Powerspec g464 rebooting problems

blueblur77

I've only had this computer for about 2 weeks and now it is shutting down and rebooting whenever I am streaming Dead by Daylight. I am seeing that this is an with this model in this forum. Is there a way I can fix this or do I have to bring this back to the store for service?

Ian

blueblur77 said:

I've only had this computer for about 2 weeks and now it is shutting down and rebooting whenever I am streaming Dead by Daylight. I am seeing that this is an with this model in this forum. Is there a way I can fix this or do I have to bring this back to the store for service?

Greetings, Are you getting any blue screens or anything? Any error messages? 

blueblur77

No, I haven't gotten any blue screens. The computer just shuts down, I hear buzzing from my headphones, and the computer reboots as if nothing happened.

JS_MC

Hi @blueblur77, could you please check the Event Viewer to see what may be causing these restarts?

Right-click on the Start button and select Control Panel > System & Security and double-click Administrative Tools. Then double-click Event Viewer.

Are there any Critical or Error logs after your computer restarts on its own?

georgem3

I have the Powerspec g464 and it does the exact same thing. Had about 1-2 weeks. Black screens and instareboots the PC or shuts down entirely when playing any video game. Anything requiring the GPU it seems. The g464 does this for me, and I have already swapped in the Powerspec g358 for the exact same reason. Black screens as soon as any game starts. Look at the reviews for these 2 PCs on the microcenter store. Many people are having this issue with the Powerspec computers but none of the microcenter representatives seem to be aware of it. Not sure if I should return the PC or try and get it "repaired" since the repairs I've seen done by the repair shop has not fixed this issue.

JS_MC

@georgem3 I'd love to know if your computer is showing any Critical errors as well!

Since you mentioned that you think yours is specifically to do with the GPU, have you tried reinstalling the GPU drivers?

Our service department would be able to take a look at your desktop as well if you would prefer!

Would you mind checking to see what your BIOS version is? You can use MSinfo32 to verify this information. 

georgem3

@LandShark Thanks for your response. No critical errors (meaning text errors that show up on the crash?). The screen just goes black and the PC reboots. I just tried updating to the latest AMD drivers (dated 11/30/20) and it crashed still. While the random crashes are unpredictable, the PC reliably crashes if I jump into a video game quickly after booting up. The games it has crashed during League of Legends (crashed once), which is not intensive, and Grim Dawn, made in 2016, so intensive-ish but not crazy. The BIOS version is American Megatrends Inc. 2607, 8/14/2020

JS_MC

Sorry, my request was a bit confusing. Are you seeing any logs in the Event Viewer under the Critical Errors tab? You can open this window by typing "Event Viewer" in the Start menu

My system shows 0 below. I'm hoping your system may show some answers.

JS_MC

Are you able to try testing the desktop in a different outlet, power cable, or circuit?

georgem3

Here are the critical errors. Plenty of non-critical ones as well.


As for the different outlet and power cable, I can make this happen, though not now.

JS_MC

From that information, it looks like it's an unexpected shutdown. Let's try testing the power and then see if we can find any difference there.

Another option would be to boot your PC in safe mode. This would check to see if it's a driver compatibility issue. If the issue doesn't reappear when you start your PC in safe mode, you can eliminate the default settings, basic device drivers, and services as possible causes.

Looking forward to your response.

blueblur77

This is a capture of my event viewer. 

blueblur77

I've been getting the kernel power critical error after every shut down. 

TSTDavey

@blueblur77 just chiming in. The Critical Kernel power error just means windows unexpectedly shutdown. Have you tried @LandShark suggestions of attempting to go into safe mode and see if windows boots from there and does not reboot like what you've been experiencing? Here is a link of how to get into safe mode from the Windows Login screen using the Shift Key + selecting restart from the power on and off icon with the mouse cursor.

