PC shuts off randomly when no games are running... Any ideas why?

Hardware
21

Ash said:
@Chris
I don’t understand why some people are blaming overheating. It doesn’t shut down during gaming, so that’s not it.

I agree. Overheating doesn’t make sense here. I’m thinking the PC might be trying to go into sleep mode but failing. Have you tried disabling sleep mode completely and seeing if it still happens?

22

Myles said:
Could it be overheating? Also, check the event logs.

That was a pointless comment.

23

Is this a desktop PC? If so, download a CPU temperature monitoring program like Open Hardware Monitor and check your CPU temperature. Is it going above 90°C or 100°C? If so, it’s likely a cooling issue. You should try reapplying thermal paste or consider a better cooler. Also, check your CPU and system fans and make sure they’re working and not clogged with dust. If that doesn’t help, it might be a PSU issue. How many watts is your PSU?

24

@Chloe
That doesn’t make sense. How could it be overheating when it doesn’t shut down during gaming? If it was overheating, it would crash while gaming, not when idle.

25

Ash said:
@Chloe
That doesn’t make sense. How could it be overheating when it doesn’t shut down during gaming? If it was overheating, it would crash while gaming, not when idle.

I get your point, but I still think it’s worth checking. I think it’s more likely a PSU issue, but overheating from a non-CPU component could also cause it to shut down later, not during stress.