there is any particular application or driver logged with a history of repeatedly crashing. Depending upon how old this Windows installation is, a refresh or new install (or a rescue install, where you launch the installer within Windows to retain and repair your current setup) might be appropriate.

If none of the above steps help, I'd move on to hardware. Your 5 year old Thermaltake PSU immediately jumps right to the top of the list of suspects, especially since the system failed while playing a game. Historically, Thermaltake isn't the best PSU brand - they generally market a few decent ones and a lot of mediocre ones. In the past, their lineup was more mediocre than good.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[sdifox]

How old is the ups? Battery might be going, even if it shows 100%. To test this have load on ups, yank the ups plug from wall and see if it can supply power to the load the number of minutes it is rated for given the load.