Link: https://support.avira.com/hc/en-us/articles/360002870214-How-do-I-start-Windows-10-in-Safe-Mode- 

LandShark said:

From that information, it looks like it's an unexpected shutdown. Let's try testing the power and then see if we can find any difference there.

Another option would be to boot your PC in safe mode. This would check to see if it's a driver compatibility issue. If the issue doesn't reappear when you start your PC in safe mode, you can eliminate the default settings, basic device drivers, and services as possible causes.

Looking forward to your response.

georgem3

I had microcenter swap out the graphics card with an ROG amd 5700xt and the crashing issue has not shown up yet. I believe it may have fixed it.

blueblur77

I have booted up the computer in Safe Mode and everything ran as normal. I tried to stream Call of Duty: Cold War and the system crashed almost immediately. It seems to only happen when I attempt to stream a game. Later today, after work I will try I different outlet to see if that will change anything.

TSTDavey

@blueblur77 it could be an issue with the RX 5700 in the G464. We will be emailing you to get more information from you on your powerspec. We can give you options. Look out for the email.

mikeil84

@TSTDavey
I have the same machine and same issue.  What are the other options?  Can we swap out the 5700xt for something else that is more stable?  I am clearly not the only one with this problem.  I just bought the desktop last Sunday.

JS_MC

Hello @mikeil84 I've emailed you about this concern. We'd be happy to work with you on this to figure out what may be causing this issue.

mikeil84

@LandShark the replies you have given me are to reinstall windows and try updating windows and drivers. Neither have/would help this as it is a new desktop within the last week. I already tried updating windows, the bios and the gpu drivers because it was crashing. What can be done to rectify this faulty machine?

PowerSpec_MichaelB

mikeil84 said:

@LandShark the replies you have given me are to reinstall windows and try updating windows and drivers. Neither have/would help this as it is a new desktop within the last week. I already tried updating windows, the bios and the gpu drivers because it was crashing. What can be done to rectify this faulty machine?

I am sorry to hear about your crashing, @mikeil84. I work alongside our PowerSpec engineering team and would love to work with you to get to the bottom of this. I know the original post in this thread specified that the system itself was shutting down/rebooting, is yours doing the same thing exactly? Or do you notice any other symptoms? While they may appear to be similar issues on the surface, it's possible that the underlying issue may differ to some degree and require a different resolution.

If you can provide answers to the following questions, it would help me isolate what we may be dealing with in regards to your issue:

1. When the crashing occurs, does anything happen to the screen? Is it a static image? A flat black screen? Green screen? What do you see the moment this happens?
2. When this occurs, do you still get anything coming from your audio? Gameplay, music, buzzing noises, anything that may designate that the system is still powered on during the crash?
3. Does the frequency of the crash change at all, or does it occur at a similar rate each time? IE: Always crashes after 5 minutes, or is it random?

We should be able to narrow down the type of crashing you're experiencing when we have those answers. As far as your options go, you do still have quite a few options on the table. While I'd hate to see you inconvenienced by having to make a trip to the store, you are still well within the return period for the unit and I am confident your local Micro Center team would take care of you in terms of getting that unit exchanged. That same option also gives our service department the opportunity to check the unit in and diagnose the cause of the crash.

The other options are similar to what I am attempting to accomplish in this thread, which is technical support troubleshooting, which can be viewed as the more convenient option, especially if it is as cold in your area as it is here in Ohio. This can be done here on our community forum, via text, phone, email or chat. The manner you choose depends entirely on your preference.

If you do prefer to exchange the unit, please let us know as I'd like to reach out to your local store and prep them for your arrival to make it as convenient as possible. 

mikeil84

@TSMichaelB the screen goes black like there is no input for a second or two.  Then the computer reboots. Sound seems to cut out at the same time. It usually crashes when starting a game. I have had success playing for hours, but not consistently. Error codes in the event viewer show "WHEA-LOGGER" as the source and event ID 18.  Fatal hardware error occurred.

