Weird PC crashing problem.

[KimKagan]

Hi.

So I've got a rather odd problem. My PC seems to randomly crash and then have trouble restarting. It's been doing this for about a month. It'd get stuck at the "Start Windows in safe mode" screen and then just keep repeating that, or make strange noises and so on. It was literally impossible to get into Windows itself. I took it to the store where I bought it, and it worked fine there, which was rather confusing to all involved.

It happened again about a week or two later, so I took it back to the store, and once again, it worked fine there. No one could explain why.

I figured maybe it had something to do with the whole process of actually taking it to the store, which involved unplugging the computer, so the next time it happened, I unplugged the machine, then plugged it back in again. I noticed that when I moved the connector for the screen onto its plug thingey on the computer itself, it started making sparking noises, and little sparks were produced around it. I figure that this must have something to do with the problem.

Later, I had to plug in a printer from another machine, so I had to remove a two-pronged plug from a fan, and replace it with the printer plug, and I got the same crackling, sparking noise, and received a minor shock.

Obviously this has something to do with the problem, but I have no idea what, and how to actually fix it.

A new problem I encountered today is that when I leave the PC alone for a bit, the screen turns black (it usually does this after it has gone into screen saver mode and been going for a while), but it doesn't respond to mouse movements or keyboard commands. It also somehow made some Steam games uninstall themselves, meaning I had to "reinstall", but it just found some files and downloaded whatever was gone (or something, I'm not really sure how it works).

It crashes when I play games, and is really annoying.

Any help would be appreciated.

[KALSTER]

There was a guy on another forum that had the exact same problem. It turns out, apparently, that the problem is that his home power delivery is twitchy, i.e. the voltage delivered fluctuates quite a bit. Only solution would be to invest in a good quality power regulator, but I'd suggest arranging that you can take it back if it doesn't solve the problem.

In short, it is a very frustrating problem to have to sit with as it isn't easy to fix and the problem doesn't sit with your PC.

The sparking sounds are normal as far as I can tell. Have you tried it at a friend's place?

[doo_much]

It crashes when I play games, and is really annoying.

Does it crash at other times as well?

[StarBound]

As Kalster said the problem might lie in the houses power. I'd have said it was a harddrive problem with the crashes but your power supply can also be at fault. What is your system specs? You haven't upgraded something recently like a graphics card that needs more juice than your psu can dish out? Apparently funky ram can cause issues that takes forever to find.

[KimKagan]

As Kalster said the problem might lie in the houses power. I'd have said it was a harddrive problem with the crashes but your power supply can also be at fault. What is your system specs? You haven't upgraded something recently like a graphics card that needs more juice than your psu can dish out? Apparently funky ram can cause issues that takes forever to find.

I'm just gonna write down what I find under "System" in "Control" panel, since I wouldn't know what else to write:

Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2600K CPU @ 3.40GHz
Installed Memory (RAM) 4.00 GB
System Type: 64-bit Operating System

I know it has a Geforce GTX 580, and it has had this same spec since I got it about 2 years ago, no recent upgrades or anything.

As for the power issue, is this something I need to call an electrician for, or how do I actually go about fixing the problem? It's odd because I've been living in this apartment about 2 years, and this problem has only been happening in the last 2 months or so.

[StarBound]

Is it a buzz like noise of a clack like noise? Does it beep?

[KimKagan]

^ It only made the sound the one time, when I tried to turn it back on. It was a low, steady beep that last around 2 seconds, then simply did nothing.

It hasn't done that since.