So I’ve got a really frustrating problem with my pc that’s been going on a couple months now. I’ve been just dealing with it but it’s getting worse. I’ll try to explain it as best I can. Firstly, specs on my computer. It’s running AMD FX 4300 Quad-Core Processor, 8gb of RAM, AMD Radeon R9 200, and running Windows 10.
Now the issue is this. Whenever anyone or anything touches the tower, the entire thing blacks out. The screen goes black and goes into power saving mode because ‘no signal found’. The lights are still on on the pc and the fans are running but it’s dead. I have to hold the power button down for 10 secs to force a restart. It used to really only happen if I had something plugged into the front USB ports but now it’s happening all the time. I don’t know if it’s connected but my display driver also randomly crashes. I’ll see a quick black screen, and then everything comes back and I get a message that the display driver crashed. I’m wondering if there’s some loose wiring or something up front but unfortunately that’s well beyond my knowledge on how to check/fix. Any help would be appreciated
Do your outlets have three prong holes or two? If they have three, just get rid of that multi-outlet thing and use a power strip with a three-prong plug, and that should solve the problem. (It’s possible that you have ungrounded three prong outlets, but that’s a serious electrical code violation so we’ll ignore that possibility.) If you have two prong outlets, you have a more serious problem. You may want to have an electrician take a look and advise you of your options. Ungrounded outlets are potentially dangerous (note the story of a man who was killed plugging something into a cheater plug in the wikipedia article I linked to). Replacing the outlets with GFCI outlets would solve the safety issue but I don’t think it would solve your computer problem since the outlet would still be ungrounded, although IANAE.
Wild guess but and educated one. You mentioned it only happening when a usb port was in use. I am going to opine you have a damaged usb port shorting to the case, either the touch is creating some kind of wild ground effect or the reverse, static charges on you are blowing back through said damaged port and causing other issues when it happens.
We had a fun issue with a computer that shut off when you stood it up, cleaned, dusted, tore apart and reassemble everything, still did it.
If its a standard ATX case, you can rebuild it in a new case. Pretty easy even for an amatuer and childs play for a computer shop.
First, do a little more testing. Number one, check if the computer really dies or just the signal to the monitor – if you’re playing music or something does it stop too? If it’s only the display that dies, see if you can take out and replace the video card. Or you may need a new video card. I suspect this since you’re having strange video-card related errors.
If it’s not just the video dying, do a couple more tests.
Is it only touching one (or a few) place(s) on the case that does it, or does any kind of jiggling do it (you could put the case on a board and wiggle the board to check)? If it’s only spots, check if touching it with something non-conductive, like wood, triggers it.
If any wobble, or pushing it with a piece of wood, causes the crash, it’s probably a loose wire or connection, which may be fixable, or worst case is within the motherboard. But try opening up the case, and disconnecting the internal connections (especially power supply) and reconnecting them (if you don’t know what disconnects, get someone who knows to help you).
If it only crashes when you touch certain spots with your hand or some metal, then it’s a grounding problem. Which may be caused by a loose connection, or else you need to get a real three-prong plug, new case or new power supply.
If you use those things that convert from 3 to 2 prongs, there is a small ring on the bottom. That ring is supposed to be attached to a wire that is then anchored to something metal to ground it. My grandparents used the outlet screw.
Granted, I never really use them that way, either, but you’re supposed to. Lack of grounding can result in problems down the line, as it makes it easier for the equipment to be damaged.
As for the outlet, the house is old, from the late 40s. Only had one owner before my parents bought it about 10 years ago. Nothing’s been updated on it. All the original electrical and plumbing, the whole shebang. I asked my dad about the outlet, and he’s insisting it’s not the problem cause it’s not a problem for any other electronic in the house.
At Quercus’ suggestion, I did a bit of testing. Touching over the majority of the case does nothing. When I say touch, I just mean light taps of my finger. But if I do so around the power button, instant crash. And it’s the whole thing. No sound, nothing. So it’s not just the display that’s dying. Also, if I move the tower, even just by gently sliding it to one side or another it’ll freeze. I’m thinking there’s a short somewhere but how would I even find that?
It’s possible that it’s a cable in the computer that is chafed and shorting against the case, but all the symptoms point to a bad ground and static discharge.
What is the area around your computer like? Lots of plastic or formica?
Well there are other computers hooked up in the house. Two laptops and another desktop that don’t have any issues. As for the tower, it sits directly on the ground, a hardwood floor. The only thing next to it is the wooden desk.
I wouldn’t assume a ground or static issue yet. Could also just be a loose wire in the power button. Again, it would help knowing whether a tap or push from something non-conductive causes a problem or not. If so, then we know it’s a physical problem, if not then most likely a ground/electrical issue.
Do issues still occur or not? Congratulations, you know either know what the problem is or, at the very least, have eliminated a major suspect as the cause.
Ok so I took a wooden spoon (advanced, I know lol) and tapped all over the case. Around places that didn’t have a problem and around the power button. Even moved the tower back and forth using the spoon and it didn’t freeze. So…excuse my ignorance but what does that tell us?
A wooden spoon is a pretty good insulator. If there were an electrostatic discharge issue, the spoon would insulate your body from the sensitive bits of the PC and prevent discharge, thereby preventing lockup.
It’s consistent with the “bad grounding” scenario, since good grounding is designed to divert ESD away from sensitive bits.
cwniles has a good idea. If you can take the computer to a different outlet, with a real three-prong plug, and see if you can crash it there, that will tell you if it’s an issue with the outlet, or the computer.