PowerSpec_MichaelB

mikeil84 said:

@TSMichaelB the screen goes black like there is no input for a second or two.  Then the computer reboots. Sound seems to cut out at the same time. It usually crashes when starting a game. I have had success playing for hours, but not consistently. Error codes in the event viewer show "WHEA-LOGGER" as the source and event ID 18.  Fatal hardware error occurred.

Thank you for the information, that is certainly interesting. WHEA errors can be difficult to dial in on because they can stem from random driver issues (even ones completely unrelated to the hardware at fault) to legitimate hardware failure. I've personally had message signal interrupts from a network adapter cause WHEA errors that crashed my old 1080 Ti... Definitely one of the more tricky errors.

Since this is persisting after you've updated Windows, your BIOS and drivers, it's safe to assume you have no persisting overclocks or tweaks that may be causing any WHEA errors. 

I hate to ask this, but do you mind changing a setting and then attempt to see if you can force it to crash again? I would like to disable automatic system restarts on system failure. To do this, press WIN + R to create a Run prompt, and type "SystemPropertiesAdvanced.exe". Click OK. Next, click the "Settings" button under Startup and Recovery. Under the System Failure category, uncheck "Automatically Restart". Click OK.

Afterwards, do what you normally do that induces the crash and see if the system attempts to automatically restart itself. I am curious to see if the hard fault is listening to the OS when it automatically restarts, or if something with the hardware itself is locking it up. If it remains locked up when this option is disabled, it points more towards this being driver related as the crash is waiting on the OS to initiate the restart, and it's logging the failure as evidenced by your WHEA-LOGGER error, something a traditional hard-fault typically can't do.

This would actually be good news, as it would point towards something we can actually address, though I'll be honest with you, I am currently at a bit of a loss as to what may be triggering this exact crash for you. That said, I am willing to work with you until we both figure it out. You've done a large portion of the ground work already by ruling out the OS version, BIOS and GPU driver, so now we can look elsewhere. I would personally start with background applications that are requesting GPU hardware acceleration (Discord, Chrome/Edge/Firefox, Steam, Epic Games Launcher, Battlenet, etc). If you can disable hardware acceleration in these applications or avoid running them in the background during your tests to see if it has any impact on the frequency of your crashing, it might give us a better idea as to what is triggering it. 

From here, the best course of action would be tackling specific input methods and features (HDMI vs DP, FreeSync vs no-VRR, windowed vs borderless vs fullscreen, etc) to see if a specific manner in which your hardware is being used is triggering the crash. 

I'll keep an eye on this thread and work with you to help figure this out. 

mikeil84

@TSMichaelB It still crashed after changing the settings under system failure. I don't have steam or anything installed. This happens with only modern warfare running. I have the monitor plugged in with display port. The monitor doesn't have an HDMI out. The only app running in the background was battlenet. I closed it this time and it still crashed

PowerSpec_MichaelB

mikeil84 said:

@TSMichaelB It still crashed after changing the settings under system failure. I don't have steam or anything installed. This happens with only modern warfare running. I have the monitor plugged in with display port. The monitor doesn't have an HDMI out. The only app running in the background was battlenet. I closed it this time and it still crashed

With that setting disabled, does the system continue to restart on its own? Or does it now stay in a crashed state (black screen, frozen image, etc)? If it is continuing to restart itself after changing that setting, we are likely dealing with a hardware failure after all that is forcing the system to reboot. If it is no longer rebooting, it means whatever was causing the crash was waiting for the OS to issue the reboot, which means there is a possibility that it can be addressed via drivers or through various settings tweaks.

mikeil84

@TSMichaelB I read in forums that disabling fast boot has helped others with this gpu. I attempted to disable that without any success. With the automatic restart on system failure disabled, nothing changed. It still restarts at the same point of failure. 

PowerSpec_MichaelB

mikeil84 said:

@TSMichaelB I read in forums that disabling fast boot has helped others with this gpu. I attempted to disable that without any success. With the automatic restart on system failure disabled, nothing changed. It still restarts at the same point of failure. 

That is unfortunate news, and may confirm your initial concerns regarding it being hardware. The real question is going to be, which piece of hardware is at fault...

You mentioned earlier that event viewer was showing WHEA-LOGGER with ID 18, did it specify which component reported the error? Typically you'd see:
 "A fatal hardware error has occurred.

Reported by component: Processor Core"

In this example, we would know that the CPU is reporting the error, and that it is likely at fault for the crashing. That isn't to say that a different failing component could be at fault and it could mask itself as a different component reporting the error, but it is far more likely to be the component that is originally reporting the error.

We could go through various steps to confirm whether the CPU is at fault (underclocking, undervolting, disabling cores/SMT, etc) however I do not want to subject you to the massive time sink required to undertake this, nor should you have to go through this on a brand new computer in the first place. While my curiosity wants to learn exactly why this system is failing, at this point it is likely best that we coordinate with your local store and get you an exchange in as convenient of a manner as we can, and let our service associates determine the root cause of the crashing and address it themselves.

That said, if you'd prefer to go this route, I am willing to put in the effort with you. Just understand that it likely won't lead to a solution, just a confirmation of the issue at hand. 

mikeil84

It said the processor reported it. 

PowerSpec_MichaelB

mikeil84 said:

It said the processor reported it. 

This makes sense, and eludes to what I was mentioning earlier. Now, there could be several causes that would result in the processor reporting it. The CPU has an integrated memory controller (IMC) and memory issues can still result in the CPU reporting a failure, so that is one potential avenue. The CPU also provides the PCIe lanes to your graphics card, so while a GPU may crash, the system may interpret it as the processor having a WHEA failure instead. These two scenarios are far less likely though, which brings me to the more likely option. Failing CPU core/cache topology. 

The cause behind why this is failing could be a number of things, but in my past experience, these types of failures typically stem from overclocking gone awry. A little too much SOC voltage or a dramatic spike in VCORE with current limitations removed can cause all sorts of adverse side effects, and this type of instability can be one of them. Seeing as your system was sold as an open box unit, it's entirely possible that the previous owner may have dabbled with overclocking or other tinkering and the crashing only manifests under specific loads, which is why it wasn't caught during our return check-in testing. This is especially tedious when it's brought about by the use of specific instruction sets or changes from certain load levels.

Regardless, you do have a couple of options on the table. The first option would be to bring it in to your local Micro Center store and have the service department diagnose & repair the unit. While I am fairly confident with our troubleshooting efforts that we are seeing a processor failure, I also do not want to rule out a board failure as well (failure in the socket or VRM power delivery could also manifest in this type of crash), and I'd rather you avoid having to make multiple trips to the store if necessary, especially with the current weather conditions. We offer a 48 hour repair guarantee on PowerSpec systems, but I imagine they'd have it done far quicker than this, that's just the upper max limit on routine repairs.

The second option would be an exchange, though this option comes with a bit of bad news. Looking through your local Micro Center's inventory, I do not see any comparable PowerSpec systems around the price you paid for the G464, and our G464 has been phased out due to its age. The PowerSpec G508 would be a downgrade in every capacity, and even the Dell gaming systems we sell at a similar price wouldn't match the performance you were offered at the price point you paid, and it looks like we do not have any G358's in-stock in your area.  If you are looking to exchange, it may result in a compromise in performance or value, and you may find that unacceptable. Given the circumstances, I can reach out to your local Micro Center's management team and explain the situation on your behalf to see what options are available for you, especially considering how helpful you've been in diagnosing this system remotely and potentially helping others that may come across a similar issue.

At the end of the day, my job is to make sure that you are taken care of. Whether that results in your continued support of the PowerSpec brand, or making sure you receive a comparable system of another brand, as long as you are satisfied in the end, I'll be happy.